Global Brand Value Surges to $13 Trillion: the US Dominates with Nearly Half the Market

Innovation is vital for successful branding, and branding is essential to innovation (see WIPO World IP Report on brands). Reflecting this belief, the Global Innovation Index (GII) has consistently recognized the significant role that brands play in the innovation landscape.

September 2024 marks the release of the Global Innovation Index (GII) 2024, offering a sneak preview of one of our key innovation indicators: the global brand values. Since 2020, the GII has collaborated with Brand Finance to incorporate the global value of brands into the index. This effort goes beyond the Brand Finance Global 500 Ranking of the most valuable brands, leveraging their broader database to analyze the top 5,000 global brands. This approach ensures comprehensive country coverage, providing deeper insights into how brand value drives innovation across economies worldwide.

Here are the highlights:

• The value of the top 5000 global brands increased from 11 trillion USD in 2020 to over 13 trillion USD in 2024 (more than 20 percent). This increase follows a slight dip in 2021 (by 1 percent) during the COVID-19 pandemic and in 2023 by 0.4.

Table 1: Global Brand Value of the Top 5,000 Brands (2020-2024) and Annual Growth Rates

• The United States led by far in absolute brand value, equaling almost 6 trillion USD in 2022. 45% of global brand value more than the following 10 economies combined. This value represented close to 3 times more than the value of China (1.7 trillion USD in 2024) and 8 times more than Japan and Germany, which follow (first table).
• In 2024, the top four brands in the world were Apple, Microsoft, Google and Amazon. Followed by Samsung Group from the Republic of Korea.
• China ranks second globally in 2024 with a brand value of 1.76 trillion USD, making up 13.3% of the global total, with TikTok/Douyin as the country’s most valuable brand.
• India ranks 9th with a brand value of 224 billion USD, accounting for 1.7% of the global share, and with Tata Group as the country’s most valuable brand.

Table 2: Global Brand Value by Economy and Share of Total Worldwide Brand Value

Figure 1 below offers a snapshot of the global brand landscape, where the size of the bubbles represents the value of each brand, and the color codes distinguish different industries. Unsurprisingly, tech giants dominate, with Apple, Google, Microsoft, and Amazon standing out as the most valuable brands in 2024. The diverse range of industries represented, including retail, automotive, finance, and consumer goods, reflects the broad spectrum of sectors driving global brand value, reinforcing the crucial relationship between branding and innovation.

Figure 2 illustrates the distribution of brand value across the top five economies globally. The United States, as expected, holds a dominant position, driven by its robust tech and retail sectors, contributing to over 45% of the global brand value. China, Japan, the United Kingdom, and France follow, with significant contributions from industries like transport, automotive, and industrial & commercial sectors.

However, when assessing an economy’s aggregate brand value as a percentage of its gross domestic product (GDP), as the GII does, the rankings shift significantly. Figure 3 focuses on the top six economies in terms of scaled brand value as a percentage of GDP (refer to Table 3 below for more context). In this graphic, the size of the bubbles reflects the brand’s ranking within each economy. Hong Kong, China leads, driven by companies like AIA and Prudential, followed closely by the United States, with global giants such as Amazon and Google maintaining their leadership. Sweden showcases strong consumer and automotive brands like IKEA and Volvo, while Switzerland’s top brands are concentrated in finance and pharmaceuticals, with UBS and Roche standing out. France is represented by luxury and energy brands such as Chanel and TotalEnergies, and in the Republic of Korea, brands like Kia and LG Group reflect the country’s strength in automotive and industrial sectors.

Figure 1: Top Global Brands in 2024
Figure 2: Brand Value Distribution across Top Economies in 2024
Figure 3: Scaled Brand Value as a Percentage of GDP (2024): Top Economies and Their 5 Most Valuable Brands

In relative terms, the disparities across countries are less pronounced than in absolute brand value, where the United States dominates. Smaller countries also make it into the mix. Notably, middle-income countries like Malaysia now appear in the top 20, with China maintaining its position within the top 20, ranking 19th.

Table 3: Top 20 Economies by Scaled Brand Value as a Percentage of GDP (2024)

Background

The Global Innovation Index includes a full sub-pillar of indicators on intangible assets. Two data points – one on the intensity of intangible assets at the firm level (Brand Finance GIFTTM Index) and one on the global value of brands (Brand Finance Global 500), are obtained thanks to the collaboration between Brand Finance and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).

Brand Finance is an independent brand valuation consultancy with offices in over 20 countries. Brand Finance bridges the gap between marketing and finance by quantifying the financial value of brands. Brand Finance values 5,000 of the world’s most prominent corporate brands annually.

You can check individual GII 2023 country profiles. For more information, visit the GII webpage and https://brandirectory.com/rankings/global/.