Brand Hall of Fame

By John Malmo

http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wkno/local-wkno-938855.mp3

Brand Hall of Fame, by John Malmo

Memphis, TN – If you wonder how much value recent problems have cost the Toyota brand, how's $26.2 billion?

Interbrand, the largest branding company in the world, keeps tabs on brand values. It determines this value based on three criteria: the brand's most recent after-tax operating profit, consumer profiling on brand preference, and Interbrand experts' opinions.

Coca Cola remains the world's number one brand, a spot it has held since the beginning of the ratings in 1999. IBM, Microsoft, Google, and G.E. round out the top five. What I find most fascinating is the comparison of the age of each brand.

Number one Coke was founded in 1892. The world's number one brand is 108 years old. Number two, IBM, will be 100 in a few months. Number five, G.E., is 124. Microsoft is 35, and Google is only 10. So Three of the world's top five brands are 100 or older, and one is only 10. And all five are American born and bred.

How do you keep a brand on top for 100 years? How do you put a brand on top in only 10 years? Talk about a business hall of fame. Oh, and B.P., which had been on the top 100 list for nine years, no longer is.

John Malmo is a marketing consultant. If you'd like to hear other commentaries by Mr. Malmo or ask him any kind of marketing question of your own, go to AskMalmo.com.