These are the most valuable brands in the world

As it does every year, Kantar has published its popular ranking of the world’s most valuable brands, with Google reclaiming the top spot for the first time since 2018, when Apple overtook it. In this edition, we can see that tech companies continue to dominate the top positions in a ranking that includes only one brand of Spanish origin. And yes, as you probably guessed, it is Zara.

The most valuable brands, according to Kantar: Google climbs to the top

As we mentioned, Google leads the Kantar BrandZ ranking, where the top spots feature strong representation from the digital companies driving the transition into the AI era: Google itself, Microsoft, Amazon, Nvidia, Facebook…

Here is the top 20 most valuable brands in the world:

1. Google
2. Apple
3. Microsoft
4. Amazon
5. Nvidia
6. Facebook
7. Instagram
8. Tencent
9. Oracle
10. McDonald’s
11. Visa
12. Mastercard
13. Walmart
14. YouTube
15. ChatGPT
16. IBM
17. Netflix
18. Telekom/T-Mobile
19. Alibaba
20. Coca-Cola

In fact, among the top 10, there is only one brand we could consider “traditional”: the ever-present McDonald’s. You would have to go all the way down to No. 20 to find another consumer goods giant such as Coca-Cola, and even further to come across Hermes (22nd), Louis Vuitton (32nd), Marlboro (39th), or Starbucks (42nd).

By contrast, tech companies are everywhere. In addition to those already listed in the top 20 above, the top 100 includes names such as AT&T (24), TikTok (25), SAP (26), Claude (27), AMD (28), Verizon (29), and LinkedIn (37).

As for the fashion sector, the big news is that the spanish brand, Zara (66), ranks as the most valuable brand behind only the luxury examples we mentioned (Hermes, Louis Vuitton), and ahead of what was once one of the world’s most valuable and popular brands, sportswear giant Nike (69). Zara’s brand value rose 18% over the past year, reaching $44 billion.

Which reminds me that we are here to talk about money 😉

If we look at the value of the leading brands in the ranking, we can see that the change at the top is driven by a massive jump in Google’s brand value, up 57%, bringing it close to $1.5 trillion. Among the brands in the top 10, only Nvidia outperformed that growth, with a 60% increase.

The value of the world’s most valuable brands, in millions of dollars

Here is the top 10, with brand value in millions of dollars and the percentage change versus last year. As you can see, four brands (Google, Apple, Microsoft, and Amazon) have crossed the $1 trillion threshold:

1. Google 1,484,895 (57%)
2. Apple 1,380,294 (6%)
3. Microsoft 1,111,788 (26%)
4. Amazon 1,022,820 (18%)
5. NVIDIA 814,906 (60%)
6. Facebook 366,624 (22%)
7. Instagram 286,158 (25%)
8. Tencent 251,551 (45%)
9. Oracle 235,838 (10%)
10. McDonald’s 235,095 (6%)

But… beyond this top 10, do you know which brand increased its value the most over the past year?

You can probably guess.

That is right, ChatGPT nearly quadrupled its brand value (285%): the only brand in history to post a larger increase in Kantar’s Top 100 is BlackBerry (remember BlackBerry?), which jumped 390% in 2008. Meanwhile, one of ChatGPT’s major AI rivals, Claude, debuted in the global Top 100 at No. 27, with a brand value of $96.577 billion.

Image: Kantar and ChatGPT