These days, you can barely do anything without using a branded product. From Googling something on the internet to sending an iMessage with your iPhone, brands are integrally woven into everything we experience on a daily basis. If you try to get away from it all and move into the middle of the woods without electricity or human contact, you’ll still likely don a Carhartt jacket and a pair of Red Wing boots.
Some brands, however, are bigger than others. Toyota, for instance, doesn’t just sell cars. They sell more cars than any company in the world. Subway isn’t just a place to get sandwiches; it’s the biggest restaurant chain in existence. Sure, there are other competitors, but they all live in the shadow of these industry leaders.
Recently, brand consultancy Interbrand released their list of the most valuable brands in the world, including the top 10 most valuable brands in existence. You’ve heard of all of them before, but you might be surprised to see a few of these as the biggest companies in the world. Take a look:
10. General Electric.
General Electric makes everything. They produce medical devices, software, engineering products, power plants, and who knows what else. That’s why they’re worth over $43 billion.
9. Mercedes-Benz.
Mercedes-Benz might not be the best-selling car brand in the world, but they sure sell a whole lot of luxury cars for incredibly high prices. That’s what earned them their value of $43.49 billion.
8. Amazon.
Amazon sells pretty much everything, but they don’t just make their money from buying Kindles and toilet paper. They’re actually a popular web host for major sites like Airbnb, Adobe, and even StockTwits. With pretty much everyone using their AWS hosting platform, it’s no wonder they’re worth $50.3 billion.
7. Samsung.
Samsung doesn’t just make some of the world’s best-selling phones. They make washers and dryers, kitchen appliances, and even aircraft engines. At a value of $51.8 billion, they account for a sizable portion of the South Korean economy.
6. IBM.
IBM might not make personal computers anymore, but they’re still crucial to the computing industry. They make everything from cloud computing platforms to business applications. Essentially, their products and technology power every high-tech function we often take for granted, which has made them worth $52.5 billion.
5. Toyota.
Toyota sells more cars than any other automobile manufacturer. They also sell the most hybrid vehicles in the world, rightfully earning their value of $53.58 billion.
4. Microsoft.
Apple isn’t the only one who makes computers. Microsoft still sells millions of copies of its Windows operating system, along with software and services like Microsoft Office. They also make business software and host websites in the cloud. Sure, no one uses their phones, but they’re still worth $72.8 billion.
3. Coca-Cola.
Andy Warhol wrote in 1975, “You can be watching TV and see Coca-Cola, and you know that the President drinks Coke, Liz Taylor drinks Coke, and just think, you can drink Coke, too. A Coke is a Coke and no amount of money can get you a better Coke than the one the bum on the corner is drinking.” Coca-Cola’s ubiquity has only increased since then, and the company is worth over $73 billion today.
2. Google.
Sure, Google has a sweet search engine, YouTube, and their Android phone operating system, but they sell ads, and lots of them. Enough to make them worth $133.2 billion.
1. Apple.
Apple is the biggest public company in the world. They make phones, computers, software, and everything in between. They sell these products for a pretty penny, which is why they’re valued at $178.1 billion.