Christmas shopping: which global brands top the wish list?

With Christmas around the corner, Santa’s elves (and Amazon’s* warehouse operatives) are already hard at work making sure everyone gets their presents on time. As always, companies will be hoping their brands have what it takes to capture the hearts and minds of consumers, providing a seasonal boost to earnings.

But how much is a brand really worth?

To answer this deceptively simple question, Brand Finance^®, the leading independent brand valuation firm, measures the strength, impact and forecast revenues of brands based on the ISO-compliant standards they themselves created. The result is the world’s most comprehensive data on brand valuations across 30 countries and 14 industries, which allows the identification of the leading global brands that are driving most value across any sector. You can learn more about the methodology here.

As you can see from the chart below, the overall value of brands has maintained a steady upward trajectory, with the US and China responsible for the lion’s share of gains:

Source: Brand Finance^®, as at July 2023

We’ve delved through the data to find out the most valuable brands in Italy, Switzerland, Germany and the UK, as well as the global leaders.

Italy

1. Gucci*
2. Enel*
3. Eni*
4. Intesa Sanpaolo*
5. Generali Group*

Despite being owned by French holding Kering, fashion house Gucci remains Italy’s most valuable brand in 2023, according to Brand Finance^®,¹ a position it has occupied since 2018. While energy and financials giants take the remainder of the top-five slots, luxury goods are well represented in the country’s rankings, with Ferrari* and Prada* both taking top-10 positions.

Switzerland

1. Nestlé*
2. Rolex*
3. UBS*
4. Roche*
5. Zurich*

Global foods giant Nestlé stands head and shoulders above its Swiss competitors, with Brand Finance^®’s 2023 ranking² indicating the brand is worth twice as much as second-placed Rolex. Other iconic Swiss brands missing out on a top-five spot but deserving of an honourable mention include Nescafé* (ranked seventh), Omega* (12^th) and Lindt* (13^th).

Germany

1. Deutsche Telecom*
2. Mercedes-Benz*
3. Allianz Group*
4. BMW*
5. Porsche*

While a telecoms giant takes pole position in the German rankings, the autos sector leads the way in Brand Finance^®’s 2023 ranking of the country’s 150 most valuable brands,³ accounting for 30% of the total, with Porsche’s brand value overtaking that of Volkswagen, its parent company. Software firm SAP, meanwhile, was the biggest riser in 2023, rising to eighth place in the rankings with a 29% rise in brand value from last year.

UK

1. Shell*
2. EY*
3. PWC*
4. HSBC*
5. Vodafone*

Multinational oil and gas major Shell is the UK’s most valuable brand in 2023, according to Brand Finance^®,⁴ a position it has held since 2016. One peculiarity of the UK’s leading brands is the predominance of abbreviated brands, which account for 20 of the top 100 by brand value.

Global

1. Amazon*
2. Apple*
3. Google*
4. Microsoft*
5. Walmart*

Despite its brand value falling 15% from 2022 as a result of an easing of the pandemic-era shift to online shopping, Amazon remains the world’s most valuable brand in 2023, according to Brand Finance^®.⁵ The ecommerce giant’s brand value is today estimated to be double that of Gucci, Nestlé, DT and Shell combined.

Perhaps this shouldn’t be surprising. As Christmas draws near, there can’t be many among us who won’t be relying on Amazon to deliver some last-minute festive cheer to loved ones around the world.

*For illustrative purposes only. Reference to a particular security is on a historic basis and does not mean that the security is currently held or will be held within an LGIM portfolio. The above information does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any security.

Sources

1. https://brandirectory.com/rankings/italy/table

2. Source: https://brandirectory.com/rankings/switzerland/table

3. Source: https://brandirectory.com/rankings/germany/table

4. Source: https://brandirectory.com/rankings/uk/table

5. Source: https://brandirectory.com/rankings/global/table