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Google topples Apple in brand stakes

Nicola Mawson
By Nicola Mawson, Contributor.
Johannesburg, 22 May 2014
Google's brand value grew 40% between 2013 and 2014.
Google's brand value grew 40% between 2013 and 2014.

Google has become the most valuable brand in the world, topping rival Apple to pole position in Millward Brown's latest research into the world's most valuable brands.

Its BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands 2014 report finds Google's value leapt 40% last year, to $159 billion, while Apple's lost 20%, to $148 billion. Apple had reportedly held the top spot for three years.

Chief global analyst Nigel Hollis, in a blog post, writes that for Google to regain the top spot in the rankings, its brand growth had to be "impressive". He notes the combined value of the Top 100, year-on-year, gained 12%, a rate that is double the average seen since the 2008 financial crisis.

Hollis notes: "Facebook grew 68%, but that was not enough to claim the fastest riser title, which goes to the Chinese portal, Tencent, which grew in brand value by 97%; making it the most valuable Asian and Chinese brand in the world."

Millward Brown says the technology category, which rose 16% in the 2014 BrandZ Global 100, represents nearly a third of the total brand value and almost a fifth of all brands. This category has grown 143% in brand value since the ranking began in 2006.

Of the top 10 brands that grew most in brand value since 2006, five are in the technology category, says Millward Brown. During those eight years, Apple increased in value by $131.9 billion, or 826%, followed by Google with a 324%, or $121.4 billion, rise in brand value, it says.

"The top 100 are resilient. Since the financial crisis, the BrandZ Global Top 100 brands have strengthened in each component of brand equity, which is the consumer's predisposition to select a brand.

"Most of the growth stories in the top 100 owe their success to one of two factors - innovation or a resumption of consumer spending - and in many cases both," says Hollis.

"While companies like Twitter, LinkedIn and PayPal (all new entrants) have benefited from the shift to digital services, Visa, Amazon and MasterCard have all benefited from resumed consumer spending. Brands like Disney, Starbucks and Ikea have added geographic expansion into the mix to achieve substantial growth."

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