<b>Data Tracker:</b> Gain some, lose some

According to the latest report on global brands, technology is the largest sector by brand value

According to the latest Brand Finance report on global brands, technology is the largest sector by brand value, followed by banking, telecom, retail and auto. Chinese BFSI brands have been big gainers through the year and are now a powerful force to reckon with. At the same time, changing customer perceptions and tastes have led to big valuation drops for several big brands 

• AT&T saw its brand value grow 45 per cent this year to $97 billion, overtaking Verizon as the most valuable telecom brand

• Financial services brands comprise 20 per cent of the Global 500; China’s ICBC dethroned Wells Fargo as the most valuable financial brand

• American payment service providers Visa and Mastercard enjoyed an 81 per cent and 58 per cent increase in brand value, respectively as their core markets continued to move towards a cashless society

• Coca-Cola was the world’s most valuable brand across all industries in 2007, with a brand value of $43.1bn. But increasing concerns over the links between carbonated drinks and obesity have led brand values to drop. Pepsi is suffering too, for the same reasons

• The same trend is evident in the fast food industry. Brand values of McDonald’s, KFC, Subway and Domino’s have all fallen 

• Lego has regained its status as the world’s most powerful brand, based on Brand Finance’s Brand Strength Index (BSI) assessment. Lego made a comeback after being nearly wiped out a few years back 

• Lego scores highly on a range of metrics such familiarity, loyalty, promotion, marketing investment, staff satisfaction and corporate reputation. The Lego movies have helped build the brand’s reputation globally

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Methodology: Brand Finance calculates the values of the brands in its league tables using the ‘Royalty relief approach’. This approach involves estimating the likely future sales that are attributable to a brand and calculating a royalty rate that would be charged for the use of the brand, i.e. what the owner would have to pay for the use of the brand—assuming it were not already owned. This involves a 7-step process whereby the brand strength is calculated and a royalty rate derived and applied to arrive at the final ranking

Source: Brand Finance, Global 500 2017