Brand Finance says that the brand (pictured), founded by Jack Ma’s Tencent and threatened with embargo last year by former US president Donald Trump, is the “sector’s and world’s strongest brand with Brand Strength Index score 95.4 out of 100 and AAA+ brand strength rating”.
The brand rating company said the top 100 most valuable tech brands in the Brand Finance Tech 100 2021 ranking have grown by 9% on average, faring much better than other sectors globally.
But WeChat is not the world’s most valuable brand. That accolade goes to Apple, which has overtaken Amazon and Google to reclaim the title of the world’s most valuable tech brand, according to the report.
“Apple has the success of its diversification strategy to thank for an impressive 87% brand value increase to US$263.4 billion,” said the company.
Lorenzo Coruzzi, associate at Brand Finance, commented: “Apple has successfully reinvented its capabilities, while remaining faithful to its core: enriching people’s life through innovative design. Under Tim Cook’s leadership, it has been successfully diversifying its revenue mix shifting towards more profitable segments — showcasing that it is truly resilient against its competitors.”
Deutsche Telekom is the most valuable European telecoms brand, worth $51.1 billion, said Brand Finance, an increase of 27.9% on last year’s figure.
According to the report, Deutsche Telekom took third place among the global telecommunications companies, behind Verizon and AT&T and ahead of China Mobile. Deutsche Telekom is listed in 23rd place in the overall ranking of the world’s most valuable brands.
“These economic and technological successes are helping the Telekom brand to continue developing successfully on a national and international level,” said Uli Klenke, chief brand officer at Deutsche Telekom, underlining this positive trend.
“With the successful rollout of 5G, we are once again demonstrating as a brand our innovativeness and capabilities in all of our markets, differentiating ourselves from the competition. In this respect, the T shines out for people as a reflection of our purpose.”
Brand Finance noted that Amazon’s Chinese equivalent, Alibaba.com, “has also benefitted from the unprecedented surge in demand, as consumers in China turned to online shopping during the pandemic”.
The company said its brand value has grown by 108% in the past year, to $39.2 billion. Two of its subsidiaries are worth more in brand terms: Taobao is up 44% to $53.3 billion, and Tmall is up 60% to $49.2 billion.
Intel came top in semiconductor brands, worth $31.8 billion in brand terms, but Nvidia’s planned acquisition of UK-based Arm pushed its brand value to $8.1 billion.
But WeChat was the surprising success of the survey, which uses a balanced scorecard of metrics evaluating marketing investment, stakeholder equity, and business performance. “As WeChat’s brand strength grew, its brand value also enjoyed a rapid boost, increasing by 25% to $67.9 billion,” says Brand Finance.
Which companies lost out in the annual ratings? After a year of pandemic and lockdown, the travel sector, mainly: Booking.com was down 19%, Airbnb down by 30% and Expedia down by 25%, enough to take it out of the top 100 ranking.
