Apple news yet again, all this amidst its better than expected financial report for 2016 which allowed the iPhone maker to regain top spot in the global smartphone sales ahead of Samsung. But as a brand the once most valuable brand in the world title has suffered under Tim Cook, and the position no longer belongs to Steve Jobs creation.
Google’s brand value rose by 24% during 2016 from US$88.2bn to US$109.4bn whilst Apple’s declined from $145.9bn to $107.1bn, according to the latest Brand Finance Global 500 report. Google last occupied the position of the world’s most valuable brand in 2011. The company remains largely unchallenged in its core search business, the mainstay of its advertising income. Ad revenues were up 20% in 2016 as budgets are increasingly directed online and Google finds more innovative ways to monetise users.
David Haigh, CEO of Brand Finance, said: “Apple has struggled to maintain its technological advantage, with new iterations of the iPhone delivering diminishing returns, while the Chinese market is now crowded with local competitors. Apple has been living on borrowed time for several years by exploiting its accumulated brand equity. This underlines one of the many benefits of a strong brand, but Apple has finally taken it too far.”
Every year, the valuation and strategy consultancy values the brands of thousands of the world’s biggest companies. They are first evaluated to determine their power / strength (based on factors such as marketing investment, familiarity, loyalty, staff satisfaction and corporate reputation). Strength is used to determine what proportion of a business’s revenue is contributed by the brand, which is projected into perpetuity to determine the brand’s value. The results of this analysis are ranked, with the world’s 500 most valuable brands featured in the Brand Finance Global 500.
Lego on the other hand has regained its status as the world’s most powerful brand. The building blocks for Lego’s brand strength have always been present but the release of the Lego Movie in 2014 provided the final push required to make Lego the world’s most powerful brand in 2015. The first sequel, the Lego Batman Movie will be released on February 9th. Its predicted impact has helped Lego regain its top position, lost to Disney in 2016. Further planned releases will continue to build the brand for years to come, while contributing significantly to Lego’s already vast licensing income.
