Market cap

* For banks, enterprise value is substituted with market cap. Source: Bloomberg Finance L.P.

Performance of the brand

IBM is a multinational technology and consulting firm and holder of more patents than any other US based technology company. Since its inception in 1911, IBM has invented many products that changed the way we live, including the ATM, floppy disk, hard drive, magnetic stripe card and the Universal Product Code to name a few. Significantly, IBM helped create the modern PC and brought Microsoft to the forefront after installing their MS-DOS operating system on new IBM computers.

Recent years have seen IBM move away from building computers and more towards technology services where they now get more than half their revenue. Their current brand position is that of innovation, IBM AI Watson’s appearance on the American Jeopardy! game show helped cement this position in the eyes of consumers. IBM has managed to continue revenue growth by expanding into infrastructure for emerging markets, particularly in Asia.

Elementary my dear Watson

IBM’s super data analytics engine, Watson, received huge attention in February 2010 after appearing on American TV’s Jeopardy! game show and winning. Beating Jeopardy! all time record holder Ken Jennings and previous winner Brad Rutter to the $1m prize was seen by 34.5m people – one of the highest ever viewing figures for the game show. The publicity stunt secured 1.3bn impressions and $50m in earned media for IBM. Jim Gargan, VP and Business Line Executive for IBM said the Watson campaign produced $260m in pipeline business and $37m in business.

Acquired SPSS

Coupled with 2010’s acquisition of SPSS for $1.2bn, IBM will look to further expand on their information on demand portfolio and business analytics capabilities – a key area of their core services business. SPSS is a computer program used for survey authoring and deployment, data mining, text analytics, statistical analysis.

Mainframes

The mainframe business is a shrinking but strategically important area for IBM; as the only real player in the market their new products tend to only compete with their old ones. With new machines faster, more powerful, more energy efficient and with greater usability, IBM is looking to cement their position as suppliers to governments and businesses.

With the amount of storage needed for technologies such as cloud computer go up demand for servers should continue to grow. In particular IBM have invested heavily in expanding into emerging markets and providing technology infrastructure to developing nations. As citizens in China and India start to join the middle classes, IBM are well positioned to take advantage of their accompanying needs. 2010 saw a third of revenue come from the region and there is every sign this will only continue to grow.

Google patent sale is good business

IBM has been buying many different companies throughout the years acquiring a glut of patents in the process. As in the past, the sale of over a thousand patents to Google July 2011 would appear to be good business for IBM selling of patents they do not need.

Recognised admiration

IBM has a great brand legacy as the inventor of so many life changing products. This brand strength resonates with a host of highly ranked positions in top publications. Fortune considers IBM as the #1 company for leaders and the 12^th most admired. Newsweek considers it the greenest company and Fast Company rank IBM as their 8^th most innovative business. With the success of the Watson project really pushing IBM as an innovative company IBM’s brand awareness and strength is among those of the best brands in the world.

 

 

Last changed September 5, 2011

League tables

IBM appears in the following brand league tables:

Rank 4 in the Global 500 2012.
Rank 4 in the Global 500 2011.
Rank 4 in the Global 500 2011.
Rank 4 in the Global 500 2010.
Rank 3 in the Global 500 2009.
Rank 5 in the Global 500 2008.
Rank 5 in the Global 250 2007.