Slashdot Mirror
Apple, Google World's Top Brands
Anil Kandangath writes "BrandChannel readers have picked the top global brands for 2004. Apple is the leader, closely followed by Google. Arab-centric Al-Jazeera ranks fifth in global as well as Europe/Africa ratings. In regionwise ratings, Google tops North America, Ikea tops Europe/Africa, Sony tops Asia-pacific while Mexican cement brand Cemex tops Latin America An interesting fact is that Steve Jobs headed Apple is the top North American brand while his other venture Pixar comes fifth in the same zeitgeist."
because a tiny niche insignificant internet website says so !!
I can't say 1 of them shocked me.
Then again, I think with the advent of the net, things are changing.
10 years ago, not many of us Americans would know so many European brands, but now that we see ads for european products (even if they aren't available in the US), articles, etc. etc...
it's sometimes hard to remember what is in the US or not.
I'm guessing in another 10 years, that continental divide will close even more.
It appears that their North America ratings leave out a large number of countries from Mexico south to the Colombian border which are also part of North America.
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
Well, they are brands. Martha Stewart Living? Her name is the brand. There's of people who've turned their names into brands:
Vidal Sassoon
Tommy Hilfiger
Colonel Sanders
Antoine Bugleboy
Lazslo Panaflex
etc.
The list goes on and on.
Unknown host pong.
Wow! A whopping 1984 respondents worldwide, of which the US& Canada make up about 50%. Seems a bit skewed to me.
Ruger
The shortlist comprises brands that were highly visible that year. Write in votes carry equal weight to listed brands unless the brand is already listed in the shortlist, in which case we accept up to 10 write ins for one brand.
In other words, they picked the shortlist of brands that you could vote on and the gentle readers got to rubberstamp the choice.
The fact is the three brands you mentioned are all transparent. I have my preferences of Coke vs. Pepsi, McDonalds vs. Burger King etc but they don't have the cult following. We ignore those brands because they are giant and stable, they aren't taking any risks and they plainly don't have the media love that jobs and his babies have.
Of course, it should be noted that these are marketing people voting. "Coca-cola" is still the 2nd most recognized word worldwide, after "okay", and it certainly belongs above #7 worldwide.
On the other hand, their brand saturation is so complete that they almost don't need to advertise anymore. I'd imagine marketing people prefer things that actually need some marketing to sell, as opposed to Coke, whose commercials serve no purpose anymore except to annoy people at movie theaters (does anyone ever see those commercials and think "oh, maybe that Coke stuff is good, I should try it sometime..."?)
Don't blame me; I'm never given mod points.
in some ways, sure. apple's done a lot to change their image not only for street cred (iPod) but geek cred too (BSD in OS X). google changed the way we use search engines -- such a simple webpage can find so much. apple's changing the way we think about technology now more than ever with the digital lifestyle of iLife + iPod + iMac.
- tristan
You need to think a little more clearly on this. They have visibility but if I drop you in the middle of Africa with a 12-pack of Coke and Google T-shirt guess which brand the natives are going to recognize?
Brands are very difficult thing to build. Apple/Google are currently (rightly so) should be monitored but they haven't built their brands to be recognizable world-wide yet.
For the record, Coke still stands as the #1 most recognizable brand in the world. Best of luck toppling that monstrosity.
With accounting snafubars and corporate greed in other news, it's satisfying to see such 'Karma-positive' companies be so well-recognized.
Test signature: Brett Walker