Google # 1?

Who would have guessed?

This is for all you brand-heads that like to keep score, from my email this week, sent to me by MarketingCharts.com:

BrandZ Top 100: Google Beats Coca-Cola, GE, Microsoft for Top Brand Honors

Google again topped the list of the annual BrandZ Ranking issued by Millward Brown’s Optimor, which identified (pdf) the world’s most powerful brands as measured by their dollar value. Google’s brand is valued at $86.1 billion - up 30% from last year.

Google is followed by General Electric at $71.4 billion and Microsoft at $70.8 billion:

The biggest risers in the ranking include Apple at $30 billion, with the biggest dollar increase in the Top 100 list, and BlackBerry, which entered the BrandZ Ranking at number 51 with brand-value growth of 390%.

Brands are becoming ever more valuable and powerful in driving business growth, Millward Brown claimed, saying companies that own brands in the BrandZ Top 100 have significantly outperformed the stock market (S&P 500).

The combined value of all brands in the BrandZ Top 100 increased 21% from $1.6 trillion in 2007 to $1.94 trillion in 2008, more than double the increase the previous year, according to the rankings.

Notable trends emerging from this year’s BrandZ Ranking:

1. Established Asia vs. Emerging Asia

Seven brands in this year’s Top 100 come from mature Asian economies: Japan, Korea, and Hong Kong. Their aggregate brand value increased only 7% in the last year (to $111 billion).

In contrast, the value of the four Chinese brands that made this year’s BrandZ Top 100 increased by 51% (to $124 billion). China Mobile, Bank of China, China Construction Bank and ICBC are just starting to expand beyond China so they have considerable potential for growth.

2. Continued Rise of the BRICs

Emerging markets play a key role in driving growth for international brands, for example Apple and Gucci. The new BrandZ Ranking shows that domestic brands from emerging economies are gaining momentum.

Chinese brands performed strongly and Russian-based mobile operator MTS entered the ranking at number 89. MTS, with a brand value of $8.1 billion, is the first Russian brand to make the Top 100 list.

Other BRIC brands to watch in future brand rankings include Lukoil, Beeline, and Baltika from Russia, ICICI from India, as well as Brahma, Petrobras, and Bradesco from Brazil.

3. Technology Boom

The technology sector (including mobile operators), which accounted for 28 of the top 100 brands, outperformed all other categories in this year’s BrandZ Ranking, with a brand value growth of $187.5 billion. This is more than half of the Top 100’s total increase.

The complete BrandZ Ranking report with category and regional breakdowns as well as additional analysis is available at www.millwardbrown.com/mboptimor and www.brandz.com

About the data: The BrandZ Ranking is based on primary research and reflects the perceptions of those who are actually brand users and consumers. Derived from WPP’s BrandZ database of brand equity data, the BrandZ study has interviewed more than one million consumers globally and covers 50,000 brands worldwide. The BrandZ Ranking is the first to cover both business and consumer brands and to include predictive metrics of future brand performance. Market performance metrics and financial data were obtained from Datamonitor and Bloomberg, respectively.

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