World's most valued brands grow with responsibility

Humanity faces many great and difficult challenges. So it is at least a small ray of hope that the world's most valued brands are trying to take their leadership seriously by addressing these challenges. They have realized that creating a better world is profitable in the long run.

Growth is picking up

Strong brands have the ability to fundamentally influence us as individuals in terms of needs, belonging and behavior. They can unite and move people with common goals and a vision of a desired future. 2021 saw the biggest growth ever among the world's 100 leading brands. They increased in value from $2,326,491 million in 2020 to $2,667,524 million in 2021. An overall increase of more than 15% according to the "2021 Best Global Brands" study conducted annually by Interbrand.

Digital brands at the top

As in the past, the fastest growing brands are in the technology sector. Digital trends have further accelerated their development, with Apple, Amazon and Microsoft now accounting for 62.3% of the total value of the world's ten most valuable brands. Apple is the highest valued for the ninth year in a row.

Tesla triples its value

The real winner is Tesla, which has almost tripled its brand value, moving from 26th to 14th place. A big explanation is that they have succeeded well in living up to and delivering on their purpose "to accelerate the world's transition to sustainable energy". Although they have had problems with both their products and production, they have a very strong following and customers consistently give Tesla high satisfaction scores compared to other brands in the same industry. Other fast-growers are Saleforce and Adobe, which have gained a lot of ground due to or thanks to the pandemic and thus increased digitization.

Be part of the solution

The ones that grew the most were the ones that take the most responsibility. They have realized that it is not only possible to deliver value to shareholders and customers, you also need to be involved in trying to make the world a better place. By daring to make shifts and rethinking their business models, they aim to engage people to be part of the journey. Brands want to be part of the solution instead of the problem. Some are succeeding well, others are taking too long to change and risk getting stuck in old conventions and being overtaken by competitors.

Five characteristics

The top brands in the survey are all characterized by the following five principles.

1. See profitability as a resource

Growth for growth's sake is now being challenged by many companies. Rather, growth and profitability are seen as a resource for doing more good in the world.

2. Choose your fight

No one business can solve all problems, so many companies strive to choose their role carefully. They define where they can do the most good in an authentic and focused way.

3. Based on needs

It will be increasingly difficult to become a leader in a particular sector of products and solutions. Instead, the most successful brands are based on needs such as movement, play, networking and expression.

4. take responsibility

Starting from their defined purpose, leading companies set concrete goals for what they want to achieve and involve their fans in the journey by reporting on progress.

5. think long-term

The world needs fewer platitudes and more action, as many leading brands have realized. They are focusing more on taking long-term decisions and implementing concrete positive actions.

Long experience in branding strategies

At Navigator, we have extensive experience of working with brand strategies for companies in B2B, B2C and Healthcare. Under our services, you can read more about what we can help with in brand strategy. If you want to see examples of what we have done for different customers, you should browse through our cases. You can find more inspiration and knowledge on our blog. Feel free to use the filter function to search your way around.