Apple reaches new heights: With a 15% increase in brand value, Apple secured its third straight year as the world’s most valuable brand. In doing so, Apple also became the first brand in history to surpass $1 trillion in total brand valuation.
The big get bigger: 2024 marks the first time that the Global Top 10 is worth as much in brand value as the other 90 top-ranked brands combined.
Artificial intelligence sector booms with NVIDIA brand value surging 163%, becoming the world’s fastest-growing brand
The Alcohol category returned to growth this year, rising to 5% in total brand value thanks to the performance of beer brands in particular.
Tesla drops out of the top 10, falling to 26th
Kantar BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands 2024
With its $1 trillion brand valuation, Apple has proven resilient in the face of testing market conditions, justifying premium prices and proving that meaningful, different and salient brands are best placed to weather global economic disruption. Our 2024 global report reveals that strong brands continue to thrive despite global economic uncertainty. This year, brands investing in AI are seeing remarkable gains by reaping the benefits of enhanced customer experience. But effective marketing takes many forms, whether via great content, new innovations, effective media strategy, savvy pricing and more. Crucially, investment in effective marketing helps to improve consumer predisposition and drive brand value growth, contributing significant dollar value to support sustained business success.
Alongside NVIDIA, AI-titans Adobe and AMD also made impressive gains, securing a spot among the Top 20 Risers with brand value increases of 66% and 53% respectively. Together, with resurgent growth for Instagram, Facebook and Uber, these companies highlight how technological innovations can drive engagement and accelerate growth.
Success stories across category rankings
Throughout the 13 category rankings, notable shifts across various industry sectors spotlight a variety of attributes helping to drive brand equity:
Apparel: Nike retains its No.1 brand position in Apparel, but the gap between competitors has narrowed. Zara’s 47% growth made it the second biggest riser in terms of rank change in the Global Top 100, rising 24 places to No.70. Lululemon’s innovative approach to athleisure and commitment to quality delivered 24% brand value growth, lifting it into the Global Top 100 for the first time.
ACTION POINTS:
Nurture your classics
Build your partner portfolio
Embrace the right brick-and-mortar mix
Consumer technology: This year, Apple ended Samsung’s 12-year run to become the world’s top smartphone seller by units sold, according to the International Data Corporation. Apple also notched a notably strong holiday period at the end of 2023, proving that customers were finally ready to upgrade their iPhones in greater numbers following a sector-wide slowdown in upgrade frequency.
ACTION POINTS:
Tone it down, in a sense of quiet luxury
Charge up - battery life remains more than a convenience factor for many around the world
Share strategically - Ongoing antitrust actions from governments around the world may soon force consumer tech brands to open up their ‘walled gardens.
Fast food: McDonald’s also retains its position in the top five, with its success bolstered by its continued innovation, including its use of artificial intelligence (AI) for scenarios such as dynamic menu boards and order prediction, demonstrating how non-tech brands are also exploring AI to unlock growth.
ACTION POINTS:
Go local
Discount for dayparts
Explore automation
Luxury: Louis Vuitton remains the most valuable brand in the luxury category with a brand valuation of $130 billion. Hermès has also excelled by enhancing its exclusivity and premium pricing, thriving in both US and Chinese markets, leading to a 23% growth in brand value.
ACTION POINTS:
Cut down on unsold inventory
Flagship
Speak consistently
Personal care: The world’s top Personal Care brands declined slightly in total value this year, by 1%, signalling an unequal recovery following last year’s double-digit percentage decline. While eight of the 14 brands returning to this year’s list saw positive year-on-year increases, the other six trended flat or negative.
ACTION POINTS:
Re-examine multifunctionality
Go pro
Write your acquisition bible
Retail: Amazon retains its position as the most valuable retail brand with brand value growth of 6%. Behind this, innovation around product accessibility, as well as pricing sensitivity to changing consumer behaviours delivered strong performances for Aldi, TJ Maxx, as well as regional ecommerce giants Pinduoduo and Mercado Libre.
ACTION POINTS:
Rebalance relationships
Don’t skimp on store maintenance
Find sustainable wins
WORTH TO THINK:
Who we are marketing to: Brands across all markets and categories face the challenge of marketing to financially strained or cautious customers. Marketers have had to revise their strategies to cope with unprecedented cost-of-living and inflation crises. Additionally, many countries have aging populations, and older consumers tend to be more frugal, regardless of their income status. Meanwhile, Gen Z remains a crucial target for brand engagement. However, unlike previous generations, Gen Z faces limited job opportunities and reduced discretionary spending in many markets.
If your customers are fad up with the products: Big brands need to find new spaces to expand into beyond their original categories. But in order to successfully move into these new spaces, brands need sufficient momentum – in other words, sufficient buy-in from consumers eager to stick with the brand, not just now but also into the future. By contrast, smaller brands have more room to find growth within their categories – so they don’t have the same relationship to Future Power as a driver of growth. (There is also a bigger risk to smaller brands of overextending themselves, as they still have big competitors to manoeuvre around in their current categories.)
How to maximise your marketing outcome: Invest in truly global reach: some of the world’s fittest brands have already lined up to partner with the Olympics. With all eyes on the host nation, French brands in particular have a rare opportunity to showcase their stories on the global stage.
Source:
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