Google Rises to the Top of the Brandz(TM) Ranking with a Brand Value of $66,434 Million

Google Rises to the Top of the Brandz(TM) Ranking with a Brand Value of $66,434 Million

April 23, 2007

    BEIJING, CHINA, April 23 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- The
second annual BRANDZ(TM) Top 100 Most Powerful Brands
ranking published in cooperation with the Financial Times
was announced today by leading global market research and
consulting firm Millward Brown. Google has risen to the top
of this year's ranking, taking the number one spot with a
brand value of $66,434 million. This was followed by
General Electric ($61,880 million), Microsoft ($54,951
million) and Coca-Cola ($44,134 million).

    (Logo: http://www.xprn.com/xprn/sa/200704231641.JPG )

    Produced by Millward Brown Optimor, the firm's finance
and ROI arm, the ranking identifies the most powerful
brands in the world as measured by their dollar value. A
full report will be published today, exclusively in the
Financial Times.  

    The aggregate value of all brands in the BRANDZ(TM) Top
100 increased by 10.6% in one year, from $1.44 trillion in
2006 to $1.6 trillion in 2007. 

    "Success stories from this year's BRANDZ(TM) Top
100 demonstrate that winning brands leverage major market
trends effectively to create business value," said
Joanna Seddon, global CEO Millward Brown Optimor.
"Strong brands are capable of extending into areas of
opportunity to access new revenue streams and to help
businesses respond to market changes."

    The most notable trends emerging from this year's
BRANDZ(TM) Top 100 include: 

    -- The rise of the East -- Today, consumers in emerging
markets known as BRICs (Brazil, Russia, India, China) have
more disposable income than ever before. In order to
succeed in the BRICS, Western brands must offer products or
services that fill a gap in the local market. Fast food
brands such as KFC ($4,485 million) and McDonald's ($33,138
million) appeal to BRIC consumers looking for a Western
dining experience. Apparel brands including Nike ($10,290
million), Levi's ($1,041 million) and Zara ($6,469 million)
fill the gap between local brands and imported luxury brands
by providing "affordable fashion" to young
consumers.

    -- Converging technologies ¨C- Technology companies are
extending their brands to respond to the trend of combining
voice, data and video technologies. Known as convergence,
this trend stems from consumer preference for all-in-one
devices. Apple ($24,728 million) is venturing into the
mobile phone category with the launch of its iPhone while
Orange ($9,922 million) is entering the music download
space. Like Apple and Orange, strong brands are able to
stretch so parent companies can increase revenue streams by
investing in high growth ventures. 

    -- Delivering on Corporate Social Responsibility ¨C-
Delivering on the promise of environmental responsibility
helped boost the value of major brands including BP ($5,931
million), Shell ($4,679 million) and Toyota ($33,427
million). BP was the first major oil company to address
climate change with its 'beyond petroleum' brand
positioning. BP executed on that brand positioning to
become one of the top three global suppliers of solar
energy. Shell followed suit. Toyota's success with its
hybrid model Prius contributed to its positive brand image
and its continued leadership in the automotive sector.  

    -- Fast food brands react to health conscious consumers
¨C- Rising concerns about healthy eating disrupted the fast
food industry that had enjoyed continuous growth since the
1980s. Most fast food chains, including McDonald's ($33,138
million), repositioned themselves with the introduction of
healthier food alternatives. Burger King ($1,401 million)
took the opposite stance through marketing campaigns that
called attention to the chain's original offering: the
high-calorie and masculine hamburger. Burger King's brand
value increased by 63% to prove that strong brands succeed
whether they follow or defy market trends. 

    Commenting on this year's BRANDZ(TM) Top 100 ranking,
Eileen Campbell, global CEO of Millward Brown said:
"It is a huge achievement to become one of the world's
most powerful brands and Millward Brown congratulates all of
the companies featured in this year's BRANDZ(TM) Top 100. 
These top performers demonstrate the real financial value
that successful business and brand management can deliver.
There are tons of actionable insights that can be derived
from these rankings. They prove that a blend of good
business leadership, responsible financial management and
powerful marketing are an unbeatable combination that can
be leveraged to create and grow corporate wealth."

    More Chinese brands, mostly bank brands, made it to the
BRANDZ(TM) Top 100 Most Powerful Brands list of this year.
Zhang Yixin, Director of Millward Brown Optimor China,
said: "In accordance with the WTO commitment, the
financial service market in China has been opening up to
foreign players. Since December 11th, 2006, foreign banks
are permitted to provide RenMinBi retail services in China,
but they face strong competition from local banks, which
have not only large number of branches, but also strong
relationship with local customers as a result of long time
brand presence in the market." Zhang added: "Many
large Chinese corporations in other sectors, such as
PetroChina, are also putting huge efforts into brand
management in order to respond to the increasing
competition and market changes.  We believe that more and
more Chinese brands will grow to be strong enough to
compete with the world-class brands in their respective
industries." 

