Top ten brand values

For those who love lists, the Daily Telegraph features the top ten most valuable brands in the world, headed by Walmart which is valued at $41.4bn. The top ten does feature two British brands - HSBC and Vodafone - and you have to wonder how long Toyota will be able to remain at number ten, with the constant drain on their reputation of more and more recalls.

The list is compiled by BrandDirectory, which is “an online encyclopedia of brands where financial results, visual identities, trademark histories and the latest marketing news will be compiled and shared” - you can use it to research thousands of brands, by name, by country and by sector. Brand values are calculated as “the net present value of the estimated future cash flows attributable to the Brand”. For example a look at their record for M&S shows that their brand value is reckoned to have risen over the last year from $3,640 to $4,285, and the website gives their market capitalisation for the last 2 years as well. This could be worth using for students researching the recent experience of particular brands in relation to their preparation for the BUSS4 unit.