According to Forbes, the world’s 100 most valuable brands are worth a staggering $2.15 trillion. While that singular number is impressive, the publication’s 2018 rankings of global brands can be further broken down in other ways that are also quite intriguing. Let’s take a look at brands by individual brand value, as well as sorted by relevant industry.
Brands by Industry
The aforementioned top five brands are all focused on technology, but it’s important to recognize that this is also a part of a much wider trend. Over the last decade, tech brands have gained consumer prominence to make the industry dominant both in terms of quantity of brands (20%) and total brand value (41%) on the Forbes 100 Most Valuable Brand list. Only a handful of brands in consumer-facing industries like media, apparel, alcohol, and restaurants make the rankings. Meanwhile, sectors that traditionally rely on heavy amounts of advertising – like consumer packaged goods and retail – have just 20 brands on the list between them. The highest ranked brand in either of those categories is Walmart at #26th with a brand value of $24.9 billion, which is about 1/3 of the brand value of online competitor Amazon.