Coca-Cola Tops List of Valuable Brands

Coca-Cola Co., the largest maker of soft drinks, remained the world’s most valuable brand for the third straight year, followed closely by software maker Microsoft Corp., according to a report by Omnicom Group Inc.’s Interbrand unit.

Coca-Cola is spending an additional $300 million to $400 million in marketing this year to revive flagging soft-drink sales.

Ford Motor Co. lost 17% of brand value after fatal crashes were linked to Firestone tires on Ford’s Explorer sport-utility vehicle, though it remained the eighth-most-valuable brand in the world, the report said.

Technology and Internet companies including Intel Corp., Hewlett-Packard Co., Cisco Systems Inc., Yahoo Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. had the greatest decline in brand value in the last year amid a slowing U.S. economy, the report said.

Microsoft and IBM Corp. remained stable as the No. 2 and No. 3 brands worldwide, respectively, because they are more established, the report said.

New York-based Interbrand is a branding and consulting agency that ranks more than 2,300 company brands by reviewing customer demand and company earnings.