Brand Finance report: Australia’s top brands jump in value by 15% to $194 billion
The total value of Australia’s top 100 brands has risen by 15% to reach AU$194 billion, according to a new report from leading brand valuation consultancy, Brand Finance. 74 of the brands in the Brand Finance Australia 100 2023 ranking saw an increase in brand value, while 21 dropped, 3 remained stable, and two new brands entered the ranking.
Australia’s top 100 most valuable and strongest brands are included in the annual Brand Finance Australia 100 2023 ranking.
Woolworths is most valuable brand for 4th consecutive year, up 18%
Woolworths (brand value up 18% to AU$16.2 billion) Woolworths has continued its focus on customer experience, including the roll out of curated ranges tailored to local communities, and offering more inclusive experiences to a wider range of consumers. Woolworths also continued to manage the impacts of climate change, working to reduce emissions from its own operations through green electricity and electric vehicle trials, as well as the phasing out of some plastic use. These factors continued to maintain the brand’s strong reputation and loyalty amongst Australian consumers and its position as the nation’s most valuable brand.
Coles (brand value up 10% to AU$10.9 billion), continues to hold on to its 4th spot in the ranking, enjoying a 10% brand value increase to AU$10.9 billion. Over the last year, Coles has continued to demonstrate flexibility and innovation, with improved scores for quality and value for money
Says Mark Crowe, managing director of Brand Finance Australia: “Across the world, there’s been significant disruption in labour markets, goods markets, and fuel markets. Despite this disruption, Australian brands have grown quickly as they bounce back from the pandemic-disrupted past. With customers facing significant cost pressures, strong brands have an opportunity to earn a premium return.”
Big banking brands surge
After showing signs of a slow recovery, the banking sector last year has experienced strong growth in brand value for the leading banks with an overall 17% increase. Leading the way is the Commonwealth Bank (brand value up 28% to AU$11.4 billion) which has reversed its decline in brand value and regained its place as Australia’s third most valuable brand. Similarly nab (brand value up 36% to AU$7.9 billion) and ANZ (brand value up 22% to AU$7.6 billion) have recorded strong increases to be ranked the 5th and 7th most valuable Australian brands.
Conversely Westpac (brand value down 1% to AU$5.2 billion) and Macquarie (brand value down 3% to AU$4.6 billion) have recorded slight drops due to weaker brand strength.
Telecoms – A Tale of Two Brands
In maintaining its place as Australia’s second most valuable brand, Telstra has recorded a 29% increase to be valued at AU$13.2 billion. This strong growth has been driven by improvements for customer service, ease of dealing with, value for money and word of mouth, along with consideration and recommendation.
Conversely Optus’ brand momentum was significantly impacted by the cyber-attack experienced in September last year which led to unauthorised access of Optus’ current and former customers’ information. The resulting publicity and media commentary drove negative sentiment and as a consequence Optus suffered a near 10-point drop in brand strength and a consequential 19% fall in brand value to $3.3 billion.
Says Crowe: “Removing the impact of this one-off pernicious event, Optus’ brand value would have otherwise increased by 11%.”
Bunnings is the nation’s strongest brand for second year running
In addition to calculating brand value, Brand Finance also determines the relative strength of brands through a balanced scorecard of metrics evaluating marketing investment, stakeholder equity, and business performance.
Bunnings (brand value up 35% to AU$5.4 billion) has maintained its position as Australia’s strongest brand, with a Brand Strength Index (BSI) score of 88.2 out of 100 and a corresponding AAA brand strength rating. Bunnings has remained top-of-mind for Australian consumers and is noted for its strong attributes when it comes to available anytime anywhere, value for money and a wide range of Products.
Fellow retailers, Woolworths and Coles, round off the nation’s top 3 strongest brands in 2nd and 3rd place, respectively. Telstra’s impressive 6-point rise has secured 4th place with Commonwealth moving up three places to 5th ranked strongest brand.
NRMA retains its ranking of Australia’s strongest insurance brand, while Seek enters the top ten strongest brands for the first time at ninth place.
View the full Brand Finance Australia 100 2023 report here
Amazon is world’s most valuable brand, despite losing US$51 billion in value
Amazon has retaken top spot as the world’s most valuable brand despite its brand value falling 15% this year from US$350.3 billion to US$299.3 billion.
Brand Finance’s research has found that customer perception of customer service at Amazon has fallen – at the same time as delivery times have lengthened – and in concert with this, consumers have become less likely to recommend Amazon to others. Concurrent with the conclusion of pandemic restrictions, people are returning to shopping in-person, slightly mitigating the need for online retail.
Apple (brand value down 16% to US$297.5 billion) has fallen to be the world’s second most valuable brand with its brand value falling US$355.1 billion. This year’s fall in brand value relates to a fall in forecast revenue as a disrupted goods supply chain and a constrained labour market are expected to limit supply of its marquee hardware products.