According to a carefully followed yearly report, Apple is the new most valued brand in the world. The report, to be rolled out today, is from Interbrand, a business identity and brand consulting corporation owned by the Omnicom Group that has been bringing together what it calls the Best Global Brands report from last 13 years. In 2012, No. 1 brand was Coca-Cola which fell to No. 3 this year.
Not only has Apple swapped Coca-Cola as first amongst the 100 most respected brands based on norms that comprise monetary performance and this is the very first time that the soft drink maker known for slogans like “It’s the real thing” has not been chosen as No. 1 Brand of the year.
Both Google and Apple are top gainers in 2013’s list, with the worth of Apple’s brand expected at $98.3 billion, a 28 percent growth from 2012. Google has a projected value of $93.3 billion, which signifies a 34 percent yearly rise. The worth of the Coca-Cola brand also rose, by 2 percent to $79.2 billion, but that was not enough to provide Coca-Cola a 14th year as Interbrand’s most loved brand.
Apple’s entrance in the top spot was possibly “a matter of time,” Jez Frampton, global chief executive at Interbrand, said in a recent interview. Apple was No. 2 in 2012, rising from No. 8 in the 2011 report.
“What is it they say, ‘Long live the king’?” Mr. Frampton asked. “This year, the king is Apple.”
The 2013 report begins: “Every so frequently, a business changes our lives, not just with what it produces, but with its philosophy as well. This is why, succeeding Coca-Cola’s 13-year run at the top of Best Global Brands, Interbrand has a new No. 1 this time — Apple.”
Although “Coca-Cola is an efficient, outstanding brand marketer, no doubt about it,” Mr. Frampton said, Apple and other leading technology brands have become “very much the poster child of the marketing community.”
In fact, out of the top 10 Best Global Brands for 2013, 5 are technology corporations: Apple; Google; Microsoft, No. 5, unmoved from last year; Samsung, 8, equated with 9th position in 2012; and Intel, 9, equated with 8 last year.
Samsung’s climb followed the corporation’s implementation of an innovative and fresh brand policy called the Brand Ideal, which comprises “a greater focus on social purpose,” Sue Shim, executive vice president and chief marketing officer at Samsung, said by e-mail. That mirrored research signifying American buyers would switch brands to “one that was related with enlightening people’s lives,” she added.
IBM, now No. 4 in 2013, down a score from 2012 — is rated as a business services brand. Else, technology brands would account for six in the top 10.
“Brands like Apple and Google and Samsung are changing our behavior: how we buy, how we communicate with each other, even whether we speak with each other,” Mr. Frampton said. “They have literally changed the way we live our lives.”
Amongst other transformative technology trademarks that did well in the new report was Facebook, which ascended to 52 from 69 in 2012, its very first year of the inclusion in the list.
However, not all technology brands fared well. BlackBerry, which tumbled last year to 93 from 56 in 2011, has disappeared from the list. And Nokia, which dropped to 19 from 14 in 2011, finished this year in 57th place — “the biggest faller” among the 100, Mr. Frampton said.
If it is solace, Coca-Cola rests far ahead of Google and Apple and in likes on Facebook fan pages. Coca-Cola has 73.2 million likes, equated with 15.1 million for Google and 9.8 million for Apple.
