Amazon has taken over Google’s spot as the most valuable brand in the world. According to the latest Brand Finance Global 500 report, Amazon’s value has increased by 42% in the past year to US$ 150.8 billion. This amount does not take into the account the impact of Amazon’s launch in Australia in December 2017.
WATCH: Brand Finance MD Mark Crowe on Mediaweek TV, Feb 16 2017
The American electronic commerce and cloud computing company is ahead of Apple, which is ranked #2 with a value of US$146.3 billion. Search engine giant Google has dropped from the first to third position, recording a relatively slow brand value growth of 10% to US$120.9 billion.
Brand Finance CEO David Haigh said: “Jeff Bezos once said that ‘brands are more important online than they are in the physical world’. He has proved himself right by choosing the name Amazon, known as the largest, most powerful river in the world, as 23 years later the Amazon brand carries all before it as an unstoppable force. The strength and value of the Amazon brand gives its stakeholder permission to extend relentlessly into new sectors and geographies. All evidence suggests that the amazing Amazon brand is going to continue growing indefinitely and exponentially.”
For the first time since the inception of the Brand Finance Global 500 study, technology brands claim all top five places in the league table. Samsung (US$92.3 billion) is ranked #4 with Facebook (US$89.7 billion) following at #5.
Meanwhile, Google-owned YouTube more than doubled its brand value to US$25.9 billion, jumping 70 places to 42nd.
Locally, Telstra has retained the number one ranking as Australia’s most valuable brand for the third year in a row. It is valued at US$12.4 billion, up 14% YOY.
Mark Crowe, Brand Finance Australia MD, said: “Telstra’s brand continues to perform impressively across a number of brand attributes, with a resulting 13.6% increase in value. The strength of the brand is in contrast to the overall decline in Telstra’s market value of 21%, highlighting the ever increasing importance of the brand in the organisation’s business strategy and reputation. Telstra is also reaping the benefits of its customer-focused investments in the next generation of networks.”
Banking institutions take out the remaining spots in the top three list of Australia’s Most Valuable Brands. Commonwealth Bank is ranked #2 and the ANZ comes in at #3.
Following the launch of Amazon in Australia, the Brand Finance Global 500 report is forecasting intense retail competition coming for supermarket chains Woolworths and Coles, which are ranked #4 and #5 respectively.