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The Guardian (UK): Coke is still world’s most valuable brand

The Guardian (UK): Coke is still world’s most valuable brand

“Coca-Cola was yesterday named the world’s most valuable brand for the seventh successive year in an annual ranking of the top 100.”: “Shell… 90th”

Jill Treanor

Saturday July 23, 2005

Coca-Cola was yesterday named the world’s most valuable brand for the seventh successive year in an annual ranking of the top 100.

According to the Business Week/Interbrand survey, HSBC was the highest ranking British brand, in 29th place. The banking group was also the second fastest riser in the rankings as its “world’s local bank” advertising campaign began to pay off.

The four other British names in the survey were Reuters, in 74th place, BP in 75th, vodka maker Smirnoff, part of the Diageo group, in 88th and Shell in 90th.

Jan Lindemann, managing director at branding experts Interbrand, was not surprised that only a few British names made it into the rankings. “There is a little bit of cynicism in British boardrooms about brands,” he said.

In America, he said, the marketing director tended to have much more influence in the boardroom. More than half the names in the list were from the US.

The ranking is based on the percentage of a company’s revenues that can be credited to its brand. It includes an assessment of market leadership, stability and global reach in an attempt to come up with an economic value.

The value of the Coca-Cola brand was $67.5bn (£39bn), unchanged from last year, while HSBC was $10.4bn, up 20% on the year; Heineken, in 100th place, was worth $2.3bn.

To qualify for the list, a brand must have a value greater than £1bn and derive a third of its earnings outside its home country, which eliminates companies including Visa, Wal-Mart, Mars and CNN. Airlines are ignored because their brands are difficult to separate from their routes and schedules.

According to the table, among the biggest gainers in brand value last year were HSBC, eBay, Samsung and Apple. Samsung, now 20th in the table, has posted the biggest increase over five years, of 186%.

Business Week said Samsung had boosted its brand and its position over Sony, which is 28th, by ditching its subsidiary brands such as Wiseview and Yepp to focus on Samsung itself.

The magazine highlights the importance of having a single brand globally. It cites HSBC and Swiss bank UBS for using the same advertising pitches around the world. It also credits eBay with a similar strategy.

Among the brands to fall in value during the year is American banking group Morgan Stanley, a loss of value blamed on the “very public management turmoil” that led to chief executive Philip Purcell being ousted. The management rows wiped 15% off the bank’s brand value, taking its worth to $9.7bn. While Citigroup held steady at $19.9bn, JP Morgan fell 3% after difficulties integrating its Bank One acquisition.

 http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/story/0,,1534703,00.html

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