Coca-Cola loses its status as the world’s most valuable brand

Coca-Cola, IBM, Microsoft. For year after year these three companies have regularly topped Interbrand’s list of the world’s most valuable trademarks and brands. Last year, however, Apple succeeded in leapfrogging into second place, and this year it has climbed further to hold the number one position. Coca-Cola has dropped to third place behind the new number two, Google.

According to the Interbrand survey, the Apple brand is valued at 98.3 billion US dollars, a 28 percent increase on last year’s figure. The increase for Google was even greater – 34 percent, boosting the value of its brand to 93.3 billion US dollars. This means that Coca-Cola, whose brand is worth “only” 79.2 billion US dollars, is now lagging far behind. In addition to Apple and Google, three more brands have seen a steep rise in value since the previous survey: Facebook (+43%), Prada (+30%) and Amazon (+27%).

Some brands have disappeared from the list and others have plummeted in value. Neither Yahoo! nor Blackberry now features in the rankings, and Nokia tumbled from 19th place to 57th, losing 65 percent of its value over the year, the greatest loss since these listings began.

Footnote: To qualify for inclusion in the annual Interbrand survey companies are required to make available certain financial data, and at least 30 percent of the brand’s income must be generated by sales made abroad.