Businesses must learn to adapt to new economic environments and must roll out products as quickly as possible in order to make their brands more valuable, according to the latest Interbrand Best Global Brands Report, which says Coca-Cola, IBM and Google are some of the world’s most valuable brands.
The tech sector continued to dominate, with Apple’s value rising by 58% during the past year, Google up 27% and Intel increasing by 10%.
Interbrand chief executive Damian Borchok told SmartCompany technology brands are beginning to emerge as some of the world’s leading company names as the industry continues to perform above and beyond the rest of the global economy.
“Technology brands are certainly beginning to dominate,” he says.
“I think every 30 years there is a particular industry that comes of age and right now I believe we’re in the tech space.
“Years ago it was automotive and steel production, and we’re seeing technology now with names like Google and Amazon enjoying substantial growth. Apple in particular has recorded a huge amount of growth.”
The survey, which reflects how brands perform in terms of their previous success and predicts their likely value in the year ahead, recorded seven out of the top 10 brands as tech companies.
Oracle rose 16% from 22 to 20, Amazon was up 32% from 36 to 26 and Adobe was up 15% from 88 to 80.
But the industry isn’t immune to pitfalls, with Yahoo falling from 66 to 76, BlackBerry down 5% from 54 to 56 and Microsoft down 3% but maintaining number three ranking.
The top 10 were rounded out by GE, McDonald’s, Disney and Hewlett Packard.
Borchok says the best companies showed resilience in the face of economic adversity, particularly in their ability to create new products and innovate while consumer spending remained low.
“If you look at IBM, for them their long-term strategy has been shifting after many, many years of investment. It’s the same strategy Apple applied during its turnaround and it shows they are able to innovate,” he says.
“It’s interesting to note that only this year some other companies such as HP are beginning to do that while IBM did that years ago.”
Luxury goods performed well, with Louis Vuitton’s value up 6% along with other fashion brands including Gucci up 5% and Zara up by 8%. Burberry was one of the biggest success stories, recording 20% growth.
Borchok says fashion survived due to its versatility – a strategy more SMEs should adopt.
“Fashion and luxury brands are very good at understanding dynamism. The fashion sector in particular is used to changing very rapidly as it’s a seasonal business,” he says.
“In a world where lots of things are happening and the economic climate shifts, fashion business models are well suited to that.
“If you look at some consumer packaged goods brands, their growth is slower but fashion and luxury brands change, adapt and as a result see substantial growth in their brand.”
Some of the biggest losers in the report were Nokia whose value fell 15%, Sony was down 13% and Nintendo dropped 14%.
Patrick Stafford is a freelance journalist and a former deputy editor of SmartCompany.
