World's most valuable brand revealed, huge China growth

Amazon has been crowned the world's most valuable brand... for now!

Photo taken on September 28, 2011 shows the Amazon logo projected on a screen at a press conference in New York. [File Photo: VCG]

Brand Finance's Global 500 rankings have just been unveiled - an annual global look at the most valuable international brands.

In the top three positions respectively are Amazon, Apple and Google.

Perhaps there's no surprise there, although the fact that Amazon has usurped both Google and Apple, jumping from third position last year, is certainly of note.

Of much greater interest, however, is the phenomenal growth of Chinese brands in the list.

Indeed, every single one of the largest climbers is Chinese.

China Construction Bank climbed by three places, with a calculated annual brand growth of some 37 percent, Alibaba climbed ten positions, with a whopping 58 percent growth, and China Mobile climbed two positions, growing its brand by 14 percent.

Brand Finance CEO David Haigh, said: ''Brands like Huawei, Ping An, State Grid, Evergrande, ICBC, Yili, Haval, Wuliangye, and many others are now being recognised worldwide as quality brands. We expect to see this develop rapidly in more and more sectors.''

Of course, there's always some element of doubt as to the methodology used in such calculations. For example, it seems strange that the world's largest online retailer, Alibaba, only has the 12th most valuable global brand, according to the study.

What's undeniable, however, is the strength of growth amongst Chinese brands, which will definitely be something to look out for in next year's list!