Apple Becomes World's Most Valuable Brand, Ending Google's Four-Year Term at the Top, Says WPP's BrandZ

New York (ots/PRNewswire) - Registering a staggering 84
percent increase in value over the past year, Apple has emerged as
the most valuable brand in the world, ending the four-year reign of
Google at the top of the table in the sixth annual BrandZ Top 100
Most Valuable Global Brands study.

The Apple brand, as calculated by Millward Brown Optimor, a WPP
[NASDAQ: WPPGY] company, has increased in value by 859 percent since
2006 and now stands at $153.3 billion. Other key findings in the
study are that during the economic recovery of the last year, the
combined value of all the brands in the top 100 has risen by 17
percent and is now worth $2.4 trillion. In terms of geography,
according to the 2011 BrandZ study, 19 of the Top 100 brands now
originate in "BRICs" markets, versus only two in 2006.

"The importance of brand for global business success is becoming
increasingly significant," said David Roth at WPP. "In the last year,
the global economy shifted from recovery to real growth, the combined
value of all brands in the Top 100 ranking has risen by 64 percent
since 2006 and is now worth $2.4 trillion. Strong brands, while not
immune to the vicissitudes of the market, are more protected,
prepared, resourceful and resilient."

The BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands study,
commissioned by WPP and conducted by Millward Brown Optimor,
identifies and ranks the world's most valuable 100 brands by their
dollar value, an analysis based on financial data combined with
consumer measures of brand equity.

The Most Valuable Global Brands 2011

Rank Brand Value in $ million Brand Value change from 2010
1 Apple 153,285 +84%
2 Google 111,498 -2%
3 IBM 100,849 +17%
4 McDonald's 81,016 +23%
5 Microsoft 78,243 +2%
6 Coca-Cola* 73,752 +8%
7 at&t 69,916 -
8 Marlboro 67,522 +18%
9 China Mobile 57,326 +9%
10 GE 50,318 +12%

*The Brand Value of Coca-Cola includes Lites, Diets and Zero

"Our brand valuations are a powerful measure of an organization's
ability to create real and lasting value for shareholders." said
Eileen Campbell, CEO of brand research company Millward Brown. "By
nurturing its brand and constantly innovating, Apple is able to
command a high price premium and weather economic turbulence,
providing a global business success story that other brands can learn
from."

"Business leaders can embrace brand management as a critical
competency for building long-term financial value," she added.
"Compared with an overall improvement of 13 percent in the world's
equity markets during 2010, the best brands grew their value 30
percent faster.

Other key findings highlighted in this year's research report
include:

- One in five brands is from the BRICs: This year, 19 brands come
from emerging markets compared to two in 2006 and 13 in 2010. The
growing presence of brands from BRICs in this global ranking
highlights the expanding purchasing power of people in these
countries. While many of these brands are buoyed by the size of their
local customer base, many more now have international ambition
including Petrobras in Brazil (No. 61 in the ranking with a brand
value of $13.4 billion); ICICI Bank in India (No. 53 and worth $14.9
billion) and China's largest search engine Baidu. Now listed on the
NASDAQ index, Baidu has a brand value of $22.5 billion and moves up
46 places in the ranking to number 29. Despite these successes,
consumers in the BRIC regions continue to favor Western brands. Louis
Vuitton, for example, (for which Brazil is its second-largest market)
benefited from the new energy and confidence in the BRICs region. Its
23 percent growth in brand value to $24.3 billion has helped this
luxury retailer achieve 26th place in the ranking, a three-spot
increase from 2010.

- Heritage brands stay relevant in a technology age: Coca-Cola
(No. 6), GE (No. 10), IBM (No. 3) and McDonald's (No. 4), stand out
in this study of global brand strength as brands that have survived
for more than 50 years. Leadership, strategy and tactics aside, what
all of these companies have in common is their use of brand to remain
relevant to consumers and drive global business success.

- Technology and telecom brands dominate the ranking: Technology
brands, which make up one-third of the Top 100 brands, continue to
demonstrate their relevance in our daily lives. While Apple leads the
ranking, it is followed in second place by Google, with a brand value
of $111.5 billion, and IBM in third place with a brand value of
$100.9 billion. Facebook makes its debut in the Top 100 ranking this
year at No. 35 with the highest increase in brand value, 246 percent,
making the brand worth $19.1 billion. Online retailer Amazon also
edged past Walmart to become the No. 1 retail brand and 14th overall,
with a 37 percent rise in brand value to $37.6 billion.

- Fast food, luxury and technology brands led brand value
appreciation: Each of the 13 market sectors covered in this study
grew in value over the last year. Fast food led the sector growth (22
percent) followed by luxury (19 percent) and technology (18 percent).
The oil and gas sector experienced the slowest rate of growth (1
percent).

- Tech and convergence create brand interdependencies: Brands are
ever more dependent on their use of technology to win consumers'
hearts and minds. The brand values of Burberry, Chanel, Louis Vuitton
and Coca-Cola all benefited from their use of technology for example
by harnessing social media and apps. At the same time, the
dependencies demonstrated in the physical world between applications,
devices and operating platforms are creating similar branded
interdependencies. Brands that are aware of the risks can leverage
these associations to drive value and growth.

- Toyota reclaims position as most valuable car brand
demonstrating the power of strong brands to recover from the most
fundamental challenges to product efficacy and reputation. Toyota's
brand, which is rated by consumers as "great value," rose 11 percent
to $24.1 billion.

The BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands study is the only
valuation in the world that takes into account what people think
about the brands they buy alongside rigorous analysis of financial
data, market valuations, analyst reports and risk profiles. The
research report, which is available online, includes a ranking and
analysis of the Top 10 most valuable brands for key regions of the
world and 13 market sectors. Download the complete BrandZ ranking
(http://www.millwardbrown.com/brandz), including regional and
category breakdowns. The rankings and a great deal more are also
available as a free application for the iPhone, iPad, Nokia,
BlackBerry and Android from http://www.brandz.com/mobile

Contacts
Teresa Horscroft
Eureka Communications
(T) +44(0)1420-564346
(M) +44(0)7990-520390
(E): teresa@eurekacomms.co.uk
Miquet Humphryes
Associate Director, Global Communications and Marketing, Millward Brown
(T) +44(0)1926-826179
(E) Miquet.Humphryes@millwardbrown.com

Notes to Editors:
(http://www.millwardbrown.com/brandz/boilerplate)

ots Originaltext: Millward Brown
Im Internet recherchierbar: http://www.presseportal.de

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