Apple, Google retain top spot in Interbrand’s 100 Best Global Brands

Apple and Google have once again topped Interbrand's list of the 100 Best Global Brands.

After displacing Coke from the top spot last year, Apple retained the No 1 spot with a brand value of $118.9 billion, a 21-per cent increase from last year, while Google at No 2, was assessed at $107.43 billion, which represented a 15 per cent increase.

This was the first instance that the list had over one brand exceeding $100 billion in value.

According to Interbrand's global CEO, Jez Frampton, Apple and Google's meteoric rise to over $100 billion was truly a testament to the power of brand building.

He added, these leading brands had reached new pinnacles by creating experiences that were seamless, contextually relevant and based around integrated products and services, both physical and digital.

Other brands that increased significantly on this year's list included Facebook, at 29, up from 52 in 2013; Audi, at 45 (51 last year); Amazon, at 15 (19); Volkswagen, at 31 (34); and Nissan, at 56 (65).

Among the brands new to the list were DHL at 81, Land Rover at 91, FedEx at 92.

The US Apple and Google brands that had emerged and became household names around the globe were worth over $100-billion each, and among top-ranking biggest brands in the world, according to brand evalluation and  consulting firm Interbrand.

According to Bertrand Chovet, associate director of Interbrand Paris, the fact that Apple and Google had exceeded $100-billion was proof of the power of brands.

It marked the first time since brand ranking started in 1974 that two brands had been worth that much, according to a statement by marketing firm Interbrand.

Interbrand said Huawei, the world's third-largest maker of smartphones, had emerged as of the brand leader in information technology and communication on a global scale.

Social network Facebook was the biggest mover in the 2014 brand ranking.

Facebook was up 86 per cent to 29th place, car-maker Audi, was up 27 per cent to 45th place, and internet retail giant Amazon, was up 25 per cent to 15th place.

The value of a brand was arrived at on the basis of three criteria: the financial performance of the products and services sold under the brand; the brands' role and especially its influence on consumers' choice; and the strength of the brand, i.e. it's ability to create and maintain a market advantage.