Gucci retains crown as Italy’s most valuable brand for the sixth year

Italy’s most valuable brands show signs of recovery this year, achieving a total brand value of $122.7bn and impressive 11% growth year-on-year, according to the new Kantar BrandZ Top 40 Most Valuable Italian Brands 2024 report, revealed today at a dedicated event at Microsoft’s headquarters in Milan. 

A total of 28 Italian brands have grown in value in this year’s ranking as the country’s post-pandemic economic recovery continues and consumer confidence grows. 

Luxury once again dominates the ranking with Gucci retaining its position as the most valuable Italian brand worth $26 billion. An iconic global brand, Gucci’s success lies in its ability to transcend fashion, combining tradition with innovation and maintaining its strong brand equity, even during a period of creative transition. With a combined value of $44.2bn, nine Italian luxury brands appear in the ranking, with Prada (No.6; $5.2bn) and Fendi (No.7; $5.1bn) remaining in the Top 10. 

Taking the silver medal spot in the Top 40 this year is Enel. It has built up a reputation around scale and trust for many years, and this has helped it attract consumers and has fuelled brand value growth of 37% this year, making it the highest-growing brand in the Top 10.

Ferrari (No.3; $10.1bn) completes the Top 3, moving up one place and growing its brand value by 30%. While Formula One has been key to the brand’s success for many years, helping to showcase its technological prowess and performance, Ferrari has managed to build an emotional connection with customers unmatched by almost any other luxury automotive brand. Ferrari’s acceleration into the Top 3 brands is fuelled by perceptions of the brand being highly distinctive and an innovator in the category.

Newcomers to the 2024 ranking include Plenitude (No.12; $2.4bn) following a highly successful rebrand from Eni Gas e Luce. Edison (No.26; $1.0bn), Italy’s oldest energy brand, also joins the ranking, alongside beer giant Birra Moretti (No.30; $864m) which has shown that it can keep innovating both its products and its communications.

Kantar BrandZ Top 10 Most Valuable Italian Brands 2024

The last few years have been challenging for many brands, but we’re seeing a strong positive growth trend in this latest ranking in line with economic recovery in Italy and more widely in the rest of the world. With an 11% increase in brand value, the ranking shows how brands can create additional value by understanding what customers want and also by delivering on those promises. Strong brands also lose less of their value in times of crisis and recover faster when conditions improve.

Brands can create value and drive sustainable growth by strengthening emotional connections with consumers. To help brands harness that power, we look at what shapes consumer attitudes, behaviours and aspirations, and help brands understand how people think, act and purchase. With these actionable insights, they can make incisive strategic decisions that help value and shape the future of their brand.

Balancing being meaningful, different and salient 

Analysis of leading brands from Italy, and all over the world, shows that the strongest brands – ones that have built up deeper and broader consumer connections over time – are Meaningful, Different and Salient. Enel is one brand that scores highly across all three measurements. A legacy utility, Enel has positioned itself as a point of reference in a market that is undergoing a major transition as the protected energy market comes to an end this year. 

Kinder, which ranks fourth in the Top 40 and saw its brand value rise by 8% in 2024, has seen a surge in perceptions of Difference, accompanied by rising Demand Power. Kinder’s distinctive colour scheme is used across its brand assets, including communications, which have focused on the brand’s relevance to everyday life, and a range of new products to make Kinder part of even more occasions. 

Most ‘meaningful’ brands this year include top riser, Aperol (No.18; $1.4bn), an instantly recognisable Italian aperitif that remains a favourite with consumers internationally reminding them of the simple pleasures in life, and Lavazza (No.23; $1.2bn) which also plays to its ‘made in Italy’ lifestyle credentials.

Sustainability drives brand value growth 

Brands in Italy are also tapping into consumer concerns and purchasing decisions to boost their sustainability credentials and help drive brand value growth. Levissima (No.40; $584m) has become one of the first in the Food and Beverages category to commit to 100% zero emissions in its distribution model. Plenitude, which has integrated renewable energy production, gas and light sales, energy services and an extensive network of charging points for electric vehicles, has positioned itself as an advocate for a vision of a carbon-free future.  

Jewel in Italy’s crown

Kantar BrandZ has also created a ranking of Local Jewels – brands that sit outside the Top 40 Most Valuable Italian Brands, but have impressive Future Power and Demand Power among consumers. 

Sant’Anna tops the ‘Jewels’ list with high Demand Power thanks to a combination of creating a trusted product and innovation. Disrupting the water category, it has launched new flavours, developed packaging specifically for young children, and created a factory experience in the Metaverse. At No.2, Italy’s first discount supermarket chain Eurospin is a firm favourite among consumers, offering competitive prices and using powerful communications to show it cares. Third-placed Old Wild West has high Demand Power, standing out in a category dominated by fast food giants and proving it can offer something different and relevant to people’s lives.

Kantar BrandZ Top 10 Italian Jewels 2024

The Kantar BrandZ Most Valuable Italian Brands 2024 ranking, report and extensive analysis are available now at: www.kantar.com/campaigns/brandz/italy 

For an overarching view of brand performance, Kantar has launched a free interactive tool powered by BrandZ’s wealth of data and Meaningful Different Salient framework. Kantar BrandSnapshot delivers intelligence on 10,000 brands in 40+ markets, offering a quick read on a brand’s performance in a category. Explore for free on Kantar Marketplace today.