Star Wars success helps Disney overtake Lego as the world’s most powerful brand

Steve Kaplan Marketing:

According to the latest Brand Finance 500 report, Disney has a value of $31.7bn and a ‘brand strength’ score of 94.8.

The latter ‘brand strength’ score is calculated by focusing on marketing investment, brand equity (the goodwill accumulated with customers, staff and other stakeholders) and the subsequent impact on business performance.

With global box office of nearly $2bn, the latest Star Wars film is Disney’s most successful ever film and Brand Finance estimates the value of the sci-fi brand to now be over $10bn – more than double the $4bn Disney paid for Lucasfilm back in 2012.

“Disney has had a strong brand for a long time and has maintained its AAA rating consistently,” said Robert Haigh, head of marketing at Brand Finance. “But Star Wars has been the key factor over the last year; it has really propelled Disney to the top.”

Brand:	Brand Strength Index Score:	Country:
1. Walt Disney	91.8	US
2. Lego	91.6	Denmark
3. L’Oréal	91.5	France
4. PWC	91.5	US
5. McKinsey	91.4	US
6. Nike	90.7	US
7. Johnson’s	90.7	US
8. Coca-Cola	90.4	US
9. NBC	89.7	US

Haigh says Lego has lost the top spot due to a series of “controversies impacting its wholesome image”.

In 2015, Lego was fined by German regulators for attempting to prevent retailers from discounting its products while the toy brand has also been accused of colluding in censorship for trying to prevent dissident Chinese artist Ai Wei Wei from using Lego bricks in his work.

Apple continues to thrive while VW and Nokia fade

Apple, meanwhile, maintains its position the world’s most valuable brand, according to Brand Finance.

Over the last year, Apple’s brand value has risen 14% to $145.9bn as it achieved record-breaking sales of $51.5bn in its fourth quarter.

Brand:	Brand valuation 2016 (USDm):	Brand Valuation 2015 (USDm):
1. Apple	145,918	128,303
2. Google	94,184	76,683
3. Samsung	83,185	81,716
4. Amazon	69,642	56,124
5. Microsoft	67,258	67,060
6. Verizon	63,116	59,843
7. AT&T	59,904	58,820
8. Walmart	53,657	56,705
9. China Mobile	49,810	47,916

Chinese brands now take up four places among the top 10 fastest growing brands. The online messenger service WeChat is perhaps the best example of China’s growth, with its brand valuation up 83% to $6.5bn.

Among the biggest losers on the 2016 brand valuation list was Volkswagen. The car brand has been hit by revelations it programmed its diesel vehicles to activate their optimal emission-reduction settings only when being tested and that, driven under normal conditions, they would emit up to 40 times more nitrogen oxide.

And as a result of the controversy this scandal created, Volkswagen’s brand value has taken a $12bn hit falling to $18.9bn. In just a year, Volkswagen has gone from 17^th to 56^th on the Brand Finance Global 500 list.

It was also bad news for Nokia which, for the first time ever, fell from the top 500 most valuable brands list altogether.

Haigh concluded: “VW has a huge rebuild job on its hands and it could take many, many years to rebuild trust.

“Nokia falling out of the 500 shows how times have shifted. It’s tough to envision Nokia returning.”

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