01962 600 147 info@tlc-business.co.uk
any questions?
get in touch© 2010 The Lifetime Company. All Rights Reserved
2010 Top Global Brands
Each year Interbrand conduct a survey to help identify what the top global brands are. 2010's top 30 is made up from the familiar names but who made it too top spot? Microsoft, Google and Coca Cola all featured highly, although UK-based brands made up just 6 of the top 100 brands in the survey, with none figuring in the top 30.
The world's top 30 brands
2010 rating/2009 rating, brand value ($)/percentage change from last year
1. (1) Coca-Cola 70,452/2 per cent
2. (2) IBM 64,727/7 per cent
3. (3) Microsoft 60,895/7 per cent
4. (7) Google 43,557/36 per cent
5. (4) GE 42,808 47,777/-10 per cent
6. (6) McDonald's 33,578/4 per cent
7. (9) Intel 32,015/4 per cent
8. (5) Nokia 29,495/-15 per cent
9. (10) Disney 28,731/1 per cent
10. (11) Hewlett Packard 26,867/12 per cent
11. (8) Toyota 26,192/-16 per cent
12. (12) Mercedes-Benz 25,179/6 per cent
13. (13) Gillette 23,298/2 per cent
14. (14) Cisco 23,219/5 per cent
15. (15) BMW 22,322/3 per cent
16. (16) Louis Vuitton 21,860/4 per cent
17. (20) Apple 21,143/37 per cent
18. (17) Marlboro 19,961/5 per cent
19. (19) Samsung 19,491/11 per cent
20. (18) Honda 18,506/4 per cent
21. (21) H&M 16,136/5 per cent
22. (24) Oracle 14,881/9 per cent
23. (23) Pepsi 14,061/3 per cent
24. (22) American Express 13,944/-7 per cent
25. (26) Nike 13,706 4 per cent
26. (27) SAP 12,756 5 per cent
27. (25) NescafÉ 12,753/-4 per cent
28. (28) Ikea 12,487/4 per cent
29. (37) JP Morgan 12,314/29 per cent
30. (30) Budweiser 12,252/4 per cent
Source: Interbrand
You can download the full report from Interbrand at Top 100 Global Brands 2010
1. Talk to your existing clients and target audience members and discover what they look for in a business they work with? See if any common factors crop up, what values do they see as important? Consider aligning your brand with these.
2. Look at your competitors. What positions do they occupy in the marketplace? Try mapping on to a graph the various positions held in the market by your competitors, against two key categories i.e. price vs. product variety or age appealing to vs. innovative services / products.
You will quickly see if there are any gaps in the marketplace for a new brand. But be careful to look at why that gap exists, you may find there is a very good reason why no businesses operate there.
3. Be consistent. Once you have defined your brand values, what you stand for and how you will conduct business, make sure you communicate them consistently, across every aspect of your business. It is counterproductive to have a great website that presents you as a luxury brand, then send a poor quality home printed brochure to a potential client. Likewise make sure your marketing mix aligns with your brand values. If you have an innovative brand, make sure that is communicated through your marketing material. Be consistent with your logo, your corporate colours. It should all serve to build a clear identity of what your business looks like and what it stands for. If you send mixed messages, the customer will be unsure as to what they are getting and is likely to become insecure with you offering.
Every team has its manager, who defines the team’s strategy and objectives. In much the same way, businesses have their managing director or CEO to play this role, defining the business’ mission, strategy and objectives.
It is the responsibility of the captain to marshal their players on the pitch and deliver their manager’s strategy and achieve their objectives.
Your business needs a similar function as the captain on the pitch. It needs an individual or department that is responsible for communicating your strategy and business objectives to the different departments of your business, and pulling them together to work in partnership to achieve those objectives.
We believe that marketing is that function.
Now where does your captain and key player sit within the team? For us, it has to be in the centre of everything. They must play the role of creator, developer, communicator, motivator, the central hub of the team, through which all the play goes, a midfield general if you will.
Marketing should take this place within your business.
It should not sit on the periphery of the game, coming in to play every so often. Many businesses see marketing in this way. A necessary evil, linked to sales and advertising. We believe this is entirely the wrong perspective to take on it.
Marketing should be the MD or CEO’s best friend, their ‘captain’ in the business, ensuring that the business works most efficiently to achieve its objectives. It should operate a central role within your business, helping to strengthen your position within the market place, ensuring you keep providing services or products that satisfy your customer’s needs better than your competitors, and at a profit.
So if you are keen to improve your business’ performance, take a look at the role marketing is currently playing in your business, and think about moving it to the centre.
© 2010 The Lifetime Company. All Rights Reserved