2017 BrandZ Rankings: Google Dominates For Second Straight Year

BrandZ has recently released its latest rankings for the biggest brands across the globe, and for the second consecutive year, Google has managed to best the best of the world. Like last year, Google has beaten rival Apple to the number one spot. The iPhone maker has had a magnificent run -- topping the global rankings in the first half of this decade until 2015. But in the last couple of years, Google was able to stop Apple from surging to the very top.

The latest BrandZ global rankings also sheds some light on the brand value of the biggest brands in the planet, and how they have improved in the last twelve months. Google lives up to its number one spot by increasing its brand value by seven percent compared to last year, to $245.6 billion. Apple, on the other hand, saw its brand value grow by three percent compared to last year, to $234.7 billion.

Microsoft may no longer be at the top of the world in the era of mobile devices, but the brand is still very strong. As a matter of fact, the company has held the number three spot for three years now. BrandZ’s global rankings also points out how Microsoft has increased its brand value by 18 percent, which is not bad.

Many observers might not mind anointing Google, Apple, and Microsoft as a sort of a Big Three among the world’s biggest brands. But some may wondering if it is possible to have a Big Four, and which brand can be considered a worthy challenger to the three. That honor may go to Amazon. The online retail giant after all has managed to remain a globally recognizable brand the past few years. In the last twelve months, however, Amazon’s brand has improved dramatically. Consider just half a decade ago, Amazon was struggling to remain inside the top 20 consistently. But recently, the company has hot to the number four spot, improving its brand value by a whopping 41 percent.

But wait -- which brand has nabbed the fifth spot? Facebook has pretty much got that spot locked. The brand after all is considered by many as the world’s biggest social media platform, and in this day and age wherein we can not seem to get enough out of socializing online, it is no surprise that Facebook has landed the fifth spot.

It goes without saying that tech companies have ranked very well in BrandZ’s global rankings. By the way, BrandZ based its yearly rankings on information collected from the consumers themselves. For this year’s rankings, BrandZ interviewed some 3 million respondents hailing from 51 different countries around the world. From the interview sessions, BrandZ is able to generate at least 4.6 million data points, from which it can base its global rankings.