100 Top Global Brands. part1

100 Top Global Brands.

The World's Top 100 Brands

By David Kiley, BusinessWeek

(July 28) - Not long ago, Motorola saw itself the same way its customers did: as a tech-driven seller of products, not a brand. The success of the RAZR changed all that. By ringing the consumer's bell, the hot-selling mobile phone validated a new strategy, internally dubbed MOTOME. Suddenly Motorola was a company that had rediscovered its identity as a major consumer brand.

 

The key, says global marketing head George Neill, who came to the company last year from Apple), was to think of the brand as providing experiences to consumers, not just hardware. "We're focused on giving access to what people want -- music, video, Internet -- wherever customers roam." That translated into an 18% gain in the company's global brand value on this year's BusinessWeek/Interbrand Annual Ranking of the 100 Top Global Brands. The phonemaker, adds Interbrand Group CEO Jez Frampton, is "redefining the place people make for the Motorola brand in their lives." This year's list is brimming with hot brands such as Motorola that are crafting new and surprising ways to branch into entirely new product arenas. Hyundai is launching a premium sedan. Google is wading into selling ad time on the radio. Others are revving up their brand's goodwill value to dodge problems, as McDonald's is doing with its health and fitness marketing to counter concerns about junk food. Every company wants its brand to get bigger. The hard part is balancing what the brand is with a vision of what it would like to be. "As soon as you try to go someplace that doesn't fit or where you don't have credibility, it can detract from your organization and your brand," says Frampton. The sixth annual BusinessWeek/Interbrand rankings measure an elusive but crucial quality. Companies that score high can count on plenty of customer loyalty as they push into risky expansions. Don't Fear Public Flops The Google name is stronger than ever: In this year's ranking it gained 46% in brand value -- the biggest year-over-year rise of any company ever on the list. Revenues climbed by 105% last year. With market share in Internet search still surging, it can afford to gamble with its universally recognizable brand. hat allows Google to launch a slew of new products with small investments, gain valuable user input at early stages of development, and in turn challenge market leaders such as Microsoft in mature businesses. "The way you find really successful innovation is to release five things and hope that one or two of them really take off," says product czar Marissa Mayer. When your brand is a verb in the Oxford English Dictionary, you can weather the sting of a few product flops. In the process you can harness the power of early releases, when users offer tons of suggestions, and engineers can fold in upgrades and adapt on the fly. That's what the company did with Google Video, which was expanded to let people upload and showcase their own creations. Another example: When Google initially launched Gmail in 2004, it scared some would-be customers by scanning e-mails for keywords and serving up ads relevant to their content. Since then the company has invited Web critics and consumer advocates to weigh in during the test phases of other new offerings. Google's brand may not always ride this high. Failed product tests can pile up and dent all the positive brand buzz. That's a worry, particularly since only a few of its services beyond search have found real acclaim, much less significant new revenue. Still, the company has a toehold almost everywhere and a knack for speed. In the past year it has launched an online finance site, a spreadsheet tool, and a word processor, and it plans to resell radio and TV ad time to its ad clients. Several of these may never be big cash machines, but with revenues growing 77% last quarter, it's hard to blame Google for failing in small ways when it's winning so big on the Street. Face Your Weaknesses In the five years leading up to 2003, McDonald's saw its marketcapitalization fall by $12.2 billion. And this is no Internet stock. The problem was that despite the company's nearly 100% brand awareness in every global market, the old images of Ronald McDonald weren't wearing well. Just as troubling, evidence was mounting that junk food was fueling an obesity epidemic in the U.S. McDonald's had long struck a defensive pose against such barbs. But it was time to take control of the brand before outside forces did it for them. McDonald's discovered that while its big-budget Disney tie-ins and Olympics sponsorships kept the Golden Arches in kids' sights, mothers were its real problem. Opinion studies and focus groups showed a mounting distrust of McDonald's and guilt among suburban moms about letting kids eat there. "Everything we do is really driven through the eyes of our customers and understanding what their needs and desires are," says Global Chief Marketing Officer Mary Dillon. So the chain set out to appeal to moms. In the past three years, one-third of its 13,725 restaurants have been upgraded, and new premium-priced salads and chicken meals have been added. Fruit offerings such as apple slices have helped change Mickey D's image -- it's now the nation's biggest wholesale buyer of apples. This year, McDonald's global brand value rose a healthy 6%, and its market capitalization grew by $2 billion. The company took the mom-friendly message to a new level last February. McDonald's kicked off a global campaign tied in with the Olympics that talks up the importance of exercise and nutrition, using such athletic role models as tennis stars Venus and Serena Williams. The campaign ("It's what I eat and what I do...I'm lovin' it") includes TV ads, new packaging, and a series of Ronald McDonald videos teaching children how to eat well and stay active. Meanwhile, average restaurant sales are up to a record $1.9 million thanks to the premium-priced items. Says Dillon: "One of the fun things about McDonald's is we are always learning about how we can expand our brand."