Categories: Daily Best of the Web

The World’s 10 Most Valuable and Fastest Growing Brands

Apple has a remarkable knack for using its brand to popularise and hence monetize existing technology, as it did so successfully first with the mp3 player, smart phone and later the tablet. Critics have been silenced by the success of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus. Consumers have snapped latest models in their droves, helping Apple set records for quarterly profits ($18bn) and company value ($710bn).

“The Apple brand is worth US$128 billion,” says David Haigh, Brand Finance CEO. That value is huge not just in its own terms but also as a proportion of Apple’s record-breaking corporate valuation. It goes to show how valuable brands are as business assets and how important it is to manage them well.”

The World’s Most Valuable Brands

Brand Industry Group Domicile Brand Value 2015 (USDm) Brand Value Change (%) Brand Value 2014 (USDm) Brand Rating 2015 Brand Rating 2014
Apple Tech US 128,303 23% 104,680 AAA AAA
Samsung Conglomerate South Korea 81,716 4% 78,752 AAA- AAA
Google Tech US 76,683 12% 68,620 AAA AAA+
Microsoft Tech US 67,060 7% 62,783 AAA AAA
Verizon Telecoms US 59,843 12% 53,466 AAA- AAA-
AT&T Telecoms US 58,820 30% 45,410 AA+ AA
Amazon.com Tech US 56,124 24% 45,147 AAA- AAA-
General Electric Tech US 48,019 -9% 52,533 AA+ AA+
China Mobile Telecoms China 47,916 50% 31,845 AAA- AA+
Walmart Retail US 46,737 4% 44,779 AA+ AA+

Click here for the full table.

#FastestGrowingBrand
Twitter is the fastest growing brand; it has almost tripled its brand value in a year, increasing from $1.5 billion in early 2014 to $4.4 billion now. Fellow tech giants Baidu and Facebook have also grown strongly, by 161% and 146% respectively. The three appear to be more effectively managing the transition to mobile advertising than other tech players such as Google, boosting expectations of the financial potential of their brands.

Chipotle stands out among the many successes from the tech and telecoms sectors this year. Its brand value is up 124%. It is eating into McDonalds’ market share by positioning itself as a healthier, tastier and more ethical alternative. McDonalds’ iconic brand has lost $4bn in value this year.

Brand Industry Group Domicile Brand Value Change (%) Brand Value 2015 (USDm) Brand Value 2014 (USDm) Brand Rating 2015 Brand Rating 2018
Twitter Tech US 185% 4,366 1,533 AAA- AAA-
Baidu Tech China 161% 13,284 5,092 AA+ AA-
Facebook Tech US 146% 24,180 9,819 AAA- AA+
Chipotle Mexican Fast Food US 124% 3,147 1,403 AA+ AA
Humana Healthcare US 99% 4,810 2,413 AA- AA
priceline.com Tech US 97% 3,956 2,006 AA+ AA
Alibaba Tech China 90% 11,377 6,000 AA+ AA+
Lego Toys Denmark 69% 3,890 2,308 AAA+ AAA-
China Merchants Bank Banks China 65% 8,880 5,390 AAA- AA
HCL Tech India 63% 3,148 1,925 AA AA

Brand values for hundreds of the world’s top brands from all industries can be found on Brand Finance’s website. The full Global 500 table can be found here and infographics, further insight and analysis in the Brand Finance Global 500 report.


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