The Millard Brown research group says Apple is the world’s most valuable global brand with a value of about US$183 billion. However, the Interbrand research group (www.interbrand.com) disagrees, saying that Coca-Cola is in the number one spot with a value of approximately US$71 billion.
According to Interbrand, Apple is worth $33 billion and is in fifth place among global brands when it comes to value. This study has the company preceded by, in addition to Coca-Cola, McDonald’s ($36 billion), Google ($55 billion), Microsoft ($59 billion) and IBM ($70 billion).
How can two different studies be so different? According to TechnBuffalo (www.technobuffalo.com), Millward Brown adopts various models that include total economic value, brand contribution and brand risk. And Interbrand studies financial performance over five years, role of brand and brand strength.