“Brands are the most valuable intangible assets in business today. They drive demand, motivate staff, secure business partners and reassure financial markets. Leading edge organizations recognize the need to understand brand equity and brand value when making strategic decisions”
Walmart Stores Inc. (Walmart) is the world’s largest public corporation by revenue, according to the Fortune Global 500 ranking. Walmart serves customers and club members more than 200 million times per week at more than 8,000 retail units under 53 different banners in 15 countries. The company operates in three business segments:
Walmart U.S. and Sam’s Club in the United States, and Walmart International in 14 countries. The brand value of Walmart has risen marginally by 1.8%. Although there is a fall in the benchmarking score and the royalty rate which has a negative effect on brand value, the discount rate has fallen which has helped negate the previous factor
Walmart is the world’s most valuable brand for the second year running, despite occasionally polarizing public opinion. The company’s management is also focused on building up its online proposition for the more upcoming growth.
Google is a multinational computing and Internet search technologies corporation that hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products. Google’s brand value has risen by 23%. Despite analysts forecasting slower growth, the company’s benchmarking score has broken the 90 barrier and the royalty rate applied has risen by 1.5%.
The world’s most popular search engine brand takes this year’s second place. Its reputation for innovation continues to grow with the launch of its Chrome Operating System and, capitalising on the growing trend for mobile telephony, the introduction of the Android phone and Google Apps.
The world’s most popular search engine brand takes this year’s second place. Its reputation for innovation continues to grow with the launch of its Chrome Operating System and, capitalising on the growing trend for mobile telephony, the introduction of the Android phone and Google Apps.
Coca-Cola Company is the world’s largest soft drinks company. The company’s drinks are sold in stores, restaurants, and vending machines in more than 200 countries. The brand value has risen by 6.5%. Despite analysts predicting a fall in growth Another round of strong volume growth in its developing markets has resulted in a 17% increase in sales and profits globally, despite a slight sales decline in its North American market.
Coke has managed to endure some challenging economic conditions by capitalizing on its substantial brand equity and maintaining strong relationships with its bottlers to provide them with greater incentives to help returns.
About IBM
International Business Machines, abbreviated to IBM, and also known as”Big Blue” is a multinational computer, technology and IT consulting corporation. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and offers infrastructure services, hosting services, and consulting services in areas ranging from mainframe computers to nanotechnology. The Company can be credited with the invention of the floppy disk, the laser printer, and the modern personal computer, amongst others. The company has eight research
laboratories worldwide and holds more patents than any other US-based technology company; it also employs scientists, engineers, consultants, and sales professionals in over 200 countries. The company’s Brand value has increased by 6.9%. A reduction in its discount rate and an increase in the benchmarking score has compensated for the fall in the applied royalty rate and analysts’ expectations regarding growth. IBM continued its expansion in to the asian region when in August 2009, it announced the launch of its China Analytics Solution Center, part of a network of global centers. In January 2010, IBM announced the completion of its acquisition of software company Lombardi, which will give it greater strength in the area of Business Process Management.
Microsoft, which is headquartered in Redmond, Washington, is a multinational computer technology corporation. The company was founded in 1975 and engages in the development, manufacturing, licensing, and the supporting of a wide range of software products for computing devices. The Microsoft Windows operating system and the Microsoft Office suite of utility software are the company’s most profitable products devices. The Microsoft Windows. Microsoft’s Brand value has increased by 9%. This is mainly attributable to a reduction in the discount rate as well as the company being able to maintain its benchmarking score in the mid 90’s. In April 2009, the company reported the first year-over-year quarterly revenue decline since it first issued stock to the public in 1986. In October 2009, Microsoft released the much-hyped Windows 7 operating system which is the successor to the Vista operating system. The system aimed to refine the pre-existing software with performance enhancements and ease of use with Windows 7, rather than a complete overhaul of Windows. It received mostly positive reviews and by January 2010, the company announced that it had sold more than 60 million Windows 7 licenses. Microsoft recently announced that it was in talks with Apple to replace Google as the default search engine on the iPhone.
The rivalry between Google and Microsoft is one of the most prominent power struggles in the IT industry. Last year both companies were neck to neck. Google has leapt ahead with growth in brand value of 24% compared with Microsoft’s 10% resulting in Google overtaking Microsoft and becoming the 2nd most valuable brand in the world. The IT/Software sector as a whole has seen considerable growth in brand value with Amazon.com being a significant contributor as well by almost doubling its value. Google’s Android was adapted by many mobile phone vendors whereas Windows Mobile 7 is yet to be released. In addition, Google has been working with Verizon in order to provide real competition to Apple’s iPhone in the US. Google is preparing itself for a world where people are increasingly reliant on their phones for internet access. The company’s new Nexus One ‘superphone’, the Android operating system, and the telecommunication service Google voice all signal a change in how they believe consumers will connect to the web and this foresight is one of the reasons that the company has surpassed Microsoft in our rankings Brand ranking.
With economies gradually recovering from the global recession, Banks have seen considerable rises in their brand value as consumers are steadily regaining confidence. In terms of relative performance, Santander has outperformed HSBC with an increase in brand value of 136% and 12% respectively. Santander’s many subsidiaries are being rebranded under the international name, even in some cases despite a strong individual identity, to open them up to greater opportunities and new relationships. This has been implemented in both Santander’s large footprint in South America and also in the UK in the case of Abbey and Bradford and Bingley. HSBC has been achieving their brand congruence by altering existing product branding to ensure the inclusion of the distinctive red and white hexagon and strap line “The world’s local bank”.
The growth in Heineken’s brand value exceeded Budweiser with an increase of 25% compared to Budweiser at 11%. In terms of the absolute brand value of alcoholic beverages, Budweiser remains ahead of the competition with Heineken a distant second and the rest even further behind. The combined brand values of alcoholic beverages in the global 500 have grown 20% over the year. However Budweiser’s brand value growth accounted for half of this with much of the rest being made up of brands such as Corona that have major operation in developing regions. Heineken has been unable to match Budweiser’s growth, being slow to react to the growing market opportunities in Asia. It only managed to reach a similar position half way through December, and was unable to show any significant gains in 2009.
