Brandz Top 100 Available as a Free App

The BrandZ™ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands 2009, published annually by Millward Brown Optimor, is available as a free application on the iPhone. This is the first time that a major research study has been available in this format. Within hours of its release, the app went to number nine of the top free business applications, a position it held for a month.

The iPhone app, created by iconmobile, makes the information easily accessible and fun to use. As well as the standard listings for the Top 100 and 17 categories, the app contains all the information from the main report. By shaking the iPhone, the user is presented with a brand cluster for a particular category, which they can then drill down into for further detail.

Joanna Seddon, Global CEO of Millward Brown Optimor said: “The BrandZ Top 100 study is an essential benchmark for business leaders about the value of their brands. I’m delighted that by partnering with iconmobile, we are able to put our research into people’s pockets in this new and innovative format.”

Steve Griffiths, UK Managing Director of iconmobile said: “The iPhone is a phenomenon for the mobile industry and much attention has been given to application development. However, there has been less focus on the B2B sector, and what I think this application shows is that there is great scope to create useful tools for the business sector. We believe that this app creates a new benchmark for the industry.”

Plans are now in place to develop the application for other platforms including BlackBerry. The iPhone app can be found by searching “BrandZ Top 100” on the iPhone/iTouch, or by visiting the iTunes app store.

Mexico City, 11th May 2009. Millward Brown announces the opening of Millward Brown Optimor México and the appointment of Jorge Alagón as Director.

Optimor is a world wide leading consultant on financial returns of brand strategy and marketing. Every year Optimor publishes the BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands, the ranking that identifies the dollar value of brands by combining financial data with research on consumers and business-to-business users.

Jorge has 20 years’ experience on brand strategy, brand positioning and communication optimization. Before joining Optimor, Jorge ran the Marketing Science unit in Millward Brown, where he used robust statistical models to optimize the financial returns from brand strategy and marketing investments. Prior to that, he was Director of Strategic Planning at JWT's Mexico City office.

Joanna Seddon, EVP, who heads up Millward Brown Optimor globally said: “In the current economic climate, making the most of your marketing investment is vital. We know from our research that the brands which manage this carefully, will be well positioned for when the economy improves. The experience that Jorge has gained working with some of the biggest brands in the world means that he will be a huge asset to our Mexican team and to the clients that we work with.”

Millward Brown Optimor México collects several experts from the marketing and communications industry to offer world class consultancy. "Our consulting offer is designed to increase the value added by brand strategy and marketing to our client’s business.” – commented Jorge Alagón – "We provide actionable recommendations with demonstrable financial results for the key issues faced by the CMOs and CFOs."

Jorge holds a BA in Applied Mathematics from ITAM and an MSc in Applied Statistics at the University of Oxford. He lectures at ITAM's Executive MBA, Universidad Panamericana's Diploma in Branding and at UAI's (Santiago, Chile) Master of Consumer Behavior. He is frequent speaker and writer in marketing events and periodicals.

Regarding Jorge’s appointment, Ricardo Barrueta, General Director of Millward Brown Mexico commented: "We are very happy for Optimor’s opening in Mexico and congratulate Jorge Alagón. At Millward Brown we have always aimed for innovation and bringing state-of-the art solutions and tools that can help our clients to successfully manage their brand actives. We congratulate ourselves for taking one further step in that direction and ofeering our Mexico clients the highest level of consulting in the world.”

London, UK 6th May 2009. Millward Brown Optimor, the strategic consulting unit of Millward Brown dedicated to maximizing the financial returns from brand strategy and marketing investment, announces the appointment of Nick Cooper, as Senior Vice President.

Nick will be responsible for leading Millward Brown Optimor's practice in the UK and Europe. He has 20 years' experience in corporate strategy and business planning, distribution strategies, market sizing and brand positioning.

Before joining Optimor, Nick ran his own consultancy where he worked internationally for clients in the airline, telecoms, retail and drinks industries. Prior to that, he was Managing Director of The Added Value Company's London office and has also held brand management positions with British Airways and Unilever.

Joanna Seddon, EVP, who heads up Millward Brown Optimor globally said: “In the current economic climate, making the most of your marketing investment is vital. We know from our research that the brands which mange this carefully, will be well positioned for when the economy improves. The experience that Nick has gained working with some of the biggest brands in the world means that he will be a huge asset to our European team and to the clients that we work with.”

Nick holds a BA and MA in History from Cambridge University. He is a Board Member of the Association of Convenience Stores, the lobbying body for the £25 billion convenience sector in the UK, holds non-executive directorships at a legal aid law firm and a multi-award winning convenience store retailer, and is a frequent speaker and commentator on retail issues.

Google is the world's first $100 billion brand, number one for the third year running

New York, New York, 29th April 2009 — the fourth annual BrandZ™ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands ranking published today by Millward Brown Optimor reveals that brands sustain their value, despite the tough economic environment.

The BrandZ Top 100 ranking identifies the dollar value of brands. It does this by combining financial data with research on consumers and business-to-business users from BrandZ, the world’s largest brand equity study.

The value of the top 100 brands has held its value at $1.95 tn (a marginal increase of 1.7 percent). Google is number one with a value of $100 bn, Microsoft is number two at $76.2 bn, and Coca-Cola enters the top three for the first time at $67.6 bn.

