BUSINESSWEEK/INTERBRAND ANNUAL RANKING OF THE 100 BEST GLOBAL BRANDS

Coca-Cola retains the No. 1 spot; Google outpaces the pack for the second straight year.

Interbrand is delighted to once again publish our annual ranking of the Best Global Brands by brand value, in co-operation with BusinessWeek magazine.

We’re proud that over the course of the past decade our Best Global Brands study has become the barometer of successful brand management. The environments in which brands operate, and the challenges and opportunities they face, have changed dramatically during this time; however, we believe the one constant has been the notion that a brand has the ability to create significant economic value for the business it serves, and that we can measure the created value.

But understanding what is driving this brand value is far more important to the business. The insights gained through brand analytics and measurement focus brand management around the elements that will effectively increase the brand’s value and allow it to fulfill its ultimate potential to the organization and its stakeholders. This reveals how a brand can drive revenue and profitability by influencing choice and sustaining margins.

We regard brand valuation as a proactive tool. The process of showing an organization the earnings attributable to intangibles, assessing the role that the brand plays in purchase decisions and the relative competitive strength of the brand within its markets, focuses attention on building the brand’s value. Indeed, our experience shows that by simply recognizing the brand as an economic asset, like other business assets, activity can be created, managed and implemented to enable the brand to grow in value.

It is now common knowledge that branding is fundamental to business success, which is why Best Global Brands is one of the top published business rankings in the world. At Interbrand we have always placed great emphasis upon the need for a balance between the logical and the creative. Brands, after all, live in our heads and our hearts. But ultimately, brands are value generators for business. Increasingly, we need to understand how brands deliver value and use this information to better inform business decisions.

In this year’s Best Global Brands report, we have focused on the business themes that we see as being intrinsically linked to brand value creation. In their own right these themes should encourage business leaders to act, but they also acutely reveal the tenets of growing the economic value of a brand, and thereby help to maximize the intangible wealth of an organization.

As ever, we are delighted to lead the debate. We recognize, and indeed relish, the responsibility that it places upon us as an organization. We thank our partners at BusinessWeek for their constant support in providing the platform for broadcasting this study to the business community and look forward to sharing these insights and ideas with you for many years to come.

Regards,

Jez Frampton
Group Chief Executive, Interbrand

Download Best Global Brands 2007, Interbrand & BusinessWeek

PDF format, 13MB, 63Pages.

What is brand value?

Brand value is the dollar value of a brand, calculated as Net Present Value (NPV) or today’s value of the earnings the brand is expected to generate in the future. Like any other financial value, brand value is at a point in time based on the assumptions and information available at that point in time. Brand value is calculated according to the most widely accepted and used valuation principles. This makes brand value comparable to business – and all NPV-based asset values.

The valuations of brands appearing in the Best Global Brands (BGB) are calculated in their current use to their current owner. They, therefore, do not necessarily represent the potential purchase, extension or licensing value of the brands.

Why value brands?

The purpose of these valuations is to demonstrate to the business community that brands are very important business assets and in many cases the single most valuable company asset. We also aim to show that branding and marketing are key business issues that have direct shareholder value impact. Through six years of publishing Best Global Brands in BusinessWeek magazine we have created the world’s most significant and influential brand and marketing study. In fact, PRW eek magazine produced a study that showed the BusinessWeek/Interbrand Best Global Brands ranking was the third most sought-after benchmark report by CEOs and CFOs.

How does Interbrand derive the value of brands?

Our valuation approach is a derivative of the way businesses and financial assets are valued. It fits with current corporate finance theory and practice. There are three key elements and they are detailed below:

Visit Best Global Brands 2007, Interbrand's Web Site

About BusinessWeek

BusinessWeek is a leading global business media organization, providing unparalleled insight and analysis to a worldwide audience of business leaders. Founded in 1929 and published by the McGraw-Hill Companies, BusinessWeek magazine is the market leader, with more than 4.8 million readers each week in 140 countries. Local language editions include Chinese, Russian, and Bahasa Indonesian.

Launched in 1994, BusinessWeek.com is the preeminent provider of daily, essential business news, information, and services to business decision-makers. Reaching 85% of the nation’s households, BusinessWeek Weekend delivers important business, consumer and financial news to television viewers every week.

About Interbrand

Interbrand, the leading brand consultancy, combines the rigorous strategy and analysis of a management consulting practice with the entrepreneurial and creative spirit of branding and design.

The company offers a comprehensive array of consulting services that guide clients in the creation, enhancement, maintenance and valuation of their most valuable asset -- their brands. Founded in 1974, Interbrand has offices in over 30 cities in more than 20 countries around the globe and clients from among the most respected businesses.

For more information visit the world’s only online exchange about branding, produced by Interbrand, at www.brandchannel.com

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