UK’s 07/08 Superbrands Top Announced

Microsoft is the UK’s number one brand for the second year running according to the UK public. Microsoft took pole position beating a resurgent Coca-Cola, which re-entered the top ten following a one-year absence. Google finished third with the BBC and BP making up the public’s top five. Brands falling out of the top ten included Porsche, Marks & Spencer, Heinz and Duracell.

The Top 10 UK brands according to the public looks like this:

1. Microsoft
2. Coca-Cola
3. Google
4. BBC
5. BP
6. British Airways
7. LEGO
8. Guinness
9. Mercedes-Benz
10. Cadbury

Is interesting that the parallel study with media and marketing experts on the independent Superbrands Council disagreed with the public, placing Google in the number one slot. Innovative brand Apple, its sub-brand iPod, car icon Mini and online auctioneers eBay completed the experts’ top five. Only three brands made both top tens, namely Google, the BBC and Coca-Cola. Here is the Expert’s Top 10: Continue reading

Millward Brown classification of Great Britain’s best-known brands in 2006

Google was the best-known brand in Great Britain in 2006, although it only spent EUR 2 million on advertising, a survey carried out by consultancy company Millward Brown indicates.

2006 was the first year when Google was included in the Millward Brown classification since 1998. The world’s most popular search engine has risen to the first place in the Great Britain top of brands; the position Google occupied comes counter to the connection Millward Brown usually set between the brands’ advertising expenses and the position in the top. Most of the EUR 2 million Google allocated to advertising last year went to online advertising, according to Nielsen Media Research data.

The second place in the top went to Microsoft, with EUR 59.6 million advertising budget; the next places went to McDonald’s (EUR 48.6 million), Nokia (EUR 26 million, the former first place in 2005) and Tesco. The remaining positions in the top ten went to Coca-Cola, Colgate, Nescaf�, Ford and Vodafone.

Millward Brown considers the brands with a potential for growth one should keep an eye on are Marks & Spencer and the Apple iPod, alongside Google, 3, Asda, Red Bull, O2, MySpace, Virgin Mobile and Starbucks. Despite the negative publicity brands such as McDonald’s and Coca-Cola were affected by in 2006, as a result of debates over obesity among children, both companies managed nevertheless to rank high in the top.

Google Tops Landor Associates Top Brands of 2006

Landor Associates, the world’s leading branding and design consultancy conducted a survey of the most popular brands among consumers, which rates the best and worst brands.

The rankings were compiled from more than 2,000 interviews carried out by a New York design agency, Landor Associates. Its managing director, Allen Adamson, said inclusivity was a critical factor for the year’s successes.

“One thing they’ve all got in common is that they appeal to multiple segments,” he said. “Google’s become the starting point for the internet experience of almost everyone – be it the chief executive or the head [lavatory] man. At Vegas, you’ve got families with kids sitting next to people who are there to escape from their families.”
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FutureLab Top 100 Online Brands

Based on the BusinessWeek/Interbrand Top Most Valuable Brands in the world, FutureLab ranks the online relevance of those brands.

The purpose: to highlight to senior executives the importance of paying close attention to their brand’s performance in the online arena.

The method: ranking is based on the number of times the brand’s name appears in leading search engines like Google, Baidu and Technorati, the number of links to the brands website, its reach and Page-rank relevance, and the number of times people express their “love” or “hate” for the brand.

The Top 10 (Interbrand/BusinessWeek position in brackets):

  1. Google (38)
  2. eBay (55)
  3. Apple (41)
  4. Amazon.com (68)
  5. Disney (7)
  6. Yahoo! (58)
  7. Microsoft (2)
  8. Canon (35)
  9. Nokia (6)
  10. Sony (28)

Brands Value Growth – Top 10

The Next Generation of Growth Brands is based on compound annual growth rate in brand value between 2001 and 2005. The report describes the growth brands as having “outperformed their peers in their respective markets during the past four years and are likely to continue to do so into the future”.

Apple, creator of the iPod, is the fastest growing brand in the world, with internet brands Google, Amazon, Yahoo! and eBay following close behind, pushing notoriously powerful brands like Coca-Cola off the list.

According to marketing consultants Vivaldi Partners and Forbes, Apple has managed to increase its brand value by 38% in the last four years — largely thanks to the ubiquity of its portable music device iPod.

Power brands like Coca-Cola and McDonald’s, which typically spend the most on advertising, did not even make it into the top 20.

Here is the top 10:

Brand – Value Increase
1. Apple – 38%
2. Blackberry – 36%
3. Google – 36%
4. Amazon – 35%
5. Yahoo! – 33%
6. eBay – 31%
7. Red Bull – 31%
8. Starbucks – 24%
9. Pixar – 23%
10. Coach – 22%