Apple has maintained its place as the world's
most valuable brand over the past year, leading a group of
technology-related companies that dominate the top 10, according to a
study published on Tuesday. The iPhone and iPad maker has boosted its
brand value by 19 percent in the past year to $183 billion, or 37
percent of its market capitalisation, according to the annual BrandZ
study by leading brands and market-research agency Millward Brown.
Facebook, with a market value of $82 billion after its initial public
offering last week, was the fastest climber in the top 100, seeing its
brand value rise by 74 percent to $33.2 billion to put it in 19th place.
Seven of the top 10 were technology-related firms, although
McDonald's and Coca-Cola kept their respective number four and number
six rankings. Marlboro moved up a notch to seventh place despite
anti-smoking campaigns in much of the world.
Nick Cooper, managing director of Millward Brown Optimor which
produced the study, said the strength of technology brands was a measure
of the central and transformative role it plays in contemporary life.
"It's all pervading," Cooper told Reuters, "and there's a lot of
excitement and new news. This is where it's all happening. That tends to
increase not only the demand and financial performance but also the
role of brand."
Millward Brown, part of global advertising group WPP, takes as its
starting point the financial value of the company or the part of the
company that produces the brand, and combines it with the brand's
ability to create loyalty.
"When cars first appeared or when air travel first appeared, they
became liberating. It's the turn of the technology sector at the
moment," said Cooper.
Business technology brands also featured prominently in the top 10,
with IBM switching places with Google to rise to second place. Microsoft
kept its position at number five.
Cooper said the so-called consumerisation of IT, in which business
hardware and software makers increasingly have to come up to the
standards that consumers are used to in their private lives, played a
role.
"The brands that are generally demonstrating the best growth are
those that tend to be occupying spaces where there is a lot more
intuitive natural use, where the consumer experience is informing the
B2B experience rather than the other way around."
Mobile phone brands AT&T as number eight, Verizon as number nine, followed by China Mobile completed the top 10.
Cooper said, however, some technology brands were vulnerable to
public opinion swinging against them, especially over emotive issues
such as privacy, where Facebook and Google have already suffered a
backlash for gathering large amounts of user data.
"Consumer technology is receiving the same kind of scrutiny once
reserved for banks and brands will have to respond convincingly to
increasing regulatory oversight. This may impact social brands like
Facebook in the future," he said.
Cooper added that Apple's increasing its brand value despite the
death of its visionary founder Steve Jobs in the past year was
extraordinary.
"They are catchable but they've either got to falter or someone else has got to put on a sprint," he said.
No comments:
Post a Comment