    The BRANDZ(TM) Top 100 is the only brand ranking to
combine financials with solid measures of consumer
sentiment derived from WPP's BRANDZ(TM) database, the
world's largest repository of brand equity data. The
BRANDZ(TM) study has interviewed more than one million
consumers globally on an annual basis and covers 39,000
brands worldwide. The BRANDZ(TM) Top 100 is the first study
to cover both business and consumer brands and to include
predictive metrics of future brand performance. Market
performance metrics and financial data were obtained from
Datamonitor and Bloomberg respectively. 

    The complete BRANDZ(TM) Top 100 report with category
and regional breakdowns as well as additional analysis is
available online at http://www.millwardbrown.com/mboptimor
, http://www.brandz.com and at http://www.ft.com .

    About the BRANDZ(TM) Top 100 ranking

    Developed for WPP's operating companies by Millward
Brown Optimor, the BRANDZ(TM) ranking of the world's Top
100 most powerful brands is based on data from the
BRANDZ(TM) database. The BRANDZ(TM) study, conducted
annually by Millward Brown, measures the brand equity of
almost 40,000 global "consumer facing" brands,
and interviews over 1 million consumers globally. Consumer
perception of a brand is a key input in determining brand
value because brands are a combination of business
performance, product delivery, clarity of positioning, and
leadership.  In addition to utilizing BRANDZ(TM) data, the
Top 100 ranking assesses Brand Value (using market and
consumer research, in combination with financial data from
Bloomberg and Datamonitor, to calculate and break-down
intangible earnings), Brand Contribution (the brand's
effectiveness in driving business earnings), and Brand
Momentum (an index of expected short-term brand growth).
The ranking takes into account regional variations since
even for truly global brands measures of brand contribution
might differ substantially across countries. 

    About Millward Brown

    Millward Brown ( http://www.millwardbrown.com ) is one
of the world's leading research agencies and is expert in
effective advertising, marketing communications, media and
brand equity research.  Through the use of an integrated
suite of validated research solutions -- both qualitative
and quantitative -- Millward Brown helps clients build
strong brands and services.  Millward Brown has more than
70 offices in 44 countries.  Additional practices include
Millward Brown's Global Media Practice (media effectiveness
unit), Millward Brown Optimor (focused on helping clients
maximize the returns on their brand and marketing
investments), Millward Brown Precis (PR measurement
practice), Dynamic Logic (the world leader in digital
marketing effectiveness), and KMR (provider of global
Target Group Index [TGI] the world's leading media and
market profiling tool). Millward Brown is part of Kantar,
WPP's insight, information and consultancy group.

    About the Financial Times

    The Financial Times Group, one of the world's leading
business information companies, aims to provide a broad
range of business information and services to the growing
audience of internationally minded business people.  The FT
Group includes The Financial Times, one of the world's
leading business newspapers, recognised internationally for
its authority, integrity and accuracy.  Providing extensive
news, comment and analysis, the newspaper is printed in 23
cities across the globe, has a daily circulation of 440,000
and a readership of more than 1.4 million people worldwide.
The FT Group also includes FT.com, one of the world's
leading business information websites, and the internet
partner of the FT newspaper. The FT Group's pan-European
network of national business newspapers and online services
includes France's leading business newspaper and website,
Les Echos and lesechos.fr.  In February 2000, the FT
launched a new German language newspaper, FT Deutschland,
with a fully integrated online business news and data
service. Through FT Interactive Data, the FT Group is one
of the world's leading sources of securities pricing and
specialist financial information to global institutional,
professional and individual investors. The FT Group also
includes Mergermarket Group, whose products and services
provide the global advisory and corporate communities with
intelligence and analysis. With regional head offices in
London, New York and Hong Kong and 200 journalists in 46
locations worldwide, reliable and validated proprietary
intelligence and historical data is provided via the
mergermarket, dealReporter, Debtwire and wealthmonitor
on-line platforms. 


