Apple, Google and Amazon Remain Top Brands While Facebook Falls

Taking its spot among the Top 10 is the Walt Disney Company, the first time it’s reached that echelon in its 96-year history, in part because of the upcoming rollout of its Disney+ streaming service.

At the top of the list are the usual who’s who of the tech world: Apple, Google and Amazon remain the Best Global Brands. The top three are each valued at more than $100 billion, with Apple in the No. 1 spot at $234 billion. Tech and electronics brands occupy more than half of the Top 10 spots.

The brand consulting agency’s annual list remained largely consistent, with only three new additions: Dell Technologies, Uber and LinkedIn.

“The top-growing brands all excel on both responsiveness and relevance,” said Daniel Binns, CEO of Interbrand’s New York office. “Being able to predict what changes are happening … to constantly remain relevant in an era where categories are endlessly disrupted and legacy brands are endless challenged.”

To create its list, Interbrand considers a brand’s financial forecast and performance, the role a brand plays in purchasing decisions, and a brand’s competitive strength. The list includes both consumer brands like Starbucks and B2B brands like Salesforce.

The brands that experienced the most growth in the last year include Mastercard, Salesforce, Starbucks and Caterpillar. Each racked up at least a 17% increase in brand value, according to Interbrand. In 2001, the aggregate value of the companies that made the list was about $988 billion. Today, that has more than doubled in value to $2.2 trillion.

To commemorate the Top 100 list’s 20th year, Interbrand looked back at its first list published in 2001. Only 31 brands from 2000 remain in the Top 100 today, and only Microsoft and Coca-Cola retained their Top 10 standings. Marlboro and AT&T are among the brands that have fallen off, though telecommunication companies are at a disadvantage as Interbrand only considers brands with both local and international audiences. Chinese companies WeChat and the Alibaba Group didn’t make the list, either.

“Blackberry was on the list, so was Nokia—brands that were pioneers, and then were left behind as a competitor caught up,” Binns said. “Branding and brands have changed dramatically in the last 20 years, but the ability to remain relevant, to create something which is useful … that continues to hold true.”