Page 7 - Connecting Media, Technology And Brands To Tomorrow's Consumer

Section 01
Highlights // INTRODUCTION & KEY RESULTS
HIGHLIGHTS
Categories and Brand Value fluctuations
The category leaders in brand value appreciation, technology and retail, experienced periods of transition. Both
rose 24 percent in Brand Value, but for different reasons. The brand value rise of the technology category reveals how effectively both business-to-consumer and business- to-business technology brands adjusted to change.
Brands with large business-to-business operations, such as Intel and HP, grew in Brand Value following years of reinvention in the transition to cloud computing and new business models. The Apple and Microsoft brands experienced confidence in new leadership. The iPhone success silenced skepticism that Apple post-Steve Jobs would sustain innovative leadership. In the first year under its new CEO, Microsoft refreshed its culture and exhibited greater willingness
to be more open and collaborative with its partners and customers.
In contrast, the retail category brand value rise reflects the inclusion of Alibaba rather than the overall brand value health of the category. Without Alibaba, the category rose just 2 percent as e-commerce and changing shopping attitudes continued to transform retail. Walmart, with over 11,000 stores worldwide, ranks third in the category following two brands that operate no physical stores – Alibaba and Amazon.
Just about every category experienced the pressure of changing consumer attitudes, in part driven by the growing influence of the millennial generation. In the soft drinks, fast food and personal care categories, brands responded to consumer concerns about healthier ingredients. Category leaders like Coca-Cola and McDonald’s introduced new products and communications to address these issues.
Increasing importance of brand
This 10th Anniversary edition of the BrandZTM Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands reveals that brand became more important during the past 10 years as a way to survive and flourish through difficult times and amid heightened competition.
The global financial crisis of 2008 and 2009 bisected the decade. It impacted certain categories more than others. The global banks and cars categories still have not rebounded fully to their pre-recession level. However, no category was spared from the post-recession shift to less conspicuous and more conscious consumption.
Some brands were better than others at navigating these challenges. These brands typically were Salient, coming readily to mind as consumers made purchasing decisions. In addition, but most succinctly, Difference made the difference. Brands able to communicate a genuine and meaningful difference experienced greater brand value success.
Difference became more important as categories projected more sameness. Sameness was partially a function of success. Car performance and safety
is better than ever, for example. Mid-
level models offer driving and comfort technology features similar to those of luxury cars. Car brands worked to define areas of difference, and they weren’t alone.
Over the past 10 years, the BrandZTM Global Top 100 brands rose steadily in being seen
as Different, Meaningful and Salient, the components of Brand Power, one of the BrandZTM metrics of brand equity. Recently, however, the Different and Meaningful scores leveled while Salience continued to rise.
Along with Difference, purpose was important. Across categories, brands that enjoyed strong value increase often showed that they improved the life of the consumer in some way. In some cases, brands articulated a higher purpose that involved improving not only the life of the consumer but also the wellbeing of the world.
In fast food, Chipotle advanced its promise of healthier ingredients by removing items with genetically modified food from its menu. Chipotle rose 44 percent in Brand Value. Personal care brands continued
to emphasize healthier ingredients. Dove continued its campaign to redefine beauty more inclusively.
Brand Value growth shifts to Asia
The greatest brand value growth came from Asia, specifically China. Ten years ago only one Chinese brand ranked in the BrandZTM Global Top 100 – China Mobile, a state-owned telecoms provider. Today 14 Chinese brands rank in the Top 100. Most of them, not surprisingly, are state- owned enterprises in financial services, oil and gas and telecommunications.
However, four of the brands are market- driven companies without state ownership, and they’re in technology – Tencent, Alibaba, Baidu and Huawei. Tencent and Baidu grew in brand value 43 percent
and 35 percent, respectively. Alibaba and Huawei are newcomers to the BrandZTM Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands.
Since 2006, the value of Chinese brands in the BrandZTM Global Top 100 has grown 1,004 percent. The shift in brand value growth to Asia, the emergence of valuable publicly-owned brands even in China, and the dominance of technology indicate a lot of about the future of brands and brand building over the next 10 years.
