Coca-Cola Tops Powerful Brands List

Corebrand reviewed brand value, based on its methodology, and reported the results for 2014, 2013, and 2009.

The third place company — Bayer — is owned by German company Bayer AG. While it may not be as visible among typical U.S. consumers as some of the other brands of the top of the list, the Corebrand methodology accounts for its high ranking:

Brand image ratings (BrandPower, familiarity, favorability) are derived from annual survey of more than 10,000 business decision-makers from the top 20% of U.S. businesses. This senior business audience (VP level and above) represents the investment community, potential business partners, and business customers across 54 key industries.

The balance of the top 10 are ones which almost any consumer could identify. In order of four through ten: Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ), Harley Davidson Inc. (NYSE: HOG), Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS), PepsiCo Inc. (NYSE: PEP), American Express Co. (NYSE: AXP), Kellogg Co. (NYSE: K) and Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL).

Some traditional brand powerhouses have lost ground in the Top 100 since 2009. These include BMW, FedEx Corp. (NYSE: FDX) and Colgate-Palmolive Co. (NYSE: CL).

And some of the companies which were in the Top 100 in 2009 have fallen off that list completely. These include Xerox (NYSE: XRX), Blockbuster, Merrill Lynch and Saab.

Several of the top ranked companies for 2014 were not on earlier Corebrand lists at all. These include the brand of a company which did not exist a decade ago — Twitter Inc. (NYSE: TWTR)