Despite the controversial developments in China earlier this year, it appears that Google doesn’t just dominate the search engine marketing world – its also maintained its position as the world’s “most powerful brand”.
Millward Brown’s annual top 100 global brand power list has placed Google at the top of the list for a fourth consecutive year. The list, which balances brand performance around the world with a company’s overall financial performance, adds yet more weight to Google’s position in the modern business world.
From its origins in the search engine marketing revenue model, Google’s business has moved from pioneering the PPC based AdWords system to a worldwide provider of digital services, software products and even a smartphone manufacturer. This expansive growth has contributed to the company’s 14% year on year growth to $114bn in ‘brand value’ this year, solidifying its position firmly.
Given it’s position at the top of a list of the world’s most powerful brands in every market – not just search – it’s clear to see why advertisers are so drawn to Google. As well as the dominant share of the search audience in nearly all markets, aside from a minority where regional competitors maintain a slight lead, the Google brand name retains a positive association in the minds of most people and indeed, is synonymous with online search – it even has a place in the Oxford English Dictionary.
Still it is the company’s strong performance that has placed it at the top of the Millward Brown list. As a contrast, Facebook – which has netted more traffic than google.com at certain points and is the most popularly searched term online in many monthly reports – failed to break into the list at all this year. The director of Millward Brown, Peter Walshe, explains that Facebook’s value of just $5.5bn is due to a lack of evidence for its financial viability – an exceptionally strong brand not being enough to secure entry to the top 100 list.
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