Since it was released in 2007, the Brand Finance® Global 500 has been the most comprehensive table of published brands values. Each brand is awarded a Brand Rating: a benchmarking study of the strength, risk and future potential of a brand relative to its competitor set and a Brand Value: a summary measure of the financial strength of the brand.
In contrast to last year’s dismal performance in which the total brand value of the 500 most valuable brands dropped by a staggering US$707 billion, the top 500 brands have shown tangible signs of recovery, growing by 27% in terms of total brand value. This improved performance is largely caused by the resurgence within the banking sector and the steady growth in the telecommunications sector. It is worth also noting that those brands that focus on providing value-oriented goods or services have fared well during the recession. Bearing this in mind, I am delighted to announce that for the second year running, Walmart is the most valuable brand in the world growing in brand value by 2% to US$41.4 billion.
Within the Global 500, we continue to see the rise of emerging market brands. South America is the fastest growing region, increasing in brand value by 117%, which has been largely driven by the growth of the booming Brazilian market. In addition, Asia continues to perform well, growing in brand value by 26%. North America continues to contribute the highest proportion of brand value to the Global 500 at 21% despite the fact that fourteen US brands fell out of the study this year. Ten European brands enter the Global 500 in 2010.