Google topples Apple as world’s most valuable brand

Google has replaced Apple as the most valuable brand in the world, according to the 2014 BrandZ report from research company Millward Brown Optimor.

Google

The BrandZ rankings are based on both financial data and the views of potential and current buyers of brands.

The report shows that Apple’s brand value has plummeted by 20 per cent in the last year, to stand at £88 billion.

MBO analyists put this down to a ‘slowdown’ at the tech giant, and says there is ‘a growing perception that it is no longer redefining technology for consumers, reflected by a lack of dramatic new product launches’.

Google, meanwhile, has seen its brand value increase by 40 per cent in the last year, and is now worth £94 billion.

Nick Cooper, managing director of MBO, says, ‘Google has been hugely innovative in the last year with Google Glass, investments in artificial intelligence and a multitude of partnerships that see its Android operating system becoming embedded in other goods such as cars.

‘All this activity sends a very strong signal to consumers about what Google is about and it has coincided with a slowdown at Apple.’

Elsewhere in the top five brands, IBM holds its place at third, Microsoft has jumped from seventh to fourth, and McDonald’s is down one place to fifth.

MBO says the combined value of the 100 most valuable brands as nearly doubled since the BrandZ ranking was first produced in 2006. The top 100 brands are now worth £1.7 trillion.

The BrandZ top ten most valuable global brands 2014
Rank 2014  Brand  Category  Brand Value 2014 (£) Brand Value change  Rank 2013
 1  Google  Technology  94 billion  +40%  2
 2  Apple  Technology  88 billion  -20%  1
 3  IBM  Technology  64 billion  -4%  3
 4  Microsoft  Technology  53 billion  +29%  7
 5  McDonald’s  Fast Food  51 billion  -5%  4
 6  Coca-Cola  Soft drinks  48 billion  +3%  5
 7  Visa  Credit cards  47 billion  +41%  9
 8  AT&T  Telecomms  46 billion  +3%  6
 9  Marlboro  Tobacco  40 billion  -3%  8
 10  Amazon  Retail  38 billion  +41%  14

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You can read the 2014 BrandZ report in full here.

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