Apple – King of Branding, the most valuable Brand ever?

Apple has been crowned the world’s most valuable brand today in the annual BrandZ study by market watcher Milward Brown, taking the crown from fierce rival, Google. Infact of inflation this ensures that this in fact is the most valuable brand ever.

So why has Apple gone from the nerdy computers company of the 90s to the techno-fashion designers of today. The answer of course lies with two people: Steve Jobs, and the less know Jonathon Ive ( Head of Industrial design at Apple Inc.) Steve undoubtedly rescued Apple from the brink of bankruptcy and started the turn around of the company by seeing one man’s vision of what Apple should be, previously ignored, and decided to let this man design every single apple product that you see on the market today. Who was this man? Jonathon Ive a previously minor product designer from Britain from a modest Poly-Technic University.

Working his way from Powerbook to Macbook and Mac 9 OS to the iMac with OSX Jonathon Ive single handedly turned Apple into a brand. This brand was no longer a tech nerd heaven but a fashionable tech brand. The first and best of its kind at making technology fashionable. Ive’s industrial design paid dividends literally, with Apple rising to the second most valuable company in the world on Market value after Oil giants Exxon-Mobil. So the biggest brand in the world is the brain child of one British Man, Jonathon Ive, without him iPod could and would have been a flop and iPhone 4s – only one of the ugliest phones you could buy.

So well done Apple Congratulations you are top dog in branding! now release us a touchscreen Mac ok?

Technology and telecoms companies dominated the top ranking spots, with IBM at number three, Microsoft at number five, AT&T at number seven and China Mobile at number nine. Vodafone was again named the most valuable brand in the UK after ranking 12th on the global list, with a value of £26.2 billion.

Facebook also made its debut in the top 100 this year at 35 with the highest increase in brand value, at 246 per cent. Millward Brown’s study values the social network’s brand at $19.1 billion (£11.6 billion).