The 20 Most Valuable Brands In The World

Brand Value: $36.4 billion

% Change vs. 2013: 6%

What Happened: The German business software company enjoyed record sales growth and continued to find success in Hana, its software for organizing large quantities of data.

SAP was ranked as Europe's most valuable brand and finished 19th overall for the second consecutive year.

Brand Value: $39.5 billion

% Change vs. 2013: 42%

What Happened: MasterCard enjoyed the 20th biggest growth spurt among the Top 100 and hopped two spots from No. 20.

According to the Brandz report, the credit card company was bolstered by the expansion of its relationships with several large banks.

Brand Value: $42.1

% Change v. 2013: 2%

What Happened: China's largest lender, ICBC managed incremental growth in brand value this year despite market reforms that made it harder for banks to profit from loans. The bank continued its traditional role as a funder of state-owned projects and expanded its footprint with new small business clients.

Brand Value: $47.7 billion

% Change vs. 2013: 12%

What Happened: All three of the logistics companies in the top 100 enjoyed significant growth in brand value, in large part due to the need for shipping precipitated by the growth of e-commerce.

However, the other two brands, DHL and Fed-Ex failed to crack the top 50.

Brand Value: $49.9 billion

% Change vs. 2013: -10%

What Happened: The Chinese social network Tencent's rapid rise (97% brand growth this year) allowed it to eclipse China Mobile as the nation's most valuable brand.

Still, the company is the world's largest telecom with more than 750 million subscribers. This year, it expanded its network and added the iPhone.

Brand Value: $53.6 billion

% Change vs. 2013: 97%

What Happened: Tencent was the top 100's biggest riser, nearly doubling its brand value from 2013. The Chinese social network has more than 1 billion users and is building out its mobile payments features.

This past year, it purchased strategic stakes in the search business Sogou and JD.com, China’s second largest ecommerce mall.

Brand Value: $54.2 billion

% Change vs. 2013: 14%

What Happened: Wells Fargo became the most profitable U.S. bank in 2013, bringing increased revenues from loans and fees as the stock rose 33%.

The report attributes much of the company's success to its relatively smooth integration of Wachovia in 2008, allowing the bank to increase scale without taking on the subprime mortgages that hurt its rivals.

Brand Value: $56.7 billion

% Change vs. 2013: 2%

What Happened: General Electric has made a major marketing push to let consumers know it's on the cutting edge of just about everything.

It was one of the first advertisers on Instagram in 2013, and has done innovative online campaigns showing off its "brilliant machines."

Brand Value: $63.5 billion

% Change vs. 2013: 20%

What Happened: Verizon enjoyed the fifth-largest brand value growth among the top 20. This year, the company worked to differentiate itself from rival telecoms companies by touting its technical expertise.

It took out a series of full-page newspaper ads letting consumers know about its first-place ranking in a number of technical categories.

Brand Value: $64.3 billion

% Change vs. 2013: 41%

What Happened: Amazon's meteoric rise has been well-documented, and this year was no different. The "Everything Store" entered the BrandZ top 10 for the first time and posted $74.4 billion in sales in 2013, a 22% increase.

The company is continuing its expansion into a media company with the rollout of new original series on Amazon Prime and the acquisition of rights to air certain old HBO series.

Brand Value: $67.3 billion

% Change vs. 2013: -3%

What Happened: Marlboro dropped in brand value for the second year in a row, falling from the No. 8 spot to No. 9 in the rankings. Still, the high ranking reflects the fact that even though cigarettes are frowned upon from a health perspective, they remain extremely popular around the world.

Brand Value: $77.9 billion

% Change vs. 2013: 3%

What Happened: AT&T grew marginally in brand value, but dropped two spots due to the growth of Visa and Microsoft. The BrandZ report attributes AT&T's slow growth to competitive pressures and price disruption. It remains the most valuable brand among telecom providers.

Brand Value: $79.2 billion

% Change vs. 2013: 41%

What Happened: Visa hopped two spots this year on strong brand value growth. Like American Express (No. 24), Visa differentiated itself from other credit cards by emphasizing the "rewarding" nature of its services.

Brand Value: $80.7 billion

% Change vs. 2013: 3%

What Happened: Coca-Cola was far away the most valuable soft drink brand in the world, more than seven times as valuable as rival Pepsi (No. 88).

Still, Coke fell one spot in this year's ranking, and BrandZ says soft drink brands in general are suffering from a lack of "meaningfulness" and "trust" among consumers due to poor nutritional values.

Brand Value: $85.7 billion

% Change vs. 2013: -5%

What Happened: McDonald's continues to struggle to gain affinity from an increasingly health-conscious consumer base.

Its brand value dropped by 5% for the second straight year, one in which its Mighty Wings product flopped miserably. Still, it's the most famous of the fast food brands, and that certainly counts for something.

Brand Value: $90.2 billion

% Change vs. 2013: 29%

What Happened: Microsoft's brand decreased in value in last year's rankings, but the old-school software giant enjoyed a 29% increase this time around.

The company announced a change in leadership this year with the appointment of new CEO Satya Nadella and enjoyed some success with the launch of Windows 8.

Brand Value: $107.5 billion

% Change vs. 2013: -4%

What Happened: IBM dipped in brand value for the second straight year, but retained its spot as the third most-valuable brand.

The company continues to develop its cloud computing capabilities, and it's building out its big data and analytics teams.

Brand Value: $147.9 billion

% Change vs. 2013: -20%

What Happened: Apple's three-year run at the top came to a close amid a 20% drop in brand value.

This past year, Apple went once again without a transformational new product, and it was beaten to market by Samsung with the first smartwatch.

Though the company is still selling lots of iPhones, consumers are really starting to question whether Apple is the innovation leader it once was.

Brand Value: $158.8 billion

% Change vs. 2013: 40%

What Happened: Google's was BrandZ's most valuable brand from 2007 through 2010, and this year it finally leap-frogged Apple to reclaim the crown.

In addition to integrating its products with our everyday lives (more than 425 million personal e-mail addresses end in "@gmail.com"), the company has shown an ability to innovate with the release of Google Glass and the acquisition of home automation company Nest.

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