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Tech firms lead global brand rankings

Cape Town - Technology companies lead global rankings of the most valuable brands, an international study has found.

According to the BrandZ survey, Apple leads the global list of most valuable brands, followed by Google, Microsoft and IBM.

"Most astonishingly, 10 years ago, Apple, the world's most valuable brand, did not even rank in the BrandZ Global Top 10. Apple's rise demonstrates the strength of the brand, which increased 1 446% in Brand Value since 2006," said the organisation which conducted the analysis with Millward Brown.

The rise of Apple and others also reflects the disruptive role that technology companies have played in the modern economy that has seen resilience from the top 100 brands, even through the financial crisis.

According to BrandZ, the value of the top 100 brands increased from $1.4 trillion in 2006 to $3.3 trillion in 2015, representing a rise of 126%.

Apple's value increased by 67% in one year, outpacing Google (9%) and Microsoft (28%), while IBM saw a 13% decline.

The value of the top three brands alone is calculated to be more than $500bn, but the increased global nature of the economy also means that brand power is shifting to Asia.

A decade ago, only one Chinese brand was featured in the top 10: State-owned telco China Mobile.

But in the latest research, 14 Chinese brands are represented in the top 100. Among them are e-commerce giants Alibaba, Tencent, as well electronics colossus Huawei and web services firm Baidu.

Here are the top global as well as their value in millions of dollars:

1Apple$246 992
2Google$173 652
3Microsoft$115 500
4IBM$93 987
5Visa$91 962
6AT&T$89 492
7Verizon$86 009
8Coca-Cola$83 841
9McDonald's$81 162
10Marlboro$80 352

Mobile is expected to make up an increasingly valuable area for brands to grow as audiences migrate to consuming content on mobile devices.

"As mobile inevitably becomes the control centre for all connected systems of communications, it becomes the starting point for brands in terms of both understanding and engaging consumers," said Matthew Mee, MediaCom chief strategy officer.

The value of brands suggests that global economic power is shifting east and the next decade may see brands battle to dominate what are now regarded as developing markets.

"The shift in brand value growth to Asia, the emergence of valuable publicly-owned brands even in China, and the dominance of technology indicate a lot of about the future of brands and brand building over the next 10 years," BrandZ said.

READ: Top car brand rankings

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