Despite Domination by Tech Firms, Coke Remains Most Valuable Global Brand for 12th Year
Coca-cola retained for the 12th straight year the No. 1 spot on the annual 100 global brands list published Tuesday.
Besides Coke, the list was dominated by tech companies. One of the most prominent brands to move up dramatically in the list is Apple, which manufactures the iPhone, iPad and iPod. It moved up to eighth from 17th.
Jez Frampton, chief executive of Interbrand, which draws the annual list, said Coke held on to its top place for over a decade because of its strong brand images -- everything from advertising and communications to the beverage firm's organisational culture.
Coke, valued at $71.8 billion, was followed by IBM, Microsoft, Google, Intel and Hewlett-Packard. IBM and Microsoft are on also on top of the list of the world's most valued companies based on their market capitalisation, at second and third places. The first position is held by Apple.
Frampton attributed Apple's phenomenal rise to the tech firm's creation of an entire lifestyle and way of living, despite the departure of Steve Jobs due to health reasons.
"Looking at global intentions to purchase tablets, 85 per cent of people considering a table say that they want to buy an iPad.... There isn't a single other competitor above 5 per cent," he told the The Sydney Morning Herald.
Samsung has emerged as Apple's strongest competitor in smartphone and tablet computer sales. A legal battle rages between the two firms in Australia, Asia, Europe and the U.S.
The emergence of smartphones had caused phone maker Nokia, which uses the outdated Symbian operating system for its 3G phones, to tumble down to 14th from eighth place in the list.
Also considered a fast-rising star is Google, which retained its 4th spot with a 27 per cent rise in its value to $55 billion. Google is now just $4 billion short of third-place Microsoft, whose value went down 3 per cent to $59 billion.
Interbrand bases its rankings on amount of profits companies make on the strength of their brands, using a formula that combines the brand's future strength and its role in creating demand among consumers.
