Living in the United States: A new survey finds that stagnant European brands are being outpaced by the thriving technology companies in China and the United States. According to the annual “BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands” study conducted by WPP's Kantar, the total value of Chinese brands (on the list) has surged by 1004% over the past decade, compared to a 137% increase for American companies. In contrast, European brands only grew by 31% during the same period.
In the ranking, the total value of technology companies exceeds one trillion USD, accounting for one-third of the total value of all listed companies. Apple, with a total value of 247 billion USD, surpassed Google to become the most valuable brand in the world. All of the top 10 brands in this ranking are American brands.
China's technology media provider Tencent ranks 11th, and another player driving the rapid rise of Chinese brands is the e-commerce giant Alibaba, which ranks 13th. This company holds about 80% of the online sales market in China, with a brand value of 66.4 billion USD, making it the most valuable retail brand in the world, followed closely by the American e-commerce giant Amazon.
Currently, 14 Chinese companies have made it onto this top 100 list, whereas there was only one a decade ago. There are still 24 European brands on the list, but this is a noticeable decrease from 35 in 2006. As the most valuable Chinese company in this ranking, Tencent's brand value stands at 76.6 billion USD, which is nearly twice that of British telecommunications company Vodafone, which holds the top brand value among European companies.