Airtel slides as peers rise in global brand ranking

Airtel is 89th this year, down 18 ranks from last year, in the Top 100 Global Brands report by WPP Group company Millward Brown

The brand value of India's largest telecom operator by subscribers, Bharti Airtel, slid 13 per cent to $10.05 billion (Rs 55,710 crore), according to the latest Top 100 Global Brands report by WPP Group company Millward Brown.

Millward Brown is a brand valuation and consultancy firm that comes out with the BrandZ  Report every year.

Airtel and ICICI Bank, incidentally, were the only Indian brands on the list this year, which combines consumer research and financial analyses to arrive at the results. BrandZ covers two million consumers and more than 10,000 brands in about 30 countries, Millward Brown said.

Airtel is ranked 89th on the list this year, a drop of 18 positions over last year. India's largest private sector lender ICICI Bank, on the other hand, is ranked 59th with a brand value of $14.19 billion. It has moved up four places to occupy its current position.

The top ten global brands, according to Millward Brown, are: Apple ($185 billion) at number one, followed by Google ($113 billion), IBM ($112), McDonald’s ($90.25 billion), Coca-Cola ($78.41 billion),  AT&T ($75.50 billion), Microsoft ($69.41 billion), Marlboro ($60.38 billion), Visa ($56 billion) and Verizon ($55 billion), respectively.

Interestingly, telecom brands on the list this year were described as being “meaningful”, “different” and “salient” by consumers surveyed by Millward Brown. The company also said in these aspects, the top telecom brands, including AT&T, China Mobile and Verizon, outdid many other international names on the list.

“The essential and pervasive nature of communications in our lives has shown in the BrandZ research in the brand increase in brand equity strength among the top telecom brands,” Millward Brown said.

Some of the other telecom brands on this year’s list include Vodafone, Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Movistar, MTN and MTS. While Vodafone, Deutsche Telkom, Orange and Moviestar saw their brand values erode by eight to 22 per cent, MTN retained its position in the top 100, moving up nine places from 88 to 79 with a positive brand value change of 23 per cent.

MTS saw its brand value improve 11 per cent to $10.63 billion.