Interbrand released its Best Global Brands 2019 report (bestglobalbrands.com), the 20th edition of the world’s first brand valuation survey, showing that technology brands: Apple, Google, and Amazon continue their success as the world’s three most valuable brands worldwide.

The report also uncovered that the luxury and retail industry is still the fastest growing sector. Taking into account Interbrand’s unparalleled wealth of 20 years of brand valuation data, this year’s report examines the world’s most successful brands through the lens of Iconic Moves, focusing on the end of a traditional approach to brand positioning and industry leaders’ navigation of the rapid ongoing change among consumers and competitive landscapes.

“Twenty years on from our first report, customers today are more informed, more connected and more demanding than ever before through a combination of wealth of choice, erosion of loyalty and shifting frames of reference wanting immediacy, abundance and intimacy – all at the same time,” said Charles Trevail, Global Chief Executive Officer of Interbrand. “The age of brand positioning is over. In a world where customer expectations will continue to move faster than businesses, static brand positions and incremental change will just about keep brands in the game – but it will take, brave, we would say ‘iconic’, moves, to make brands leap ahead of customer expectations and ultimately deliver extraordinary business results.”

Technology Brands Dominates Top Ten

The technology sector continues to lead the Best Global Brand rankings in 2019. Tech companies account for half of the top 10 brands — Apple (#1, USD $234.24B), Google (#2, USD $167.71B), Amazon (USD $125.26B) , Microsoft (#4, $108.85B) and Samsung (#6, USD $61.1B) — and show an average growth in brand value of nine percent, tied for second behind only the luxury and retail sector. Dell (#63, USD $9.09B) returns to the rankings after a six-year absence, Uber (#87, USD $5.71B) and LinkedIn (#98, USD $4.84B) are all new entrants in this year’s list.

Facebook first entered the Best Global Brands report in 2012 at #69, seeing a steady stream of growth in the following five years. At its peak in 2017, Facebook was ranked at #8 with a Brand Value of USD $48.19m. 2018 saw the brand’s place slip to #9, and after falling an additional 11.8 percent in 2019, now sits at #14 with a Brand Value of USD $39.86B.

Rounding out the top 10 brands in this year’s report are: Coca-Cola #5 (USD $63,365m), Toyota #7 (USD $56,246m), Mercedes-Benz #8 (USD $50,832m), and McDonald’s #9 (USD $45,362m), with Disney #10 (USD $44,352m) returning to the top 10.

Some Brands Continue to Impress in 2019, Others Remain Slow to Make Iconic Moves

The 20^th edition of Interbrand’s annual brand valuation report features a series of individual sector reports which delve deeper into the technology, luxury and retail, consumer packaged goods, media, automotive, travel, and financial services industries.

The top growing sector for 2019 was luxury with 9 luxury brands making the top 100; this sector sees the highest average brand value growth rate year-over-year at 11%. The most successful brands in the luxury space are those that have adapted to rapid changes in the global marketplace, including catering to a younger consumer base whose stylistic tastes have shifted toward streetwear, who are tech-first in their purchasing habits, and who increasingly demand shareable, memorable moments from any brick-and-mortar retail experiences.

Gucci (#33, USD $15.95m) was emblematic of the luxury sector’s success, showing a 23 percent increase in brand value. Venerable brands Louis Vuitton (#17, USD $32.22m) and Chanel (#22, USD $22.13m) saw a 14% and an 11% increase, respectively, since last year’s report.

The top three fastest growing brands included Mastercard (25% increase), Salesforce (24%), and Amazon (24%).

Mastercard (#62, USD $9.4B) demonstrated the fastest growth of any brand this year, showing a 25% increase in brand value, jumping eight places in the rankings.

While Mastercard’s ascent has been fueled in part by its transition from purely a financial services provider to a technology-forward enterprise, it bucks an industry-wide trend toward stagnation. Financial services are broadly represented in this year’s rankings, with 12 brands representing $145 billion in brand value in the rankings, however, none of those brands reached the top 20. Many of the sector’s leading brands have been slow to embrace the disruptive forces of technology, even as Apple, Facebook and Google make bigger moves into financial services.