Recession hits finance firms' brand value

The brand value of many famous financial institutions has taken a battering over the past year but fast food companies are doing well in the recession, a new study found.

Coca-Cola topped Interbrand's annual best global brands ranking for the ninth year and McDonald's moved up two places to sixth.

By contrast, financial services companies were generally hit hard by the downturn, with UBS falling 29 places to 72nd in the list and Citigroup dropping 17 places to 36th.

The top 10 was dominated by technology firms, with IBM in second place, Microsoft third, Nokia fifth and Google moving up three places to seventh.

An Interbrand spokesman said: "This is the first year that the total value of all the brands in the table has declined, year on year.

"That said, the decline is smaller than that seen across the major stock markets on which the majority of brands are traded.

"This means that brands, as assets, are the more stable parts of the businesses that own and manage them, bringing a calming influence to profitability and business continuity."

These are 2009's top 10 global brands according to Interbrand.

Ranking, Last year, Brand Value (US dollars)

1. (1) Coca-Cola 68.7 billion
2. (2) IBM 60.2 billion
3. (3) Microsoft 56.6 billion
4. (4) GE 47.7 billion
5. (5) Nokia 34.8 billion
6. (8) McDonald's 32.2 billion
7. (10) Google 31.9 billion
8. (6) Toyota 31.3 billion
9. (7) Intel 30.6 billion
10. (9) Disney 28.4 billion

The rest of the top 100:

11. Hewlett-Packard
12. Mercedes-Benz
13. Gillette
14. Cisco
15. BMW
16. Louis Vuitton
17. Marlboro
18. Honda
19. Samsung
20. Apple
21. H&M
22. American Express
23. Pepsi
24. Oracle
25. Nescafe
26. Nike
27. sap
28. Ikea
29. Sony
30. Budweiser
31. UPS
32. HSBC
33. Canon
34. Kellogg's
35. Dell
36. Citi
37. JP Morgan
38. Goldman Sachs
39. Nintendo
40. Thomson Reuters
41. Gucci
42. Philips
43. Amazon.com
44. L'Oreal
45. Accenture
46. eBay
47. Siemens
48. Heinz
49. Ford
50. Zara
51. Wrigley
52. Colgate
53. AXA
54. MTV
55. Volkswagen
56. Xerox
57. morgan stanley
58. Nestle
59. Chanel
60. Danone
61. KFC
62. adidas
63. BlackBerry
64. Yahoo!
65. Audi
66. Caterpillar
67. Avon
68. Rolex
69. Hyundai
70. Hermes
71. Kleenex
72. UBS
73. Harley-Davidson
74. Porsche
75. Panasonic
76. Tiffany & Co
77. Cartier
78. Gap
79. Pizza Hut
80. Johnson & Johnson
81. Allianz
82. Moet & Chandon
83. BP
84. Smirnoff
85. Duracell
86. Nivea
87. Prada
88. Ferrari
89. Armani
90. Starbucks
91. Lancome
92. Shell
93. Burger King
94. Visa
95. Adobe
96. Lexus
97. Puma
98. Burberry
99. Polo Ralph Lauren
100. Campbell's