Apple has retained last year the top spot among the most valuable brands in the world, dominated by companies in the Information and Communications (ICT) sector, according to a report presented Tuesday by Millward Brown, a market research organization belonging to WPP group. Apple’s brand value grew 19% last year reaching 183 billion dollars, representing 37% of the company’s market capitalization, according to BrandZ annual rankings of the most valuable 100 brands in the world.
Facebook, which was listed on the Nasdaq Friday in New York, recorded the fastest climb to the top in 2011, social networking brand rising in value by 74%, to $33.2 billion, ranked 19th in the top. Seven of the top 10 brands are companies in the ICT sector, and McDonald’s and Coca-Cola have maintained their fourth and sixth places, respectively. Marlboro is up one place to seventh, despite aggressive anti-smoking campaigns conducted throughout the world.
Second in the top, behind Apple, is IBM which went up one place after increasing its brand value by 15% to 116 billion dollars. Google went down one step, to third place, dropping 3% of the estimated value of the brand, to $107.8 billion. In fourth place is McDonald’s, followed by Microsoft, Coca-Cola, Marlboro, AT & T and Verizon. Top 10 is closed by the Chinese giant China Mobile.
Executive Director of Millward Brown, Nick Cooper, told Reuters that the dominance of ICT companies is due to their transformational role in contemporary society. Brand value is estimated by Millward Brown from the financial value of the company or operations that contribute to production and brand development, combined with the ability of each brand to ensure the loyalty of its customers. Cooper draws a parallel between the explosive growth of technology sector and the emergence of the car or plane. “When cars came, or air transportation, it had a liberating effect. It is now ICT sector’s turn,” he said.
Cooper believes that the so-called consumerism of IT, which requires manufacturers of hardware and software to develop acceptable standards for use in private life, play an important role in increasing the value of brands in the sector. Some companies in the IT industry are, however, vulnerable to adverse involvement of the general public, as Millward Brown expert stated, referring to Google and Facebook image damage due to sensitive issues such as privacy.
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