Geo-Economics and Politics

These are the world's most valuable brands of 2018

An Apple computer is shown on Google's company campus in Mountain View, California February 9, 2010. Googe Inc unveiled Google "Buzz," injecting its social networking features into its popular Web email product as the world's No. 1 search engine seeks to fend off competition from Facebook and Twitter. This logo has been updated and is no longer in use.   REUTERS/Robert Galbraith  (UNITED STATES - Tags: SCI TECH BUSINESS) - GM1E62A0DBQ01

Only a handful of brands in consumer-facing industries like media, apparel, alcohol, and restaurants make the list. Image: REUTERS/Robert Galbraith (UNITED STATES - Tags: SCI TECH BUSINESS) - GM1E62A0DBQ01

Jeff Desjardins
Founder and editor, Visual Capitalist

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.

Ranking the most valuable brands in 2018

Today’s infographic comes to us from HowMuch.net and it showcases the 100 most valuable brands in the world, according to recent Forbes rankings.

Image: Visual Capitalist

Here are the brands with the most assessed value, along with their one-year change and industry.

Image: Visual Capitalist

Apple remains the world’s most valuable brand at $182.8 billion, but there are four other tech companies hot on the iPhone maker’s heels – and each of them is growing brand value at a rapid pace.

Google (+30%), Microsoft (+21%), Facebook (+29%), and Amazon (31%) are all gaining at double-digit clips. At this point, each has lapped Coca-Cola, the highest ranked non-tech brand in the Top 10 at $57.3 billion.

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.

Image: Visual Capitalist

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.

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