Brand consulting firm Interbrand released its annual best brands report on Monday, and it’s topped—once again—by a familiar name: Apple.
With an estimated brand value of $184.2 billion, according to Interbrand, Apple claimed the No. 1 spot for the fifth year in a row, followed by Google at No. 2, and Microsoft at No. 3. Apple’s reign at No. 1 started in 2013, when it unseated Coca-Cola, which had been No. 1 since the list’s inception in 2000. Coca-Cola was No. 4 on this year’s ranking. Amazon, Samsung, Toyota, Facebook, Mercedes-Benz, and IBM rounded out the 2017 top 10.
Interbrand compiles its ranking by assessing companies’ financial forecasts, determining a brand’s role, and gauging a brands’ strength or its ability to create loyalty and, as a result, drive sustainable demand and profit in the future.
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Apple’s five-year streak atop the global ranking followed a rapid climb for the tech titan. It slid after landing at No. 36 in 2000, but then rocketed up the chart along a trajectory that followed the introduction of its revolutionary products.
So what’s behind Apple’s five-year run? No doubt the tech giant embodies some—if not all—of what Interbrand says are the hallmarks of top-ranking brands: putting customers first by understanding what consumers want and providing them with forward-thinking design, creating technology that fits into an ecosystem of other brand experiences, and the ability to pivot to new growth opportunities—despite legacies and investments in proven products and business practices.
