View the full Brand Finance Finland 25 2023 report here
Nokia (brand value down 2% to EUR7.5 billion) maintains its position as Finland’s most valuable brand despite a marginal brand value reduction in 2023, according to a new report from leading brand valuation consultancy, Brand Finance.
Every year, leading brand valuation consultancy Brand Finance puts 5,000 of the biggest brands to the test, and publishes over 100 reports, ranking brands across all sectors and countries. Finland’s top 25 most valuable and strongest brands are included in the annual Brand Finance Finland 25 2023 ranking.
As with many other Finnish brands, Nokia has faced widespread challenges throughout the last year. Despite this, the brand has continued to build momentum in its private wireless business, maintain a reliable network, and see positive net sales growth for its Cloud and Network services offerings.
Anna Brolin, Managing Director, Brand Finance Nordics, commented:
“Despite extremely troublesome operating conditions throughout 2022, many Finnish brands have been able to carry over last year’s success and continue to grow brand value. This highlights the resilience of Finnish brands, as well as the positive impact that the Finnish transition towards a more sustainable future is having on delivering sustainable returns and value to stakeholders.
Parliamentary elections were held in Finland on April 2. As voters fear rising public debt, a deep-seated concern in Finland, NCP leader Petteri Orpo’s messaging on fiscal discipline appears to have resonated with voters. Orpo said reversing an expected recession would be his focus. As 2023 is expected to be another challenging year for the world economy, it will be interesting to see if Finland’s strongest brands will continue to prove resilient.”
Neste’s brand value continued to grow at an impressive rate in 2023, up 27% to EUR2.8 billion. This makes it the second most valuable brand in Finland and means its brand value is now up 93% since 2020.
Utilities brand Fortum is the fastest growing Finnish brand, up 52% to a brand value of EUR952 million. This impressive growth has been achieved amid issues surrounding Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and a subsequent change to Fortum’s operating environment. In late 2022, Fortum sold its stake in subsidiary energy company Uniper to the German State. Fortum’s controlled divestment from Russia, and exit from Uniper, has streamlined its brand. It is now moving forward by reviewing its strategy to focus on clean Nordic power generation as the core of its business.
In addition to calculating brand value, Brand Finance also determines the relative strength of brands through a balanced scorecard of metrics evaluating marketing investment, stakeholder equity, and business performance. Compliant with ISO 20671, Brand Finance’s assessment of stakeholder equity incorporates original market research data from over 100,000 respondents in 38 countries and across 31 sectors.
In its 140th year, telecoms brand Elisa (brand value up 14% to EUR1.4 billion) maintained its title as Finland’s strongest brand with a Brand Strength Index score of 87 out of 100. This earned it a corresponding AAA rating, the only such brand in the ranking to receive this status.
As part of its analysis, Brand Finance assesses the role that specific brand attributes play in driving overall brand value. One such attribute, growing rapidly in its significance, is sustainability. Brand Finance assesses how sustainable specific brands are perceived to be, represented by a ‘Sustainability Perceptions Score’ (SPS). The value that is linked to sustainability perceptions, the ‘Sustainability Perceptions Value’ (SPV), is then calculated for each brand.
Nokia has the highest Sustainability Perceptions Value of any US brand, EUR304 million. It is important to note that Nokia’s position at the top of the table is not an assessment of its overall sustainability performance. Instead, it highlights the value that Nokia has tied up in the sustainability perception of stakeholders.