21 Mar 2024 4 min read

What’s in a name? Leading global brands analysed

By Elisa Piscopiello

A recent ranking has listed the world's most valuable brands in 2024. Here's a snapshot of some of the biggest names.

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‘Brand value’ encapsulates the total worth of a brand, reflecting brand awareness, loyalty, momentum, online presence, reputation, innovation and sustainability, among others. A strong brand has the potential to significantly stimulate demand and contribute to profitability.

Every year, Brand Finance® quantifies these attributes to rank the world’s most valuable brands. Here are five heavy-hitting companies whose brands top their 2024 list – plus one bonus name that we couldn’t miss amid the AI boom.

Let’s explore how these companies reflect their mission though their logos, how Brand Finance® assesses their brands in their latest global ranking, and how they have performed recently.

Meta*

  • Mission and logo:
    • “To give people the power to build community and bring the world closer together”
    • The dynamic logo represents the diverse range of products offered by the company beyond the Facebook brand
  • Brand Finance® 2024 update: Facebook remains Meta’s strongest brand, and its global position rose from 14 in 2023 to eight. Instagram rose from 26 to 13 and WhatsApp from 271 to 208
  • Q4 earnings season: Daily active users grew 6% and daily watch time across video rose 25% thanks to better ranking and personalisation, and the apps segment boosted overall revenue growth. Earnings growth of 202.8% boosted the share price in February

Latest earnings highlights

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Source for all tables: Bloomberg as at 20 March 2024. ‘Surprise’ = outperformance versus Bloomberg estimate of analyst expectations. ‘LT EPS growth’ = 3-5-year earnings per share growth estimate. Brand value as percent of market cap based on sum of all brands owned.

Amazon*

  • Mission and logo:
    • “To be earth’s most customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online”
    • The curved arrow, resembling a smile, goes from A to Z to indicate a wide range of product offerings, end-to-end services and customer satisfaction
  • Brand Finance® 2024 update: Amazon’s brand value ranking fell from first to fourth primarily due to a challenging consumer market
  • Q4 earnings season: Despite the challenging consumer market, Amazon capitalised on interactive advertising opportunities in the streaming TV market and managed to increase profitability by 300%

Latest earnings highlights

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 Alphabet*

  • Mission and logo:
    • “Organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful”
    • The colours represent the bold, playful and unconventional nature of Google, Alphabet’s highest-value brand
  • Brand Finance® 2024 update: Google was classified as third for brand strength due to familiarity, usage and customer satisfaction, and is positioned in the top 10th percentile for reputation
  • Q4 earnings season: YouTube ads and subscriptions supported revenue growth, and we believe Alphabet is well positioned to potentially further expand its revenues thanks to growth in AI

Latest earnings highlights

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Microsoft*

  • Mission and logo:
    • “To empower every person and every organisation on the planet to achieve more”
    • The current logo features various primary colours, each representing a different service offered by Microsoft
  • Brand Finance® 2024 update: Microsoft jumped two spots to second place overall, following a 78% increase in brand value. The integration of Copilot across its platforms is supporting Microsoft in being a leader in making AI accessible and useful
  • Q4 earnings season: In 2024 Microsoft’s market cap passed $3 trillion – a feat only Apple has previously achieved.

Latest earnings highlights

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 Apple*

  • Mission and logo:
    • “We believe that we are on the face of the earth to make great products, and that’s not changing”
    • Apple’s logo is intended to make computing more approachable, with the bite there to remove confusion with a cherry
  • Brand Finance® 2024 update: Apple topped the global brand value table in 2024 and saw its brand value increase by $219 billion to $516.6 billion, as it maintained its position as the dominant player in the premium smartphone market
  • Q4 earnings season: Sales growth was boosted by service sales and strength in advertising, cloud services, payments and Apple TV+

Latest earnings highlights

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 …and what about Nvidia*?

  • Brand Finance® 2024 update: Nvidia jumped from the 117th most valuable brand in 2023 to the 30th most valuable in 2024, making it the fastest growing brand in 2024. However, its brand value is still equal to only 4% of its market cap

*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.

Elisa Piscopiello

Senior ETF Analyst

Elisa joined LGIM as ETF Analyst in June 2021. She contributes towards the development and analysis of investment strategies, whilst also supporting ETF distribution and marketing efforts. Prior to that, Elisa worked as Multi Asset Investment Support Executive at Liontrust, and as Investment Dealing Assistant at Architas. In 2016 she graduated from the University of Kent with a First Class degree in Financial Economics with Econometrics. She holds the Diploma in Investment Management (ESG) and is a CFA charterholder.

Elisa Piscopiello