Brand Value
Samsung Group’s brand value ranked 6th in the world in 2017, one notch up from 2016.
According to the latest “Brand Finance Global 500 Report” released on February 1 by the British evaluation consultancy Brand Finance, Samsung’s brand value amounts to US$66.2 billion in 2017, a 13% increase from US$58.6 billion in 2016, and is the 6th highest in the world.
The highest brand value in the world turned out to be Google, worth US$109.4 billion. The figure increased by US$21.2 billion or 24% from US$88.2 billion last year, and is 65 percent higher than that of Samsung. Brand Finance analyzed that Google has remained largely unchallenged in its core search business, the mainstay of its advertising income and Ad revenues were up 20% in 2016 as budgets are increasingly directed online while the company finds more innovative ways to monetise users.
Apple, which has kept the top spot for five years since 2011, lost the leading position as the world’s most valuable brand to Google as its brand value declined by 27% to US$107.1 billion in 2017 from US$145.9 billion in the previous year.
David Haigh, CEO of Brand Finance, said, “Apple has struggled to maintain its technological advantage, with new iterations of the iPhone delivering diminishing returns, while the Chinese market is now crowded with local competitors. Apple has been living on borrowed time for several years by exploiting its accumulated brand equity. This underlines one of the many benefits of a strong brand, but Apple has finally taken it too far.”
The two US-based IT rivals were followed by Amazon.com (US$106,396 million), AT&T Telecoms (US$87,016 million), Microsoft (US$76,265 million).
Most of the top 10 brands are information technology or communications businesses. Eight of them were US-based companies, while one is Korea-based Samsung and another is China-based bank CNBC.
China puts 10 companies in the top 50 chart while Japan does four and South Korea just one.
Besides Samsung Group, other 12 Korean companies are listed in the global top 500 brands, including Hyundai Motors Group (US$19.9 billion) at 60th, SK Group (US$19.3 billion) 62th, LG Group 112nd, Lotte Group 300th, KT 325th, Kia 339th, Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) 390th, KB Financial Group 434th, GS group 451st, Posco 453rd, Doosan Group 477th and CJ Group 478th.
In particular, Hyundai Motor Group has declined sharply to the 60th in 2017 from the 37th place in the previous year, decreasing its brand value by 19% from US$23.7 billion to US$19.9 billion while SK Group jumped to the 62nd from the 144th place by increasing the brand value by US$10.7 billion or 125%. LG group inched down to the 112nd from the 96th. KT and Kia also moved down to the 325th from the 270th, and to the 339th from 293rd, respectively while KEPCO moved up to the 390th from 419th.
In the meantime, Brand Finance values the brands of thousands of the world’s biggest companies every year.