Everyone knows that brands have a monetary value, but few realise just how much, and that there is a qualified legal practice in South Africa, DM Kisch Inc., that can measure and define that value. This is critical in terms of any brand infringement and maximising your company’s value.
“Interbrands” 100 best brands listing has just been released and speaking to Jeremy Sampson, the Interbrands Chairman, it was both fascinating and enlightening.
The Best Global Brands report looks at financial performance, customer choice and the ability to command a premium price to measure rankings.
It is no great surprise that Coca-Cola retains Top Spot for the 13th consecutive year. What is a bit of a surprise that there are now some strong challengers, particularly in the high tech field – led by Apple. (Pepsi is up 14%)
The biggest ascenders of the scale are Apple which has moved from 8th last year to 2nd this year. Its brand value has increased by 129% to $78.6 billion, despite rising competition from Samsung (up 40%) and Google (up 26%). The launch of Amazon’s new Kindle range has helped boost the online retailer’s brand value by 46%.
Of particular interest to South Africans are Toyota in 10th position and up 9%, Mercedes in 11th, up 10% and BMW 12th up 18%. Which bodes well for the world economy.
Some of the losers are Hewlett Packard (-8%), Honda (-11%) and, surprisingly Nescafe at -8%. It is no surprise that Nokia is down 16% (they got complacent and took their eye off the ball). Can they recover?
It is good to see that Jack Daniels is up 1% and Johnny Walker is up 12% and warrants their marketing and advertising expenditure that is really brand driven.
New entrants to the 2012 list include Pampers (34), Facebook (69), Prada (84) and Kia (87). Facebook makes the cut despite a rocky financial performance since listing.
Tech brands continue to dominate with 5 of the Top 10 brands and all 7 of the luxury brands in the Top 100 increased their brand value.
Which all goes to prove what smart marketers already know – build your brand for success.
Publication Name: BenchExpress
Date: December, 2012