    BRANDZ(TM) Top 100 Most Powerful Brands


    #                        Brand Value ($m)  % change in
Brand Value
    1   Google                    66,434                 
77%
    2   GE (General Electric)     61,880                 
11%
    3   Microsoft                 54,951                
-11%
    4   Coca-Cola (**)            44,134                  
7%
    5   China Mobile              41,214                  
5%
    6   Marlboro                  39,166                  
2%
    7   Wal-Mart                  36,880                 
-2%
    8   Citi                      33,706                  
9%
    9   IBM                       33,572                 
-7%
    10  Toyota                    33,427                 
11%
    11  McDonald's                33,138                 
14%
    12  Nokia                     31,670                 
19%
    13  Bank of America           28,767                  
2%
    14  BMW                       25,751                  
8%
    15  HP                        24,987                 
27%
    16  Apple                     24,728                 
55%
    17  UPS                       24,580                 
13%
    18  Wells Fargo               24,284                
N.A.
    19  American Express          23,113                 
23%
    20  Louis Vuitton             22,686                 
16%
    21  Disney                    22,572                  
2%
    22  Vodafone                  21,107                
-12%
    23  NTT DoCoMo                19,450                  
0%
    24  Cisco                     18,812                
-10%
    25  Intel                     18,707                
-26%
    26  Home Depot                18,335                
-33%
    27  SAP                       18,103                
N.A.
    28  Gillette                  17,954                  
1%
    29  Mercedes                  17,813                  
0%
    30  Oracle                    17,809                 
28%
    31  HSBC                      17,457                 
26%
    32  Tesco                     16,649                  
7%
    33  ICBC                      16,460                
N.A.
    34  Verizon Wireless          16,261                  
9%
    35  Starbucks                 16,057                 
45%
    36  Honda                     15,465                  
7%
    37  Dell                      13,903                
-24%
    38  Bank of China             13,689                
N.A.
    39  Royal Bank of Canada      13,624                
N.A.
    40  Porsche                   13,372                 
11%
    41  Deutsche Bank             13,210                  
1%
    42  Yahoo!                    13,201                 
-6%
    43  eBay                      12,927                 
-2%
    44  Samsung                   12,742                  
6%
    45  Ford                      12,627                 
-9%
    46  L'Oreal                  12,303                 
15%
    47  Banco Santander           12,094                 
-4%
    48  Pepsi (**)                11,756                  
2%
    49  Carrefour                 11,710                  
8%
    50  Merrill Lynch             11,655                 
16%
    51  UBS                       11,591                 
21%
    52  Target                    11,560                 
88%
    53  ING                       11,539                
N.A.
    54  Canon                     11,413                 
15%
    55  Sony                      11,389                 
22%
    56  Morgan Stanley            11,204                  
6%
    57  Chevrolet                 11,202                
-10%
    58  Nissan                    11,189                  
3%
    59  Chase                     11,182                 
15%
    60  Motorola                  10,787                 
19%
    61  China Construction Bank   10,757                
N.A.
    62  Accenture                 10,534                  
8%
    63  Nike                      10,290                 
-5%
    64  Harley-Davidson           10,269                  
3%
    65  Wachovia                  10,035                 
-2%
    66  Budweiser (**)             9,977                
-15%
    67  Orange                     9,922                  
5%
    68  Marks & Spencer            9,509               
 192%
    69  FedEx                      9,310                 
13%
    70  Cingular Wireless          9,260                 
39%
    71  Siemens                    9,111                 
35%
    72  State Farm                 8,738                 
11%
    73  H&M                        8,711               
   9%
    74  JP Morgan                  8,490                 
20%
    75  TIM                        8,440                
N.A.
    76  Goldman Sachs              8,239                 
-7%
    77  T-Mobile                   8,047                
-32%
    78  Colgate                    7,711                 
32%
    79  Chanel                     7,499                 
15%
    80  Subway                     7,433                
N.A.
    81  IKEA                       7,373                  
2%
    82  Royal Bank Of Scotland     7,200                
N.A.
    83  VW (Volkswagen)            7,033                  
4%
    84  Cartier                    7,021                 
27%
    85  Hermes                     6,939                 
44%
    86  Best Buy                   6,674                
113%
    87  Barclays                   6,612                 
30%
    88  Avon                       6,558                 
-1%
    89  Gucci                      6,524                 
49%
    90  Zara                       6,469                 
27%
    91  WaMu                       6,126                 
31%
    92  Amazon                     5,964                  
0%
    93  BP                         5,931                  
8%
    94  AIG                        5,880                  
4%
    95  ABN AMRO                   5,617                 
72%
    96  Auchan                     5,570                  
4%
    97  Asda                       5,540                 
19%
    98  Lexus                      5,421                  
7%
    99  Esprit                     5,411                 
29%
    100 Rolex                      5,387                  
9%


    *Source:  Millward Brown Optimor (including data from
BRANDZ(TM), Datamonitor, and Bloomberg)  
    ** The brand value of Coca-Cola includes Diet Coke,
that of Pepsi Cola includes Diet Pepsi and that of
Budweiser includes Bud Light 


    For more information, please contact: 

    Yixin Zhang, Director
    Millward Brown Optimor
    Tel:    [phone] 
    Fax:    [phone]
    Email:  [e-mail]