The increase of 5.9% in total value of Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands despite the economic, social and personal impacts of COVID-19 indicates that the brands dominated by technology companies are more resilient and less volatile in the current crisis.
The BrandZ 2020 total brand value increase showed additional $277bn of brand value growth over the past year.
According to the latest BrandZ ranking released by WPP and Kantar, the total brand value of the Top 100 global brands reached $5 trillion, “equivalent to the annual GDP of Japan. It has increased by 245% since 2006, when the total brand value first reached US$1 trillion”.
Technology brands continued to dominate the top of the ranking, representing over a third (37%) of brand value in the Top 100 and growing overall by 10%.
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Amazon, a retail company maintained its position as the world’s most valuable brand, growing 32% to $415.9bn. Having first entered the BrandZ Global Top 100 Most Valuable Brands ranking in 2006, Amazon’s value grew by almost $100bn this year and accounts for a third of the Top 100’s total growth.
The ranking showed that Apple maintained its position as the second most valuable global brand (+14%, $352.2bn) while Microsoft regained the no. 3 position (+30%, $326.5bn) ahead of Google (+5%, $323.6bn) at no. 4, due to the growth of its cloud-enabled workplace ecosystem that incorporates Office365 and Microsoft Teams, allowing people to maintain ‘business as usual’ during the lockdown.
Asian brands represented a quarter of the Top 100 brands, including 17 Chinese brands. Alibaba (+16%, no. 6, $152.5bn) was the most valuable Chinese brand with Internet services giant, Tencent (+15%, no. 7, $151bn) one place behind.
MasterCard entered the Top 10 for the first time this year, due to strong financial performance, supported by growing brand equity especially in engaging consumers: successfully fitting into the ‘ecosystem’ of their everyday lives and gaining a close emotional connection through its purposeful positioning
Adeola Tejumola, CEO East, West & Central Africa, Insights Division at Kantar in the report said “The BrandZ report highlights the growing power of tech with the online world enabling virtual connection, shopping and remote working.
“COVID-19 has plunged many into the digital world headfirst, and many of these new behaviours are likely to stay in the next normal, so tech-savvy brands in Nigeria that can enable these behaviours are likely to benefit in the long run”. he said.
Doreen Wang, Global Head of BrandZ at Kantar, also said “Innovation has proven to be a key driver for growth in this year’s Top 100, and a way to prevent decline.
