Gallery: Here are the world’s Top 10 most valuable brands, with Amazon leading by a few billions

It is tech and ecommerce all the way when it comes to 2021’s most valuable – and powerful – global brands. Given the centrality that the brand plays in our lives, Amazon was the runaway leader, easily retaining its top spot with a $684 billion valuation. Apple came in second, at $612 billion, in the annual Kantar BrandZ rankings of brands and where they stand in the grand scheme of things.

But Tesla wasn’t going to let tech brands to run away with all the glory. It’s brand value grew at the fastest rate – by 275 per cent – to a shade over $42 billion. But knowing Elon Musk, Tesla will be gunning for more. After all, adding a few billions has never fazed Musk.

Another gainer is TikTok, the video sharing app, that’s catching on with the young… and businesses too. In fact, Chinese brands shot past those from Europe in mounting the biggest challenge to US labels.

Still, US brands accounted for 56 of the Top 100 positions, with the likes of Google, Microsoft and Facebook all in the Top 10. McDonald’s, Visa and MasterCard were the only non-tech brands in the Top 10.

There’s no denying the brand power these Top 10 carry. Collectively, according to Kantar, they are valued at $3.3 trillion compared with a marginal $800 billion in 2011.

Another video-focussed brand, Zoom, shot up the brand charts, as it became as central to work and living as any other digital feature during a year upturned by COVID-19.

Will these brands hold on to their rankings by next year? Will Tesla and Zoom keep adding a few zeros mores to their value? It will be tough to break into the Top 5, but the bottom five positions could see some changes.

It’s interesting that McDonald’s continues to hold its own despite all that has happened in the past 12 months. The brand keeps reinventing itself, drawing enough patrons from all over to take a ride over to the Big Arch.

Will it be a different set of dynamics driving brand performance as vaccines hit their mark and threats of further disruption from COVID-19 subside? “COVID-19 has emphasised consumer values such as trust and reliability,” said Nathalie Burdet, CMO of Kantar. “Those brands that are evolving their values, projecting leadership on these issues are demonstrating differentiation and standing out.”

Natalie’s right – brands that charted their way through social issues with transparency had their reputations enhanced. Take LVMH for example – “Investing in their corporate reputation through pandemic-related initiatives, sustainable transformation, and support for social movements such as BLM (Black Lives Matter)” paid off. And L’Oréal “bucked the trend” across beauty brands in the pandemic, securing brand growth by “driving female empowerment”.

The right message delivered at the right pitch always wins results. Apple’s meta focus on privacy of user data could be the next big theme on which new reputations are made. It could even reset the agenda for the tech and digital media industry as a whole.

So, what will the next Top 100 rankings of brand powerhouses show? More new entrants from China? Or will the dominant names continue building their strengths? Any which way, all these brands need to be on the right side of their audiences…