Millward Brown releases 2012 BrandZ Top 100 report

Millward Brown has released its 2012 BrandZ Top 100 - The Most Valuable Global Brands report. According to the research company, brand valuation is a metric that enables brand owners, the investment community and others to evaluate and compare brands. The research now covers over two million consumers and more than 50,000 brands in over 30 countries.

The top ten brands globally are: Apple, IBM, Google, McDonald's, Microsoft, Coca-Cola, Marlboro, AT&T, Verizon and China Mobile, in that order.

From India, ICICI Bank (which fell by 10 spots to number 63) and Airtel (entering the rankings at 71) feature among the top 100.

An excerpt from the report available on the Millward Brown website reads: 'In India, many people who drink cola prefer a local brand. Sports fans follow cricket rather than football. And while brands matter, a brand’s reputation often is closely linked with that of the parent conglomerate...The proliferation of local brands is most evident in telecommunications where 15 operators resist consolidation and battle for a share of almost 900 million mobile phone subscribers. The Indian brands have done a relatively good job of differentiating in a category where telecoms worldwide struggle against being viewed simply as the commodity conduits of voice and data. One of the pioneer brands, Airtel, known for its network strength, appears in the BrandZ™ Top 100 ranking for the first time this year. With extensive market penetration, the telecom leaders are shifting their efforts from gaining new users to increasing per-user engagement and revenue. The change in part reflects growing consumer affluence."

On ICICI, the report says: "A major integrated financial institution, with offices worldwide, ICICI ranks in the BrandZ™ Top 100. ICICI competes with other growing Indian bank brands such as HDFC and Axis Bank. Even in banking, a global brand implies a greater sense of status than a local Indian brand, generally. In practice, however, people in smaller, rural markets may find that the Indian bank brand understands their needs more deeply. And government regulations may provide regulatory protection for the local brand."

On the reason for ICICI's decline in the rankings, the report states: "India’s ICICI experienced higher credit costs, which moderated profit growth."

The top 10 brands in Asia are from China (China Mobile, ICBC, China Construction Bank, Baidu, Tencent/QQ, Agricultural Bank of China, China Life), Japan (NTT Docomo and Toyota), and Korea (Samsung).

To read the complete report, click here.