Google defends title as world's most valuable brand - Amazon makes strong gains

Google remains the world's most valuable brand in 2017. With a year-on-year increase in brand value of +7 percent to now 245.6 billion U.S. dollars, the internet company defends its top position in the BrandZ brand value study published annually. Apple and Microsoft also recorded growth in their brand values of +3 percent (234.7 billion U.S. dollars) and +18 percent (143.2 billion U.S. dollars), thus remaining in second and third place. Amazon made a big leap in this year's ranking - the retail giant catapulted from seventh to fourth place with the second-highest growth rate of the top 100 at +41 percent and a brand value of 139.3 billion U.S. dollars.

Kantar Millward Brown, one of the world's leading market research and consulting companies, publishes the Brand Value Study for the twelfth time. The world's most valuable brands are analyzed using a combination of financial metrics and a survey of over three million consumers worldwide. The total value of the top 100 brands increased by +8 percent this year to 3.64 trillion US dollars.

"A strong brand has a high strategic importance for companies. This is reflected in the positive development of the brands in the top 10. This year, consumer-oriented technology brands stand out in particular. Amazon in particular, with its considerable increase in brand value, illustrates the importance of a holistic approach. With different offers from a single source and across diverse end devices - from online shopping to television - the retailer simplifies the complex world for consumers with its services," says Bernd Büchner, Managing Director of Kantar Millward Brown in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

Tech brands dominate the top 10

This year's ranking is dominated by the technology giants Google, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon and Facebook in the top five places. The top five earn the designation "Fearsome Five" through their 25 percent share of the total brand value of the top 100 in the current BrandZ ranking. All seven newcomers to the top 100 are also tech brands - including YouTube, Snapchat, Netflix and Salesforce. Amazon represents the retail sector as well as the technology sector and scores with a technological ecosystem clearly tailored to consumer needs, which also includes innovative approaches in the areas of delivery concepts or artificial intelligence.

For the first time, the Chinese brand Tencent is among the top 10 with a brand value of 108.3 billion US dollars (+27 percent). One of the main reasons for the positive development of the Internet group is the increased use of the messaging app WeChat. Swiss brands did not make it into the top 100.