Apple has reclaimed its title as the world’s most valuable brand, according to Kantar’s Brandz report, for the first time since 2015, leapfrogging tech rivals Google and Amazon.
As a result of the brand’s spectacular growth over the last 12 months, the Steve Jobs-founded firm is now on a steady course towards becoming the world’s first ‘trillion-dollar’ brand.
The Silicon Valley behemoth now has a brand value of close to US$ 950 billion (£786 billion), a 55% increase on this time last year, opening a staggering $130 billion (£108 billion) gap on its nearest competitor Google, despite the latter achieving a 79% increase on its own figures in the past 12 months.
Last year’s leader Amazon’s brand growth has stagnated, growing only 3% in the same time period with its overall value lagging far behind the top two at $706 billion (£584 billion).
The London-based agency’s yearly report groups together recent financial performance data alongside consumer research analysis from over four million consumers in 51 markets.
Rounding out the top five are Bill Gates’ Microsoft with a $611 billion (£505 billion) value with 49% growth, followed a long way off by Chinese tech firm Tencent with a value of $214 billion (£177 billion), a decrease of 11%.
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Also in the top 10 were US brands McDonald’s, Visa and Facebook, followed by Chinese firm Alibaba and French luxury goods retailer Louis Vuitton – the first luxury brand to break into the top 10 in 12 years, growing its brand value by 64% to $124 billion (£103 billion).
The study also revealed that the overall value of the top 100 brands rose by 23% to $8.7 trillion (£7.2 trillion), with over three-quarters of that brand value originating with US-based companies.
Consumer technology and luxury were the fastest-growing brand sectors with growth figures of 46% and 45% respectively, with the automotive and banking industries also seeing impressive growth figures of 34% and 30%.
Despite failing to crack the top 25, Elon Musk’s Tesla was a notable success story registering 78% growth, driving its overall brand value to over $75 billion (£62 billion).
Although US-dominated, some international brands did crack the top 100 for the very first time, including Saudi oil giants Aramco, coming in at #16, Indian IT firm Infosys entering at #64 and Argentinean e-commerce company Mercado Libre entering at #71.
