Preceding Apple (in order of their rankings) are: Coca-Cola, IBM, Microsoft, GE, Nokia, McDonald's, Google, Toyota, Intel, Disney, HP, Mercedes-Benz, Gillette, Cisco, BMW, Louis Vuitton, Marlboro, Honda and Samsung. Dell is 35th on the list (down two places).
To qualify for inclusion in the Best Global Brands 2008 list, each brand must derive at least a third of its earnings outside its home country, be recognizable outside of its base of customers, and have publicly available marketing and financial data. This methodology evaluates brand value in the same way any other corporate asset is valued—on the basis of how much it is likely to earn for the company in the future. Interbrand uses a combination of analysts’ projections, company financial documents, and its own qualitative and quantitative analysis to arrive at a net present value of those earnings.
