American Brands Hold Their Own, Improve in Value
Forget the anti-U.S. rhetoric and product boycotts during the war in Iraq; American brands are strong and getting stronger.
Far from suffering from an anti-American backlash, “megabrands” such as Coca-Cola, Starbucks and Gap actually have gained in value over the last year, accord- ing to research published Friday by consulting firm Interbrand.
“Consumers buy brands on the relevance of their brand equities and not on their country of origin,” said Interbrand’s Jan Lindemann, whose complex valuation techniques have gained wide acceptance in the advertising industry.
“In some cases, the American heritage has helped brands such as Marlboro, Ralph Lauren/Polo, Budweiser and Harley-Davidson. More often than not, consumers are unaware of the actual country of origin of a brand,” Lindemann said.
Either that or they just don’t care.
Of the 10 most valuable names on Interbrand’s list, eight are American, with Finnish phone maker Nokia and German luxury carmaker Mercedes preventing a U.S. sweep.
Once again, soft drink behemoth Coca-Cola is rated the world’s most valuable brand, coming in at $70.5 billion -- almost $1 billion up on last year’s survey.
The technology sector also is doing well, with mighty software firm Microsoft Corp. in a comfortable second place at $65.2 billion and IBM Corp. third at $51.8 billion.
General Electric Co. and Intel Corp. both squeeze in ahead of the first non-U.S. brand, Nokia, which takes sixth place.
Not all of the American multinationals have cause to celebrate, however.
Some companies -- notably fast-food chain McDonald’s Corp. and Altria Group Inc.’s top cigarette brand, Marlboro -- have lost billions in brand value over the year.
But both hold on to a place in the top 10, with McDonald’s losing $1.68 billion in brand value and Marlboro declining by $1.97 billion.
Faced with public concern and lawsuits over health issues such as cancer and obesity, such brands have had a tough year.
But Interbrand said value losses could be attributed to internal problems and market shifts rather than to a political backlash.
