Thirteen Chinese brands among most valuable

Thirteen Chinese brands are among the most valuable in the world, according to the BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands list published by the research company Millward Brown in Beijing on May 22.

They include China Mobile, Tencent and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, as well as two newcomers — Sinopec and Moutai.

China Mobile, the most valuable Chinese brand, was No 10 on the list and valued $47 billion.

The list looks both at consumer opinions and published financial performances data. Two million consumers took part in the ranking this year, the seventh year that Millward Brown conducted and published the ranking.

The list looked at brands in 13 industries, such as the fast food, telecom, automobile, financial and technology industries.

Apple was the most valuable brand for the second year, having a brand value of $182.9 billion. IBM's brand value increased by 15 percent to reach $115.9 billion and overtake Google's, which dropped to third place in the ranking.

Facebook, which just launched an initial public offering, saw its brand value increase by 74 percent, the fastest such rise shown by any company in the ranking. Its brand is worth $33.2 billion, taking the social networking company from the 35th spot in the ranking to the 19th.

The top three brands all had to do with technology.

The Chinese technology brands Baidu and Tencent have also seen increases in their brands' values. Tencent's is now worth $18 billion, pushing it up to the 15th spot in the ranking.

In the financial industry, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China had the most valuable brand, one that was worth $41.5 billion.

Even so, telecom companies and financial businesses are seeing their brands lose value, said Peking Tan, research and development director from Millward Brown Greater China.

“The services offered by different telecom providers are all becoming the same, so consumers are becoming less loyal to their brands. ”

Meanwhile, the brand value of China Life Insurance decreased by 25 percent year-on-year in the ranking, and Bank of China decreased by 26 percent in the midst of sluggish economic growth.

The other five Chinese brands to make the list were Pingan Insurance, China Telecom, Construction Bank of China, Agricultural Bank of China and PetroChina.

The combined value of the 13 Chinese brands reached $258 billion and accounted for roughly 11 percent of the total value of the BrandZ Top 100.