Highlights from the Best Global Brands Report

The Best Global Brands report from Interbrand highlights a few interesting business trends.

For more than 15 years, consulting firm Interbrand has compiled a list of the 100 most valuable brands according to three main criteria: the financial performance of the brand, its impact on a consumer’s purchasing decision, and how it stacks up against the competition. While it might seem somewhat arbitrary, the results tend to fall in line with consumers’ perception of these brands.

It shouldn’t come as any surprise that the two most powerful brands on the planet are Apple and Google (in that order). Here is a snapshot of the top 32 brands according to the report:

Facebook, which last appeared at #29, has jumped up to #23, largely (almost entirely) due to the fact that the brand’s market value has increased by 54%.

It also doesn’t take an experienced consultant to notice something interesting about this list. While there are familiar brands like Coca-Cola, GE and Budweiser on the list, there is a particularly high number of tech companies featured.

In fact, if you were to review the full list, which can be found here, you would find that 28 of the top 100 are tech companies. That’s the most we’ve ever seen on this list and, perhaps more importantly, the tech industry makes up the largest grouping of companies on the list.

With nearly a third of the top 100 brands falling into the tech space, it is interesting to see what types of companies command the most power on the brand side. It also leads to a better understanding of why so many non-tech brands, like Ford, are beginning to focus heavily on the technological integration into their products (and, of course, their marketing).

The benefit of a report like this one is that it indicates to marketers and brands where the priorities of consumers lie. From there, adapting to their tastes and preferences becomes significantly easier, and developing products, campaigns and initiatives that resonate at a very deep level comes within reach.

For more on the report or to review the findings for yourself, visit the Interbrand website.