Ferrari is the world’s most powerful brand & Apple is the world’s Most Valuable Brand – Brand Finance Global 500

Brand Finance has released the Brand Finance Global 500 which provides the most powerful & most valuable brands globally. Ferrari is the world’s most powerful brand. Employee satisfaction, brand finance, loyalty, visual identity & online presence makes it the world’s most powerful brand. Ferrari is one of only 11 brands (including Google, Hermès, Coca-Cola, Disney, Rolex and F1 racing rivals Red Bull) to be awarded an AAA+ brand rating and has the highest overall score.

Apple is the world’s most valuable brand for the 3rd year in a row. Samsung’s brand value has increased from US$20 billion to US$79 billion this year. Facebook has added 76% to its brand value this year & making it to 122nd position. US brands dominate the Brand Finance’s list, with 185 brands of the 500 spots occupied by it.

Brand Finance Global 500

Top Brands on YouTube – Red Bull, PlayStation, Rockster Games, Apple, GoProCamera, Rovio & others

Top Brands on YouTube are Red Bull, PlayStation, Rockster Games, Apple, GoProCamera, Rovio, ubisoft, Nike Football, DC Shoes & Pepsi

You will find more statistics at Statista

Interbrand’s Best Global Brands 2013 – Apple, Google, Coco-Cola, IBM, Microsoft, GE & others

Apple has gained the top spot in Interbrand’s Best Global Brands report. Coco-Cola, which has been in top spot for the last 13 years, has taken the 3rd spot. Google is in 2nd position. This is for the first time in the report that Coco-Cola is not in the top spot. Apple has seen a phenomenal growth in the last few years thanks to iPhone & ipad sales. Many tech companies like IBM, Microsoft, Intel are in the top 10 list.

This report is published annually identifying top 100 best global brands. This year, the total value of all 100 Best Global Brands is USD $1.5 trillion. Apple, which was in #36 position in 2000 with a brand value of $6.6 Billion is now at #1 position with $98.3 Billion. Interbrand’s Best Global Brands methodology is ISO certified & has become a benchmark for the best global brands. Discovery, Duracell, Chevrolet are the new entrants for this year. Facebook, Google, Prada, Apple, Amazon are the fastest rising brands for 2013. Full report can be accessed at bestglobalbrands.com

Interbrand’s Best Global Brands 2013

Future of Advertising, Tech, Mobile, Gaming & others : A to Z of Future

Analytics, Wearable computing, crowd funding, driver-less cars, Nano technology & others are some of the technologies which will bring a sea of changes in the way we live, communicate, travel & others. Apple, Google, Amazon & Facebook are some of the great tech companies working on the next generation of technology. Social media, Social business & e-commerce are bringing in new ways companies interact with the customers.

Smartphones have revolutionized the way one communicates & browses on the mobile. Computing power which was available on desktop earlier is now available on mobile devices & apps have made it possible for greater interaction. Social Listening is providing fresh insights to the way consumers interact with brands. Here is a great presentation on everything from A-Z happening in the technology.

26 Reasons You'll Love the Future – From A to Z from David Berkowitz

Top Smartphone Brands in the U.S. – Apple, Samsung, HTC, Motorola, LG, BlackBerry, Nokia, Huawei & others

Apple remains the top Smartphone brand in the US. This is followed by Samsung, HTC, Motorola, LG, BlackBerry, Nokia, Huawei & others. Samsung has recently introduced Galaxy S4. Several brands are coming up with new android based smartphones in the coming months.

You will find more statistics at Statista

How Brands are using Instagram & Vine Videos as a Marketing tool? – #JobsInstagramTrailer & #wantnewcar

Instagram & Vine videos have become the new tool for marketers to use in advertising, promotion & makrketing activities. Many brands have already joined the short duration videos bandwagon to reach customers. Short videos of the yet to be released movies are being shown on Instagram & Vine. New Steve Jobs movie trailer is available on Instagram. Open Road Films created the Jobs trailer specifically for the platform.

Honda is planning to use Vine to respond to customer tweets. They would be using the hashtag #wantnewcar to respond to select tweets. This will encourage users to swap their old cars for new Hondas & this is done by Honda as part of their Summer clearance sale. The vine videos will be customized to each users feedback.

BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands – Apple, Google, IBM, McDonald’s, Coco-Cola & others

Apple, Google, IBM, McDonald’s & Coco-Cola are the top 5 brands as per the BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands report. Apple has grown by +1% & Google by +5% to occupy 1st & 2nd positions. Samsung which is competing with Apple in the global smartphone race is at 30th spot with +51% growth. Commissioned by WPP and conducted by Millward Brown Optimor, the BrandZ™ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands study,is now in its 8th year now. Ranking is done based on current & potential buyer views of the brand along with the financial data. More info about the ranking can be had at the Press release link on 21st May, 2013. Youtube link for the rankings.

Technology & telecom brands constitute a chink of the top 100 global brands. Some of the other entries include AT&T, Microsoft, Marlboro, Visa & China Telecom. There are also regional & category branding ranking is available & can be downloaded from WPP website. Digital revolution, technology,recession, social media, changing consumer preferences & other factors have an effect on the brands. The rankings & more on brand insight are also available as an app for Apple, Android & iPad magazine.

Mary Meeker’s 2013 Internet Trends

Mary Meeker of the VC firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers has unveiled her 2nd Internet trends report at the D11 conference. This follows up her famed 1st report on the global internet growth & usage. Some of the important finds from the report are

1) There are 2.4 Billion internet users around the world.
2) Domination of tablets over desktops/laptops
3) 500 Million photos shared in the internet daily.
4) Around 100 hrs of video is uploaded every min on YouTube.
5) Flickr, Snapchat, Instagram & Facebook are the imp photo sharing sites
6) Facebook leads the Social media followed by YouTube, twitter, Google+ & others.
7) China now has more users of Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android mobile OS than US

KPCB Internet Trends 2013 from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers

Mobile App Metrics

The increase in the mobile browsing has resulted in companies going for apps to connect with the customers easily. App stores of Apple, Google, Microsoft & BlackBerry are important for brands to go for apps. Companies should also measure how apps are performing & need to take corrective action to increase the revenue & engagement from the apps. The following metrics would help companies to know how the apps are performing.

Installs, upgrades, Daily users, monthly users, crashes, OS versions, app stores, sales revenue, devices & others.
Days since the last log in, average session time, uninstalls & others are some other data which can be tracked.

With the increase in the use of social media, Facebook, twitter, you tube & other profiles can also be linked to the apps. This would help users to share the info about the apps. Apple’s app store, Google’s Google play, Microsoft’s windows app store & Blackberry app stores are the important app stores.

Apple launches iTunes Stores in India

Apple has launched iTunes Stores in India along with several other international markets like Turkey, SA & Russia. users can rent or purchase movies from the store & also music. In June, it was launched in Singapore, Taiwan & Hong Kong. India with rapidly increasing smartphones, will provide a huge market for Apple to expand its market share.