Apple makes top twenty-five best brands

Given the number of brand surveys that I’ve seen in the past couple years, I’ve begun to wonder—who ranks the rankers? Interbrand has released a new study that shows that Apple is the world’s 24th “best” brand. That might seem pretty low to you and me, but consider this: last year they were 33rd, so they’ve moved up a whole nine places.

Curious to know how they judge the “best” brands? Look no further than their publicly available methodology, which takes into account five particular criteria:

• 01 There must be substantial publicly available financial data
• 02 The brand must have at least one-third of revenues outside of its country-of-origin
• 03 The brand must be a market-facing brand
• 04 The Economic Value Added (EVA) must be positive
• 05 The brand must not have a purely B2B single audience with no wider public profile and awareness

Okay, grrreat. Most of that sounds about as exciting as reading tax code. But they’ve got colorful charts, so it must be true. Anyway, here’s the full list of companies in Interbrand’s top 100, along with some important-sounding numbers.

Topping the list are Coca-Cola, IBM, Microsoft, GE and Nokia. Intel, Google, and HP all beat out Apple as well, though Apple does slide in ahead of Sony (for reals?), Nike, Dell, and even the King of Beers. People like computers more than beer? Heresy.