10 Most Influential Brands of the World

Brands do matter and their names mean a lot for the customers. The very first thing that comes to the mind of the customers is the brand name.

There might be the same product from different companies but the customers do not go for all the companies. The customers have their own favorite brands and they use them proudly.

There are some of the brands around the globe, who are not just brands; they are a tradition, they represent the whole of a culture. Here is the list of 10 such brands as reported by ‘ndtv.com’.

10. Cisco

Brand Value: $26.3 Billion

Cisco is one of the leading manufacturer and seller of networking devices and other products related to information technology as well as communication engineering.

Cisco was founded by a married couple, Leonard Bosack and Sandy Lerner. It’s headquarter is in San Jose, California.

With a brand value of $26.3 billion, Cisco comes in the tenth rank in this list.

9. BMW

Brand Value: $26.3 Billion

Bayerische Motoren Werke (BMW), with a brand value of $26.3 billion comes in the ninth rank in this list.

This German company started as an aircraft manufacturing company. After the end of World War I, it was forced to stop manufacturing aircraft engines. It started manufacturing motorcycles after this under the brand name of ‘BMW Motorrad’.

It is the parent company of ‘Rolls-Royce Motor Cars’. It’s headquarter is in Munich, Bavaria, Germany.

8. General Electric

Brand Value: $33.7 Billion

General Electric (GE) is a multinational conglomerate company. GE has four primary fields of operation; energy, technology infrastructure, capital finance and consumer & industrial. It’s headquarter is in Connecticut, U.S.

GE is one of the leading manufacturers of aircraft engines, household and water processing appliances. It is also one of the most reliable names in medical imaging and finance. 

GE has been named as one of the most admired companies in the world by Fortune.

7. McDonald's

Brand Value: $37.4 Billion

McDonald's is an obvious name in this list. By serving more than 65 million happy customers in more than 110 countries, McDonald’s has become the largest chain of hamburger fast food restaurants in the world.

McDonalds started in 1940 as a barbeque restaurant by two brothers, Richard and Maurice McDonald in California. Today, McDonald’s produces hamburgers, cheeseburgers, French fries, soft-drinks, milkshakes, breakfast items and lot more with its headquarter in the U.S.

McDonald’s was the first fast food center to start ‘speedee service system’.

6. Intel

Brand Value: $32.3 Billion

Most of the computers across the globe run on chips designed by Intel. Intel is the largest chaip makes in the world. The ‘x86’ series process, which is found in most of the computers, was invented by Intel.

Intel was founded in July 18, 1968 as Integrated Electronics by Robert Noyce and Gordon Moore.

Intel is also one of the leading manufacturers of motherboard chipset, embedded processors and other computing devices.

The ‘Pentium’ processors by Intel have become one of the common names among the computer users.

5. Google

Brand Value: $37.6 Billion

Two graduates from Stanford University, Larry Page and Sergey Brin founded Google in September 4, 1998. They started Google in 1996 as their project during their PhD days.

Today, either Google or its influence needs no introduction. It is the largest search engines in the world. Google earns most of its revenues from internet search, cloud computing and advertising.

Google is also one of the most desired companies for any techie. The work environment and the bulky salary packages offered by Google is the sole reason behind this.

4. IBM

Brand Value: $48.5 Billion

International Business Machines or IBM is also known as the ‘Big Blue’ and needs no introduction in the tech market. It manufactures both hardwires and software for computers. It also offers infrastructure and consulting services.

Tabulating Machine Company, International Time Recording Company and Computing Scale Company merged together in 1911 and ‘Computing Tabulating Recording Company’ (CTR) was founded. Later, in 1924, the name ‘IBM’ was given.

The extensive use of blue color in IBM product as well as in it logo has given the nickname ‘Big Blue’ to it. Thinkpad is one of the most popular products of IBM.

3. Coca-Cola

Brand Value: $50.2 Billion

Pharmacist John Stith invented Coca-Cola in 1886 in Columbus, Georgia. Asa G. Candler bought the formula in 1889. Finally, the company got incorporated in 1892.

Coca-Cola is the pioneer in energy drinks, refreshment drinks, juices, ready-to-drink tea and coffees. It has more than 500 non-alcoholic beverages under its brand name.

Today, Coca-Cola is the leader in producing drinking beverages in the entire world. Its products, quality and the taste it provides have earned it the title of being the third most favorite brand around the globe.

2. Microsoft

Brand Value: $54.7 Billion

‘Who doesn’t know Bill Gates?’ Asking this question is a myth as there might not be a single person, who is not aware of this name!

Bill Gates and his childhood friend, Paul Allen founded this company on April 4, 1975. Bill Gates was the first CEO of this company. Microsoft is the leader in developing Operating System for the computers.

 ‘Windows’ is undoubtedly one of the most widely used OS around the globe and Microsoft is the proud company to develop Windows. Microsoft is the largest software maker in the world today.

1. Apple

Brand Value: $87.1 Billion

There is a saying: ‘Three Apples Changed The World; Adam’s apple, Newton’s apple and Steve Job’s apple’. Whatever people say, they say right.

Established by two best friends, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak in April 1976, Apple brought a revolution in the tech market. Starting from music player to computers, Apple’s each and every product has its own demand. Apple changed the age old tradition of enjoying music with the launch of iPod.

Today, when the market has an endless chain of gadgets, Apple’s products are still the most desired for the customers. iPad, MacBook, iPhone has been extremely successful in the market.