KEY RESULTS
Top line year-on-year and 10-year changes
Brand Value rises 14 percent year-on-year
The total value of the BrandZTM Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands 2015 rose 14 percent. The increase followed a 12 percent rise a year ago, and a 7 percent rise in the BrandZTM Global Top 100 2013 ranking.
Brand Value rises 126 percent over 10 years
In the decade since WPP launched the annual BrandZTM Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands report in 2006, Brand Value of the Global Top 100 grew 126 percent, leveling during the recession, but otherwise rising steadily.
BrandZTM stock portfolio outperforms key indexes
The BrandZTM Strong Brands Portfolio increased 102.6 percent over 10 years, between April 2006 and April 2015, outperforming both the S&P 500, which grew 63 percent, and the 30.3 percent gain of the MSCI World Index, a weighted index of global stocks. This result confirmed the power of strong brands to generate superior shareholder returns.
Apple is the world's most valuable brand
With a 67 percent rise in Brand Value to $247 billion, Apple returned to number one in
the BrandZTM Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands ranking. Success of the iPhone 6 and the related excitement surrounding the Apple brand drove the increase. Apple also led in the rate of brand value growth over 10 years – 1,446 percent.
Facebook Brand Value almost doubles
Facebook led the Top Risers with a year- on-year brand value increase of 99 percent, based on the brand’s ability to remain relevant through acquisitions and to monetize its audience of over one billion people worldwide. Two other technology brands, Apple with its 67 percent brand value increase, and Intel, up 58 percent, followed Facebook in the Top Riser ranking for 2015. Since its first appearance in the BrandZTM Global Top 100, in 2011, Facebook’s Brand Value has increased 272 percent.
Alibaba leads newcomers and retail category
Alibaba entered the BrandZTM Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands, following its record IPO. It immediately rose to number one in the retail category ahead of Amazon and Walmart. Huawei, the Chinese technology brand, also was a newcomer. Six of the seven newcomer brands are based in the Asia-Pacific region. The exception is the US warehouse store retailer Costco.
Technology and retail lead category growth with 24 percent rise
Technology and retail each increased 24 percent in Brand Value, leading all categories. Many brands contributed to the technology brand value rise. The retail result reflects
the inclusion of one brand, China’s Alibaba. Without Alibaba, retail grew only 2 percent.
Fast food leads 10-year category growth
Fast food led the categories in brand
value growth over the past decade, with
an increase of 252 percent. Four other categories outperformed the BrandZTM
Top 100's 126 percent brand value growth over the past 10 years: beer, 183 percent; technology, 175 percent; apparel, 139 percent; and telecom providers, 136 percent.
Value shifts to technology
The technology and telecom providers categories comprised 44 percent of the
total Brand Value of the BrandZTM Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands 2015 ranking, compared with just 36 percent 10 years
ago. The proportion of value generated by consumer brands in the BrandZTM Global Top 100 declined to 22 percent from 34 percent 10 years ago.
Brand value growth pace shifts to Asia
Twenty-one Asian brands comprised 17 percent of the total Brand Value of the BrandZTM Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands 2015. Despite this growth pace, North America continued to dominate the ranking. Half the brands of in the Global Top 100 are based in North America and they constitute two-thirds of its value.
China outpaces other BRICs
Fourteen of the 15 BRIC market brands in
the BrandZTM Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands 2015 were Chinese, up from just one Chinese brand 10 years ago. The Brand Value of Chinese Brands in the BrandZTM Global Top 100 increased 1,004 percent over that time. Because of the economic slowdown in Brazil and Russia, India was the only other BRIC market represented in the BrandZTM Global Top 100 this year. New to the Global Top 100, the regional bank HDFC ranked number 74.
Luxury declines 6 percent
The slower Chinese economy and the impact of government restrictions on official gift giving impacted the luxury category, which declined 6 percent in Brand Value. Global banks, the only other category that lost value, declined 2 percent.
12 BrandZTM Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands 2015
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