Apple Overthrows Google As World's Biggest Brand

Apple has overtaken Google to be the world’s most valuable brand, according to an annual ranking.

Apple’s brand jumped in value by 67 per cent over the last year, to $247 billion U.S., according to the 2015 edition of the BrandZ survey from market researchers WPP and Millward Brown.

Google saw its brand value rise by 9 per cent, but that was only enough to get it to second place, at $173.7 billion.

Though the Apple Watch had something to do the company’s return to first place (it ranked first in the 2013 survey as well), it’s actually the iPhone 6 that has driven the company’s brand value, BrandZ says.

“Apple continues to ‘own’ its category by innovating and leading the curve in a way that generates real benefits for consumers,” Doreen Brown, Millward Brown’s head of research for BrandZ, said in a statement.

“Apple is clear on what it stands for, and never stops refreshing its message to sustain the difference that makes it so desirable.”

Only three Canadian companies made the top-100 list of most valuable global brands, and all three are banks:

• RBC (Royal Bank), at 36th place, with a brand value of $24 billion U.S.
• Toronto-Dominion (TD), at 47th place, with a brand value of $20.6 billion U.S.
• Scotiabank, rounding out the list at 100th place, with a brand value of $11 billion U.S.

Here are the 10 most valuable brands in the world, according the BrandZ 2015 survey: