Interbrand releases Best Global Brands 2021

Brands report recorded the largest brand growth ever

Interbrand has today announced the brands that have fared best in its 2021 Best Global Brands ranking.

Interbrand’s 22nd annual report, The Decade of Possibility, analyses how the world’s leading brands are successfully navigating a rapidly changing business landscape. Interbrand takes the financial performance of the branded products and services, the role the brand plays in purchase decisions and the brand’s competitive strength and its ability to create loyalty as basis of its valuation methodology.

Following its re-entry to the table last year, Tesla (#14) was the fastest growing brand of 2021, with an unprecedented 184% increase in brand value. Tesla also saw the largest rise in rankings, moving 26 places up the table, closely followed by Salesforce.com (moving up 20 places to #38) and PayPal (moving up 18 places to #42).

Sephora (#100) is the only new entrant to the rankings this year, but its addition makes LVMH Group the biggest group entity in the table. LVMH group is the first to have five brands in the Best Global Brands table – Sephora, Louis Vuitton (#13), Dior (#77), Tiffany & Co. (#92) and Hennessy (#95).

“Direction, Agility and Participation are three key themes we’ve seen driving brand growth over the past year. Perhaps unsurprisingly, given the constantly evolving business landscape, employee buy-in, adapting to change and a strong customer base have helped certain brands to thrive,” commented Charles Trevail, Global CEO, Interbrand. “It’s worth calling out Tesla’s growth over the past year – a three-figure increase in brand value is unprecedented in the past 22 years of Best Global Brands. Tesla is a brand that epitomises the importance of brand Direction, Agility and Participation, so I’m unsurprised Tesla made the biggest leap up the Best Global Brands ranking in 2021.”

Top 10

Despite its seismic growth, Tesla has yet to enter the top ten. Apple #1 (US$408,251m) once again takes the top spot in the table, followed by Amazon #2 (US$249,249m). Having overtaken Google in 2020, Microsoft #3 (US$210,191m) has preserved its place in the top three. The top three brands account for a third (33%) of the total table value this year.

The remainder of the Top 10 comprises: Google #4 (US$196,811m), Samsung #5 (US$74,635m), Coca-Cola #6 (US$57,488m), Toyota #7 (US$54,107m), Mercedes-Benz #8 (US$50,866m), McDonald’s #9 (US$45,865m) and Disney #10 (US$44,183m).

Table Value

The overall value of the table has increased to US$2,667,524m (up 15% from US$2,326,491m 2020), which is the biggest growth rate in the past 22 years of Interbrand’s Best Global Brands.

The average brand value increase in 2021 is 10%, significantly larger than the 1.3% in 2020, owed largely to the economic disruption caused by Covid-19. Technology is the fastest growing sector, with an average brand value change of 23% year-on-year. It is also the most valuable sector by average brand value, followed by beverages and sporting goods.