Google dethrones Apple as world’s most valuable brand

Google has overtaken Apple to become the world's most valuable global brand in 2014, according to global market research agency Millward Brown.

After three years at the top, Apple slipped to second place in Millward Brown’s BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands ranking, conceding the top spot to Google, whose value increased by 40 per cent year on year to $159 billion. The market research agency said Apple meanwhile had seen a 20 per cent decline in brand value, to $148 billion.

“Whilst Apple remains a top performing brand, there is a growing perception that it is no longer redefining technology for consumers, reflected by a lack of dramatic new product launches,” the agency said.

The world's leading business to business brand, IBM, held onto third position with a brand value of $108 billion.

Facebook’s brand value rose 68 per cent to around $36 billion, putting it 21st in the rankings, while Coca-Cola came in sixth place, down one place from last year. Fast food company McDonald’s was in fifth place with a brand value of $85.7 billion and Visa ranked seventh with a brand value of $79 billion.

New entries to the ranking include Twitter, worth $14 billion and LinkedIn, with a value of $12 billion. They were ranked 71st and 78th respectively.

Millward Brown managing director Nick Cooper said Google has been hugely innovative in the last year with Google Glass, investments in artificial intelligence and a multitude of partnerships that see its Android operating system becoming embedded in other goods such as cars.

“All of this activity sends a very strong signal to consumers about what Google is about and it has coincided with a slowdown at Apple.”

The combined value of the top 100 brands in the study, commissioned by WPP and conducted by Millward Brown, has nearly doubled since the first ranking was produced in 2006. The top 100 today are worth $2.9 trillion, an increase of 49 per cent compared with the 2008 valuation, which marked the start of the global economic crisis.