best brands and companies lists

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Have you ever wondered how closely a company’s brand value and revenue are correlated? Or perhaps how well a company ranks as a place to work and how it ranks on innovation are correlated?  

 

I compiled data from the following “best” lists*:

 
The results are really interesting. Take a look.

DLYohn Best List Comparison

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I’m still processing the findings but a few quick highlights of what I found:
 
  • There is a lot of disparity between different brand valuation lists — Intel, for example, is ranked #7 by Interbrand, #18 by Brand Finance, #58 by Millward Brown Optimor, and not even listed by CoreBrand.
  • There doesn’t seem to be a correlation between brand value (based on any of the lists) and company size (from Fortune 500).
  • Very few of the top brands (in terms of value) or companies (in terms of size) are ranked highly as places to work or as innovative companies.
  • Only a few brands/companies appear on nearly all the lists — Microsoft, Apple, American Express, and UPS — and only one appears on all of them: Google.
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I’m curious to hear what you see in the data  – and what implications and conclusions you draw from it. Also I’d love to see one of my information designer colleagues do a graphical interpretation of this data — any one interested?
 
Please leave comments or email me (mail AT deniseleeyohn DOT com.)
 
*some notes:
 
  • I realize I’m mixing apples and oranges by comparing brands and companies. I did try to connect the two where appropriate (linking the KFC brand rankings with the Yum! Brands company rankings.) If I’ve failed to indicate a connection properly, please let me know.
  • Some of these lists are global while others are U.S. only, so some of the disparity is derived from the different scopes.
  • I chose to rank order the list based on Interbrand’s Best Global Brands list — an arbitrary decision, but one that makes sense given my brand-orientation and the broad awareness of that list.
  • I’m sure it would be illuminating to include other “best” lists — please let me know suggestions and I can update and republish this comparison.