BT’s continued strong growth has not halted an overall slide in value for the biggest UK brands, with Tesco’s annus horribilis coming alongside regulatory woes for the financial services sector.
European companies make up a smaller number of Millward Brown’s top 100 brands than last year and comprise a smaller proportion of the list’s total brand value, with the continent’s key industry’s suffering compared with fast-growing Asian tech businesses.
In 10 years of BrandZ rankings, data shows that good advertising can be an important factor in increasing brand value, but the effects are relatively small unless the company is perceived to have got the brand proposition right first.
The tech powerhouse has surged back to top spot in Millward Brown’s 10th annual list of the world’s 100 most valuable brands, achieving the first $200bn valuation and pushing Google into second, while Microsoft’s turnaround strategy propels it to third.
It’s no surprise to see Chinese and tech brands surge up Millward Brown’s ranking of the 100 most valuable global brands, with Facebook virtually doubling its brand value and top-ranked Apple’s growing by two-thirds, yet there are also some surprising star performers.
Millward Brown’s BrandZ ranking shows that the brands growing in value demonstrate ‘meaningful difference’ and disrupt competitive markets, with the retail sectors providing key examples.