"In the current environment, where the value of many businesses has fallen, brand has become even more important because it can help to sustain companies in tough times," said Joanna Seddon, CEO Millward Brown Optimor. "Those who continue to invest in their brand will be better positioned for business growth as the economic situation starts to improve than those who have cut spend."

There are 15 new brands entering the ranking this year. Pampers is the highest entrant at no. 31, followed by Nintendo (no.32) and VISA (no.36). Trends identified from this year’s rankings are:

Value — Brands that represent good value for money have done well, this is about quality as much as price, for example Wal-Mart (+19 percent), ALDI (+49 percent) and Auchan (+48 percent). H&M (+8 percent) is now the number one apparel brand.

Vice — People still reward themselves with little treats when money is tight. Brands such as McDonald's (+34 percent), Marlboro (+33 percent) and Budweiser (+23 percent) have all done well.

At Home — Brands that can be experienced at home have shown strong growth. This includes home shopping: Amazon (+85 percent) and eBay (+16 percent); Coffee that can be prepared at home: Nespresso (+27 percent) and Nescafe (+23 percent); and gaming — Nintendo jumped into the ranking for the first time at no. 32.

Wireless — The increased popularity of using the internet on the move through devices such as the iPhone and BlackBerry has led to huge increases for the mobile operators category as a whole, driven by demand for data services. Vodafone enters the top 10 for the first time this year (+45 percent).

Commenting on the ranking, Eileen Campbell, Global CEO of Millward Brown said:

"It is a fantastic achievement to be one of the most valuable brands in the world, and we congratulate all brands that are featured in this ranking. At a time when marketing spend is under greater scrutiny than ever, this ranking is a way for marketers to identify the value that their brand is creating for the business."

The third annual BrandZ ™ Ranking issued today proves that brands are becoming ever more valuable and powerful in driving business growth. Companies that own brands in the BrandZ Top 100 have significantly outperformed the stock market when compared to the S&P 500.

The new edition of the BrandZ Ranking was announced today by leading global market research and consulting firm Millward Brown. It identifies the world’s most powerful brands as measured by their dollar value. The brand ranking is produced by Millward Brown Optimor, the group dedicated to helping companies maximize returns from brand and marketing investments.

The combined value of all brands in the BrandZ Top 100 increased by 21% from $1.6 trillion in 2007 to $1.94 trillion in 2008, more than double the increase experienced the previous year. Google tops the list again with a brand value of $86.1bn followed by GE at $71.4bn and Microsoft at $70.8bn.

“This year’s brand ranking demonstrates the importance of investing in brands, especially in times of market turmoil. Strong brands generate superior returns and protect businesses from risk,” said Joanna Seddon, CEO of Millward Brown Optimor. “Our data shows that strong brands continue to outperform weak ones in terms of market share and share price during recessions.”

The most notable trends emerging from this year's BrandZ Ranking include:

1. Established Asia vs Emerging Asia — Chinese brands continue to get stronger according to the new BrandZ Ranking. Seven brands in this year’s Top 100 come from mature Asian economies: Japan, Korea, and Hong Kong. Their aggregate brand value increased by only 7% in the last year (to $111bn). In contrast, the value of the four Chinese brands that made this year’s BrandZ Top 100 increased by 51% (to $124bn). China Mobile, Bank of China, China Construction Bank and ICBC are only just starting to expand beyond China so they have considerable potential for further growth.

2. Continued Rise of the BRICs — Emerging markets play a key role in driving growth for international brands, for example Apple and Gucci. The new BrandZ Ranking shows that domestic brands from emerging economies are gaining momentum. Chinese brands performed strongly and Russian-based mobile operator MTS entered the ranking at number 89. MTS is the first Russian brand to make the Top 100 list with a brand value of $8.1bn. Other BRIC brands to watch in future brand rankings include Lukoil, Beeline, and Baltika from Russia, ICICI from India, as well as Brahma, Petrobras, and Bradesco from Brazil.

3. Technology Boom — The technology sector (including mobile operators), which accounted for 28 of the top 100 brands, outperformed all other categories in this year’s BrandZ Ranking, with a brand value growth of $187.5bn. This is more than half of the Top 100’s total increase.

Commenting on this year's BrandZ Ranking, Eileen Campbell, Global CEO of Millward Brown said: "We've been tracking brand equity on WPP's behalf for 10 years, so we know what hard work it is and what a fantastic achievement it is for any brand to achieve BrandZ Top 100 status. We'd like to congratulate these companies for their extraordinary performance and commitment to the power of great brands and the role that effective marketing plays in building them. Particularly in a challenging global economy, we were delighted to see such high growth, reconfirming our assertion that sustained marketing support is a winning strategy, even in tough business conditions."

The BrandZ Ranking is the only brand ranking based on primary research — it therefore reflects the perceptions of people who really count — brand users and consumers. Derived from WPP's BrandZ database, the world's largest repository of brand equity data, the BrandZ study has interviewed more than 1 million consumers and business-to-business customers globally and covers thousands of brands worldwide. The BrandZ Ranking is the first study to cover both business and consumer brands and to include predictive metrics of future brand performance. Market performance metrics and financial data were obtained from Datamonitor and Bloomberg respectively.

The complete BrandZ Ranking report with category and regional breakdowns as well as additional analysis is available online at www.millwardbrown.com/mboptimor, www.brandz.com and at www.ft.com