Recently, Forbes Magazine released its list of the world’s 100 most valuable brands for 2013. Among the many lessons taken from the list, the most important is that technology companies are still king, with 19 brands representing the industry, including four of the top five. The automotive industry was also well represented with 11 brands on the list, which tied the financial services industry and was one less than the consumer packaged goods industry.
Unsurprisingly, Apple topped the list in dominating fashion with a brand value of $104.3 billion, which nearly doubled the $56.7 billion brand value of second-ranked rival Microsoft. IBM came in fourth with a $50.7 billion value, edging out fifth-ranked Google’s $47.3 billion value.
The last two tech brands in the top 10, coming in at eighth and ninth, respectively, were Intel and Samsung, with the latter’s value growing 53 percent from last year – the highest growth on the list. Other notable tech brands throughout the list included Cisco Systems (no. 12), Oracle (no. 13), Amazon (no. 33), Facebook (no. 36), Ebay (no. 56), Nintendo (no. 63) and Sony (no. 80).
Worldwide powerhouses represented the automotive industry on the list, with BMW topping the group at no. 11 thanks to a $27.9 billion brand value. Toyota and direct rival Mercedes-Benz were not far behind at no. 14 and no. 16, respectively, thanks to brand values of $25.6 billion for the Japanese automaker and 23.5 billion for the other German brand. Honda was the next automotive brand on the list, ranked 20th with a $21.1 billion value.
The next automotive brand did not appear on the list until Audi at no. 43, immediately followed by the only U.S. automaker in the rankings, Ford, at no. 44, thanks to a 34-percent growth from the previous year. Next on the list was Volkswagen at No. 62 with an $8.1 billion value. Rounding out the list from the automotive world was Lexus (no. 73), Nissan (no. 78), Hyundai (no. 81) and Porsche (no. 95).
In all, automotive brands combined for a total value of $153.8 billion, or an average of about $14 billion. German auto brands combined for nearly half that totally with a $76.1 billion value, while Japanese brands combined for a value of $60.6 billion.
The non-tech brands rounding out the top 10 included Coca-Cola at no. 3 ($54.9 billion), McDonald’s at no. 6 ($39.4 billion), General Electric at no. 7 ($34.2 billion) and luxury retailer Louis Vuitton at no. 10 ($28.4 billion).
Forbes determined a brand’s value by looking at the financial numbers, calculating earnings and evaluating the role branding plays in their respective industry. The magazine also only looked at global brands with a presence in the U.S. In all, over half the brands on the list were based in the U.S. Only Germany came the closest with nine. France and Japan had the next-most representatives at eight and seven brands, respectively.
The complete, sortable list can be found at http://www.forbes.com/powerful-brands/list.
