BrandZ™ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands 2018

The BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands ranking, released today by WPP and Kantar. The total brand value of the Top 100 grew by 21% ($748 billion), despite economic and political uncertainty in many regions of the world, to reach $4.4 trillion – close to the GDP of Japan.

Eight of the Top 10 brands are technology or tech-related, with Google and Apple retaining the number 1 and 2 spots, growing +23% to $302.1 billion and +28% to $300.6 billion respectively. Amazon moved up to no.3 ahead of Microsoft, growing +49% to $207.6 billion. Tencent rose to no.5 ahead of Facebook (no.6), growing +65% to $179 billion. Tech-related brands now account for over half (+56%) of the Top 100’s overall value.

The total value of the BrandZ Top 10 most valuable UK brands has increased +7% to $140.24 billion. Vodafone remains the UK’s most valuable brand and is at no.37 in the BrandZ Global Top 100. Three other UK brands are also in the global ranking: HSBC (no.50), Shell (no.63) and BT (no.94).

Shell (+10%) partnered with IBM to allow retail customers to check out in five seconds without scanning purchases one by one, and launched the world’s first in-car payment system. Burberry (+5%), which now sits just outside the UK Top 10 at no.11, used Facebook Messenger chatbots to improve customer service, and introduced AI into its chat platforms and app. Asos (no.14 in the UK) used Instagram Stories to great effect, and launched a mobile app that applies AI to learn from each transaction, then adapt and improve the shopping journey.

The BrandZ™ Top 10 Most Valuable Global Brands 2018

Key trends highlighted in this year’s BrandZ Global Top 100 study include:

• Newcomers include US telecoms giant Spectrum (no. 27), Uber (no.81), Instagram (no.91), and the first Indonesian brand in the ranking bank BCA at no.99.
• This was the first year non-US brands grew fastest. Disruptive Chinese brands made a huge impact, with 14 appearing in the Top 100. They saw year-on-year value growth of +47%, more than double that of the US brands (+23%).
• Trailblazing Chinese brands also dominate the fastest risers this year: JD.com (no.59) +94%, Alibaba (no.9) +92% and Moutai (no.34) +89%.
• Retail was the fastest rising category, growing +35% in value over the last 12 months, driven by ecommerce brands.
• Brands support value creation more strongly than ever. If we compare the growth of all the brands in the ranking with S&P500 and MSCI World Index, our portfolio outperforms by 70% and 122% respectively.

As the largest and definitive brand equity platform in the world, BrandZ reflects the brands that are integrated into today’s consumer lifestyles. It is the only brand valuation study to combine interviews with over three million consumers globally with analysis of the financial and business performance of each company (using data from Bloomberg and Kantar).