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: