The most powerful brands

Coca-Cola, Hershey and Harley Davidson have the most powerful corporate brands, according to CoreBrand, an organisation that has been tracking the advertising, financial and brand performance of the world's best-known companies since 1990.

The key finding of their Corporate Branding Index are that the weakened economy
continues to affect the corporate brand. Consumer sentiment and confidence has been
steadily eroding since 2008. At the same time, the opportunities for audiences to hear criticisms of brands have increased with the proliferation of social media and 24-hour news cycles.

A strong brand is a powerful shield against tough market pressures. In this period of economic decline, the top 100 brands experienced less of a loss in brand power than the average company in CoreBrand’s database. These top brands lost only 5.7 per cent of their total brand power compared to a 9.6 per cent loss on average for the entire 1,000 companies tracked in the Corporate Branding Index.

The corporate brand is poised for a rebound. The decline in brand power appears to have a distinct bottom in 2010, setting the stage for future brand growth. This indicates that brands are ready to turn towards positive growth.

It is commonly accepted that a strong brand is a powerful asset for a company. Across CoreBrands' entire database, the corporate brand directly contributes an average of 5 to 7 per cent of market capitalisation, with some companies receiving as much as a 20 per cent premium for managing a strong brand. The effect of BrandPower on market capitalization depends on a mix of the familiarity and favourability of a brand. Stronger brands generate a higher impact on equity. Increasing BrandPower improves the brand’s ability to drive premium value for the company.

(04|2013) Source: Corebrand