Coke, Microsoft, IBM top Global Brands, Google big gainer: BusinessWeek-Interbrand Survey 2007

Coke, Microsoft and IBM are top three global brands followed by GE and Finnish mobile giant Nokia. Asian brands, barring Japanese and Korean brands, dont match up to these global biggies. There is no Indian or Chinese brand yet in the Top 100 Brands list. Breaking the western hegemony somewhat are Japanese brands like Sony, Lexus, Panasonic, Nintendo, Canon and Honda. Three South Korean brands Samsung (No 21), Hyundai (No 72) and LG (No 97) are a reminder and perhaps inspiration for Indian brands that want to have a global equity and footprint.

Search giant Google at No 20 is one of the fastest gainers on the league table. Despite fears of Googles growing power as it moves into services beyond search, the brand still appeals to consumers and businesspeople, says survey on Google. Coffee company Starbuck, and iconic brand Apple are other big gainers.

Commenting on Coca-Cola, whose economic value is estimated to be $ 65,324 million survey says, Still No. 1, but consumers shift from soda in the West has hurt Coke. Success with Coke Zero hasnt made up for Coca-Cola Classics continued loss of share. Survey says that software giant Microsoft has gained from recent launch of Vista. Says survey, The launch of its Windows Vista operating system, coupled with its Xbox game
console, keeps the software giants latest technology in front of consumers.

Top 10 brands are:
1 Coca-Cola
2 Microsoft.
3 IBM.
4 GE
6 Nokia
7 Toyota
5 Intel
9 McDonalds
8 Disney
10 Mercedes-Benz

How are these brands ranked? The survey takes many ingredients into account when ranking the value of the Best Global Brands. Even to qualify for the list, each brand must derive at least a third of its earnings outside its home country, be recognizable outside of its base of customers, and have publicly available marketing and financial data. Interbrand only ranks the strength of individual brand names, not portfolios of brands, which is why Procter & Gamble isnt included.

BusinessWeek says it chose Interbrands methodology because it evaluates brand value in the same way any other corporate asset is valuedon the basis of how much it is likely to earn for the company in the future. Interbrand uses a combination of analysts projections, company financial documents, and its own qualitative and quantitative analysis to arrive at a net present value of those earnings.

Commenting on Korean stars Samsung (which stands at No 20), survey says, Samsung is the leader in LCD panels and now No. 2 in mobile phones. But last quarters results were tepid and next year could be tougher. On Hyundai, survey comments, Having improved the quality and reliability of its cars, Hyundai is pushing to go upscale by introducing premium models.