Coca-Cola, Apple, Samsung and Google are the highly rated brands in Asia, according to new rankings from Nikkei BP Consulting, Brand Asia 2013.
Coca-Cola did very well over a wide area, coming second in the Philippines, fourth in India and South Korea, fifth in Thailand, seventh in Myanmar and eighth in China.
Apple came first in Singapore and China and also finished in the top 10 in Taiwan, South Korea and Malaysia. Meanwhile, Samsung came first in South Korea and third in Singapore and also maintained a strong presence in Myanmar, Vietnam, India and Malaysia.
Google came first in Taiwan and also had a striking presence in Singapore, Vietnam and Malaysia.
The survey calculated brand strength on the basis of four factors: outstanding profile, innovation, friendliness and convenience. Among these four factors, what was common to Coca-Cola, Apple, Samsung, and Google was their high scores for being innovative. The vigorous approach of these brands so as not to let people get bored with them, and their sensitive responses to changes in the Asian consumer mindset, seem to have led to their positive evaluation as “attracting attention now” and “pioneering” brands.
Meanwhile, there were some local brands – Skynet in Myanmar, Vinamilk in Vietnam and Maybank in Malaysia – that outstripped these global brands and came top in their respective regions.
Seven of the top 10 brands in the overall brand strength ranking in Myanmar were local brands, showing that, as in the Philippines, local brands have a strong presence in that country. Local brands monopolised the top three places in Myanmar – the first being taken by the satellite broadcaster Skynet, the second by the supermarket City Mart, and the third by KBZ, the largest private bank in the country.
Besides local brands, three European and US brands made it into the top 10 in Myanmar, and the only other Asian brand to do so was Samsung in fifth place. In addition, unlike the other regions, no Internet brands made it into the top 10. In Myanmar, the large scale adoption of smart phones and a fully-fledged broadband network are yet to be developed.
