Millward Brown Optimor (Never heard of them? You aren’t alone) has come out with their annual ranking of the most well known, and financially prevalent, global brand names. The list itself is titled the Brandz Top 100. Let’s get into the statistics and findings first, then we will pick it apart.
The study has concluded that Google is indeed the most powerful and well known company name in the entire world. They were given a total brand worth of $100 billion while software conglomerate Microsoft came in at a distant second with a value of $76.2 billion. The list also concluded that Microsoft was only able to increase their value by an overall total of 8%, while Google accelerated with an increase of 16%. Coca-Cola came in third place in the “competition” with a supposed brand name value of $67.6 billion.
Now for My Questions…For What They’re Worth
This undoubtedly brings a couple of questions to mind. Firstly, how does Microsoft possibly fall $24 billion behind Google even though they make an incredibly larger amount of sales and money? I was at first startled by the findings but then quickly realized that this is indeed a BRAND name recognition study, not a total worth value. That does change the tone of my first question, but not by much. Microsoft has a market cap of $212 billion while Google only holds a cap of $142. Then again, Google tends to name and market everything based on the name, well, Google. Microsoft does tend to branch out a lot more with products that work well on their own such as Windows. I guess that is why Google is the apparently more recognized brand? Even still, Microsoft has been around a heck of a lot longer than Google, and you have to assume that figure would hold some value? Or maybe not.
Recognition of a Brand Name or Value of a Brand Name? Make Up your Mind
Then other questions come along. How is Coca-Cola’s brand name value only half of Google’s? I will admit that maybe more people know about Google, but there cannot be that big of a difference, can there? I know the report breaks it all down and gives reasoning, but to be honest the explanations are pretty weak and excruciatingly vague. The only reasoning I could find for Google being DRASTICALLY higher then Coca-Cola would be the money made off of the brand name, not just name awareness. But then, how does that possibly explain that Toyota got a higher ranking, with $29.9 billion, than BMW, who was given a total of $23.94 billion. I would go out on a limb and say that a backpack with the BMW stamp would sell for a lot more than one with the words Toyota labeled on the front.
Maybe I am being too quick to judge. Maybe the scientific calculations are just behind the mental capacity of my mind. Or maybe this is just another weakly proven, vaguely researched study that we are supposed to take seriously. I say we take this information with a grain of salt. Am I completely wrong? You tell me.
And don’t mind us will we try and make a little bit of money out of this too. Why not buy a BMW backpack and revolt against Millward Brown along with us? Hey, maybe it will help get HighTechDeck somewhere on that list, possibly breakthrough into the top 1 million brand names. Hey, a man can dream can’t he?