Published by Gbaf News
Posted on May 23, 2014
6 min readLast updated: January 22, 2026
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End of recession pushes combined brand value of top 100 up 12%
Google has overtaken Apple to become the world’s most valuable global brand in the 2014 BrandZTM Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brand ranking, worth $159 billion, an increase of 40% year on year.
After three years at the top, Apple slipped to No 2 on the back of a 20% decline in brand value, to $148 billion. Whilst Apple remains a top performing brand, there is a growing perception that it is no longer redefining technology for consumers, reflected by a lack of dramatic new product launches. The world’s leading B2B brand, IBM, held onto its No 3 position with a brand value of $108 billion.
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Nick Cooper, Managing Director of Millward Brown Optimor, commented on the number one brand, “Google has been hugely innovative in the last year with Google Glass, investments in artificial intelligence and a multitude of partnerships that see its Android operating system becoming embedded in other goods such as cars. All of this activity sends a very strong signal to consumers about what Google is about and it has coincided with a slowdown at Apple.”
“This year’s index highlights the end of the recession, with a strong recovery in valuations and, for the first time, real growth across every category and the Top 100 as a whole,” said David Roth, CEO of The Store, WPP. “What’s remarkable is the way that strong brands have led the recovery. Seventy-one of the brands listed in our 2014 Top 100 were there in 2008. Despite the financial turmoil and the digital disruption that have decimated many businesses during the last few years, these brands have remained in the ranking, proving the durability of strong brands.”
The BrandZTop 100 Most Valuable Global Brands study, commissioned by WPP and conducted by Millward Brown Optimor, is now in its ninth year. It is the only ranking that uses the views of potential and current buyers of a brand, alongside financial data, to calculate brand value.
The combined value of the Top 100 has nearly doubled since the first ranking was produced in 2006. The Top 100 today are worth $2.9 trillion, an increase of 49% compared with the 2008 valuation, which marked the start of the banking and currency crisis.
The BrandZ Top 10 Most Valuable Global Brands 2014
| Rank 2014 | Brand | Category | Brand Value 2014 ($M) | Brand Value Change | Rank 2013 |
| 1 | Technology | 158,843 | +40% | 2 | |
| 2 | Apple | Technology | 147,880 | -20% | 1 |
| 3 | IBM | Technology | 107,541 | -4% | 3 |
| 4 | Microsoft | Technology | 90,185 | +29% | 7 |
| 5 | McDonald’s | Fast Food | 85,706 | -5% | 4 |
| 6 | Coca-Cola | Soft Drinks | 80,683 | +3% | 5 |
| 7 | Visa | Credit Cards | 79,197 | +41% | 9 |
| 8 | AT&T | Telecoms | 77,883 | +3% | 6 |
| 9 | Marlboro | Tobacco | 67,341 | -3% | 8 |
| 10 | Amazon | Retail | 64,255 | +41% | 14 |
Key findings highlighted in this year’s research report include:
The BrandZ™ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands report, rankings and a great deal more brand insight for key regions of the world and 13 market sectors are available online here. A new suite of interactive smartphone and tablet applications will also be available for free download via Apple IOS and all Android devices from www.brandz.com/mobile or search for BrandZ in the respective iTunes or Google Play app stores.
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