Apple has retained its title as the world’s most valuable brand, though its brand value growth of one per cent was dwarfed by that of Samsung, which saw its value increase by 51 per cent.
The annual report by Millward Brown’s firm Brandz has revealed Apple’s brand value grew to US$185.75 billion to retain top spot, with the number two spot taken by Google, whose value increased by 5 per cent to US$113.669 billion.
Yet the growth of both company’s brand values was pale in comparison to Samsung, which saw 51 per cent growth to US$21 billion, climbing to 30th in the rankings.
“Vying for leadership in the smartphone market, Samsung fuelled its huge increase in brand value by balancing a remarkable period of innovation with growing market share – it spent $1.6 billion more on advertising in the last year,” said Nick Cooper, managing director of Millward Brown Optimor.
Tech companies filled the top three positions in the rankings, with IBM in third, leading Brandz to conclude technology was crucial to the economies of many countries.
“We continue to see many technology brands at the top of our ranking and there is little doubt that technology has become the lifeblood of our modern economy,” Millward Brown’s global chief executive officer (CEO) Eileen Campbell said.
Brandz has also revealed the top 100 brands had increased their total value by nine per cent to US$2.6 trillion, compared to last year’s growth of one per cent.
“Last year, we saw negligible growth in the value of the BrandZ™ Top 100, a cause for concern in the marketing community,” noted Campbell.
Africa was represented in the top 100 by South Africa’s MTN Group in 79th, growing its brand value by 23 per cent and rising nine places in the process.
