Apple, Google and Amazon top the 2018 top 100 brands rankings announced by Global brand consultancy Interbrand.
The 2018 Best Global Brands report, which is dominated by luxury and retail labels, features two new entrants and three re-entrants: Spotify at #92 (US$5.2 billion), Subaru at #100 (US$4.2 billion), Chanel re-enters at #23 ($20 billion, last on in 2009), Hennessy at #98 (US$4.7 billion, last on in 2009), and Nintendo at #99 ($4.7 billion, last on in 2014).
Interbrand’s global CEO Charles Trevail said that a decade after the global financial crisis, “the brands that are growing fastest are those that intuitively understand their customers and make brave iconic moves that delight and deliver in new ways.”
For six consecutive years, Apple and Google have held the top positions. Apple’s brand value grew by 16 per cent to $214 billion, and Google’s by 10 per cent to $155 billion.
Amazon achieved 56 per cent growth and is the third brand to reach a $100 billion brand valuation threshold ($100.7 billion), and is the top performer among 28 brands with double-digit per cent growth.
Following Microsoft at #4 ($92.7 billion), are Coca-Cola ($66.3 billion), Samsung ($59.9 billion), Toyota ($53.4 billion), Mercedes-Benz ($48.6 billion), and Facebook ($45.2 billion). McDonald’s ($43.4 billion) returns to round out the top 10.
The fastest-growing five of the 2018 top 100 brands include Amazon (56 per cent), last year’s new entrant Netflix (45 per cent), Gucci (30 per cent), last year’s new entrant Salesforce (23 per cent), and Louis Vuitton (23 per cent). After five years as the top growing brand, Facebook declined six per cent this year.
More than half of the 2018 top 100 brands came from five sectors: automotive (16), technology (13), financial services (12), luxury (nine), and FMCG (nine). Luxury is the new fastest-growing sector (42 per cent), replacing retail, which continues at second (36 per cent). Electronics is third (20 per cent), sporting goods is fourth (13 per cent), followed by financial services (10 per cent).
The combined total value of the 2018 top 100 brands crosses the $2 trillion-dollar threshold, at $2.015 trillion, a year-on-year increase of 7.7 per cent.h
