IBM is the most valuable B2B brand of 2014 with a brand value of $107,541 million, according to The ‘BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands Study commissioned by WPP and produced by Millward Brown.
In second place is Microsoft with a brand value of $90,185 million, followed by GE with a brand value of $56,685 million. Interestingly this is the biggest difference between two brands placing next to each other.
At the other end of the scale, J.P. Morgan came in 18th place with a brand value of $12,356 million, followed by Intel with $11,667 million and UBS in 20th place with a brand value of under $10 million.
Combined these top 20 business brands are worth £342 billion, up 11 per cent from 2013, and a rise of a 86 per cent since 2006.
Meanwhile, the number of B2B brands in the full top 100 brands table has risen from 14 in 2006 to 20 in 2014.
Fraser Hynes, research director at Millward Brown Corporate, commented on the findings: “From a branding point of view, B2B is still often seen as less glamourous and less important than its radiant consumer facing sister. I’ve always found this surprising given that branding is crucially important in the world of B2B where competitive advantage and differentiation is so difficult to establish, let alone maintain.
“Let’s not forget that in most instances B2B products, particularly high value ones, are bought by committee. And the people making the purchase decision tend to be particularly knowledgeable when it comes to price points, product specifications and service offerings thanks to constant monitoring of the market place. Understanding what a brand means to them is crucially important because sometimes the ‘brand’ is the only differentiating factor. The good news is that there does seem to be a general shift towards corporate businesses increasingly tapping into the value of their brand.”
The valuation process for this research includes calculating the corporation’s financial value and multiplying this against band contribution. Brand contribution was calculated by interviewing over two million customers of 10,000 brands in 30 different countries. The full methodology can be found here.
