For the first time, a social network, Facebook, joins Interbrand’s ranking of the 100 Best Global Brands . It does it at the 69th spot, far below the group of the top five.
With a billion users on Facebook and 500 million on Twitter, there is no doubt that social media are on the rise. Marketers seek in Facebook’s big captive audience giving their likes, the ay towards transforming likes into sales. And the social network is working in this direction to monetize the big idea.
Companies and investors are aware of the big opportunity and show their interest, despite several companies apparently paving the way to a profitable digital era have proved unstable, arising again the ghost of the .com bubble in the 2000. Groupon, Zynga and Facebook have shown all of them signs of estagnation after a quick rise based on their promising tech and social appeal.
But leaving aside forths and backs, tech and being more accurate, digital, seems to rise as the new brand power. At least this shows the latest Interbrand’s 100 Global Best ranking.
Technology brands dominate this year the top five group, with Apple ($ 76,568 million -experiencing a dramatic increase of 129% -), IBM ($ 75,532 million, an increase of 8% – ), Google ($ 69,726 million -increased its value by a 26% -) and Microsoft ($ 57,853 million, -its value decreased by a 2% -), respectively placed at places 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th.
There’s just one exception among the top five best, Coca-Cola. The engaging beverage brand maintains once more the leading position among the top 100, valued at $ 77,839, a 8% more than the previous year.
Emerging countries, the other rising brand power, have only managed one score in the ranking, the Mexican Corona. The beer brand reached the 89th spot, just behind Starbucks. Corona has experienced a 3% growth bringing its brand value at $ 4.061 million.
“This year 2012, shows how technology brands dominate over any other sector in the ranking, the recovery of the automotive industry, the strength of the luxury brands against the crisis and the expansion of the FMCG industry,” explained Gonzalo Brujó, Chairman of Interbrand for Iberia and Latin America, during the presentation of the thirteenth edition of the Interbrand 100 Best Global Brands this morning at the IESE headquarters in Madrid.
The death of Steve Jobs didn’t kill Apple
On the contrary, the value of this brand has increased up to a 129% over the previous year, climbing to the 2nd place in the ranking. The consultancy firm points that seeking opportunities, especially in emerging markets, the consolidation in developed, as well as the launch of new products, such as the iPhone 5, have all made it possible.
Six newcomers
Leaving aside Facebook, there have been four new additions (Kia, Mastercard, Pampers and Ralph Lauren). Among newcommers the fashion brand, Prada, in fact returns to the ranking scoring 84th, with a $ 4,271 million brand value. Prada’s return comes thanks to its network expansion, says Interbrand.
KIA ($ 4,193 million, since 87 -) and Ralph Lauren ($ 4,038 million-place 91 -) enter the list of the top 100 best global brands because they have managed recovering from the crisis increasing their benefits through the brand management along all the contact points with the customers, says the consultant.
Mastercard joins the ranking in the 94th place, with a brand value of $ 3,896 million. Pampers (belonging to Procter & Gamble) comes in 34th place with an estimated value of $ 11,296 million.
Bosco Torres explained that some brands like Procter & Gamble are not included in the ranking because the strategy chosen by these companies cosnists of adding the corporate brand as a tag to the different commercial brands marketed by them. The corporate brand has no commercial independent life.
Each company choses its own strategy, he said, and pointed that Procter & Gamble as such is becoming increasingly relevant to the public. Olimpic Games sponsoring and the advertising campaign by Procter & Gamble brand during has contributed to make the corporate brand more relevant for consumers though.
The value of each of the independent commercial brands is not attached to the corporate brand but independently considered. That’s why Procter & Gamble is not ranked in Interbrand’s 100 Best Global Brands.
The fastest growing and the value heaviest losers
There are five brands in the ranking, four from the technollogy sector and one from the automotive sector, noted for their value increase: Apple, up 129%, Amazon (46% up to a $ 18,625 million value), Samsung (40% rise to the $ 32,893 million), Nissan (30% growth to the $ 4,969 million) and Oracle (28% increase to a total value of $ 22.126 million).
Also there are five brands that, on the contrary, have experienced value decreases from the previous year: Blackberry (a 39% reduction to $ 3.922 million), Goldman Sachs (down by 16% over last year to $ 7.599 million), Nokia (-16% and a value of $ 21,009 million), Moët & Chandon (down a 13% to $ 3,824 million) and Yahoo! (its value fell a 13% down to $ 3.851 million).
Despite all downing movements in the ranking 2012, it shows that growth is possible and the recovery landscape for brands is already a tangible reality, says the consultancy firm.
“Digital”, among the common key features of leading brands
All brands included in the Interbrand 100 Best Global Brands ranking share three features, Bosco Torres explained.
First the most successful brands are those that establish an emotional connection with consumers. The paradigm within this ranking to this respect is, perhaps, Coca-Cola. Second, digital, he said, is a key issue for all brands regardless the sector in which they operate.
Digital technology allows a closer and persoalized relationship with customers. The brands in the Top 100 understand this well.
And third, most of these brands have collected, thanks to the digitizal tools, a lot of very relevant information for their customers. This allows them right now and for the future diversifying their business and range of services. Good examples of this fact are Google and the 100 Best Global Brands newcomer, Facebook.
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Interbrand 100 Best Global Brands 2012 ranking
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