Tech Companies Lead a List of Brands with the Best Global Reputations
The FutureBrand Index is not like other top ten lists in the business world, namely because it doesn’t look at metrics like financial earnings or brands’ accomplishments in a given year. Instead, as the name implies, it looks at potential success in the future – and tech companies have taken four of the top ten spots in the 2015 survey.
To be characterized as a future brand, a company must balance “strong perceptions of its purpose in the world with the experience it delivers.” In other words, there must be an emotional connection to the brand that is perceived to improve people’s lives, and it must be a redefining force in its category that delivers a strong vision for the future, inspiring confidence in consumers that the brand will continue to be successful for years to come.
The study surveys 3,004 people across 17 countries; the findings are based entirely on brand perception. 2015 marks the second FutureBrand Index, and this year, the study places a greater importance on the brands it analyzes, with the hypothesis that the first fifteen years of this century will dominate the next hundred, just as the organizations that had emerged by 1915 went on to dominate the last century.
Unsurprisingly, Apple ranks high, although it is second to Google. Rounding out the top three is Microsoft, with Samsung coming in at number seven.
Tech companies ranked high in part because they speak to a key trend in the survey, which is the preference for brands that unlock human potential, whether through communication, access to information or personal organization. The results also pointed to innovation as the key driver in determining a future brand, followed by thought leadership and authenticity.
Chinese companies saw a boost in confidence over last year, with “a growing qualitative view that Chinese organizations are ‘efficient and service orientated’.” In contrast, the steepest declines over last year could be found in the rankings of American companies like Pfizer, Pepsi and GE, while financial and oil and gas companies ranked among the lowest across the board.
Visit FutureBrand to browse the complete results from the 2015 survey.
