According to the results, Ferrari is the world’s most powerful brand. The legendary Italian carmaker scores highly on a wide variety of measures on Brand Finance’s Brand Strength
Index, from desirability, loyalty and consumer sentiment to visual identity, online presence and employee satisfaction were measured.
Ferrari is one of only 11 brands (including Google, Hermès, Coca-Cola, Disney, Rolex and F1 racing rivals Red Bull) to be awarded an AAA+ brand rating and has the highest overall score.
Brand Finance Chief Executive David Haigh said: “The prancing horse on a yellow badge is instantly recognizable the world over, even where paved roads have yet to reach. In its home country and among its many admirers worldwide Ferrari inspires more than just brand loyalty, more of a cultish, even quasi-religious devotion, its brand power is indisputable.”
Though Ferrari is the world’s most powerful brand, being a niche, luxury brand with an officially capped production, it is perhaps unsurprising that it is some way off being the world’s most valuable.
Its US$4 billion brand value puts it 350th in brand value terms. David Haigh says: “Apple also has a powerful brand, rated AAA by Brand Finance. However what sets it apart is its ability to monetize that brand.
“For example, though tablets were in use before the iPad, it was the application of the Apple brand to the concept that captured the public imagination and allowed it to take off as a commercial reality.”
This is just one of the factors responsible for its US$105 billion brand value; Apple is the world’s most valuable brand for the third year in a row.
Apple’s dominance is being challenged by Samsung however. The Korean giant’s improving reputation for reliability, a faster pace of innovation and wider range of devices are among many factors that have seen its brand value increase by US$20 billion to US$79 billion this year.
Other tech successes include Netflix, which has nearly doubled its brand value to appear in the Brand Finance Global 500 for the first time.
Its value has grown 93% in a year to US$3.2 billion, to make Netflix the 468th most valuable brand.
Still operating only in the Americas, Scandinavia and the British Isles, there is huge potential for further growth.
Facebook meanwhile has recovered from its problematic IPO, which saw its reputation suffer and its brand value plunge in 2013.
This year it has rebounded, adding 76% to its brand value to bring the total to US$9.8 billion, putting it 122nd. Investor confidence in its long term prospects has returned as revenues from mobile advertising have grown.
Tech brands in general have tightened their grip on the Brand Finance Global 500. Walmart is the only non-tech brand remaining in the top 10.
Once the world’s most valuable brand, it now sits in 9th having been overtaken by Amazon. The usurpation of the world’s biggest retail brand by the biggest online retailer represents yet another coup for tech brands over ‘real-world’ businesses.
