Brand Finance Asia Pacific released their annual “Top 100 Malaysia Brands” 2020 rankings showing sustained growth in overall brand value by the Malaysian brands.
PETRONAS, Maybank & Genting continue to dominate the top 3 rankings in 2020 once again with a combined brand value of over US$ 22 billion while the remaining top 7 brands manage to hang onto the top 10 with minor shift within the top 10 ranking.
PETRONAS continues to stay on top with US$ 15.2 billion and the only brand to cross the US$ 10 billion mark in Malaysia. Maybank maintains its #2 spot with a brand value of US$ 3.9 billion followed by #3 ranked Genting which had a brand value of US$ 3.4 billion highlighting the significant gap between the top 2 brands.
The US$ 35.7 billion combined value of top 10 brands make up for 64% of the total value of the top 100. This shows the significant effort required by the brands outside of top 10 in terms of brand strength improvement and revenue growth if they wish to compete in the top 10 space.
Digi was ousted by PETRONAS this year to clinch the title of the strongest Malaysian brand with its brand rating of AAA. Digi loses marginally with Maybank following neck to neck behind. It will be a tough fight among these 3 brands to continue to vie for the top spot again next year. PETRONAS, Digi, Maybank and Maxis is now the only four Malaysian Brands with the AAA brand rating.
The brand value gap between #1 and #2 in 2020 has widened to an astronomical figure of US$ 11 billion making it hard to displace PETRONAS from their #1 position for at least a very long time. PETRONAS also post a healthy and positive brand value increase of absolute value of US$ 1,897 million this year.
There are 5 new entrants coming into this year Top 100 rankings namely Malaysia Airports, Scientex, UEM, Serba Dinamik and United Plantations.
The highest intangible value brand continues to be Padini with a brand value to Enterprise value ratio of 65% and Bonia at 63%, highlighting the role of brand for business success, especially in the retail sector.
PETRONAS is in a very strong position and it will continue to grow its brand strength and brand value while the Malaysia brands have grown considerably well overall. It is the brand strength for most brands that remains a concern. Also, the rankings remain very top heavy with 64% of the total brand value contributed by the Top 10 brands and 94% contributed by the Top 50 brands. We would like to see a more diverse mix at the top and more significant value increase at the bottom which means other brands must start focusing on their value and brand strength.
Samir Dixit, Managing Director of Brand Finance Asia Pacific
Samir Dixit also challenged the Malaysia companies to be more brand-driven and not sales or offers-driven. These while help sell in the short term, might destroy the long term value and the strength of the brand. Brand has to be a strategic agenda for the senior management and boards and must be managed like any other business asset and not just a legal trademark.”
The brand strength, measured by Brand Strength Index (‘BSI’), a more accurate measure of brands competitiveness in the market, has remained stagnant for most Malaysian brands and while they may be doing well locally, they have been losing out to some of the key competitors in the region as they lack competitiveness outside of Malaysia market.
PETRONAS made a good jump to oust the strongest competitor and managed to clinch the title of the strongest Malaysian Brand this year and among one of only four brands attaining triple-A brand rating together with Digi, Maybank and Maxis.