Only 8 ASEAN brands make it to the Global 500 rankings in 2019

• In ASEAN, of the nearly 500+ brands valued each year by Brand Finance and brand rankings published annually, only 8 brands managed to make it to the global 500 rankings in 2019.
• PETRONAS kept the ASEAN flag flying high as the most valuable (US$ 13.3 billion) and the highest ranked (# 127) ASEAN brand globally.
• All the 8 brands belonged to only 3 product categories/sectors – Banks, Oil & Gas and Telecom.
• Seven of the Eight ASEAN brands in the Global 500 ranking have a AAA rating for brand strength with only Viettel being AA.
• PETRONAS (Malaysia) also defended prime position as ASEAN’s most valuable brand following 15% growth in brand value to US$13.3 billion, with DBS (Singapore) and PTT (Thailand) placed 2^nd and 3^rd
• As bank brands lead the ASEAN ranking, Viettel and Maybank entered the global 500 brand rankings for the first time this year.
• UOB overtook OCBC in brand rankings with a brand value increase of 51%, the highest value growth for an ASEAN brand taking their brand value to US$ 5.6 billion. UOB also climbing a whopping 128 places on the rankings, the highest in ASEAN and the top 10 highest ranking improvement in the world.
• Outside of ASEAN (in Asia), Brands from China climb up the ranking as the country’s total brand value in the Brand Finance Global 500 breaks US$1 trillion.

In today’s digital world where the customer reach and awareness is less of an issue and the internet provides the enormous digital footprint reach for the brands globally, the geographic limitations for most brands are a thing of the past. Most well managed and regionally relevant brands are well known to their customers in their key markets and beyond.

So, for most marketers, a decent presence and awareness equals a well-known brand even if it is not the most used brand.

The same approach however cannot be applied to the brand value of these well-known brands by way of assuming that a reasonably well-known brand will become enormously valuable by way of presence and awareness.

The brand value is dependent on a variety of factors including but not limiting to the competitiveness of the brand, the revenues and profits margins it makes, the stickiness it has with the customers, its relative brand strength vs other plyers in the market (and globally) etc.

Yet, majority of the brands are still caught up with only measuring the decades old brand equity measures, the conversion funnel and of course the NPS.

And when the brands and their competitiveness is put to a global test, only eight brands managed to pass the test and reach the Global 500 rankings.

View the full Brand Finance Global 500 2019 report here

DBS, has claimed the title of the ASEAN’s strongest brand, previously held by Telekom Indonesia, according to the latest report by Brand Finance, the world’s leading independent brand valuation and strategy consultancy. The tech savvy regional brand has increased its Brand Strength Index (BSI) score by over five points from 81.2 to 86.8 out of 100 over the past year, pulling ahead of the likes of Dove, Prada, Pepsi, Red-bull, Starbucks, Porche, Emirates, Adidas, Nestle and many more.

Brand Finance managing Director Samir Dixit said, DBS has set a new benchmark for the banking industry in ASEAN with a brand value increase of US$ 2.5 billion

PETRONAS was not only crowned the #1 ASEAN brand yet again, it also had a brand value increase of US$ 1.8 billion over 2018, not an easy feat for an oil & gas industry brand given the roller coaster ride the industry goes through.

UOB was the ASEAN allrounder with highest ranking growth (128 places) , highest Brand Value %age increase (51.4%) and Second highest BSI improvement (of 12.2%) after PTT, 12.2.%. All these improvements also managed to propel UOB ahead of OCBC in the global ranking making them the second most valuable Bank Brand in ASEAN after DBS.

OCBC also saw significant improvement of scores but conceded its position to UOB by an extremely narrow margin of US$ 9 million. It will be a tall order for UOB to stay ahead of OCBC next year as OCBC had the second highest Brand value improvement (40.5% BV increase) and the third highest BSI improvement (8.8%) across all ASESAN Brands.

Telekom Indonesia was the only brand to have dropped in brand value (US$ 553 million decrease) amongst the 8 ASESAN brands and yet managed to stay in the global 500 rankings. This however came with the hefty price of a 98 place drop in their rankings and they are now ranked 442 globally.

Viettel group joined the ranks of the global 500 brands for the first time. The only Vietnamese brand to have managed to do so with a US$ 1 billion increase to the brand value in 2019. They were also the 7^th most valuable ASEAN Brand. Some the their value growth is attributed to their presence outside of Vietnam indicting the importance of regional and global focus and growth to be competitive globally.

Maybank was the second new entrant and also the second Malaysian Brand to enter the Global 500 rankings besides PETRONAS. While it’s a great achievement for Maybank due to the US$ 1 billion brand value increase and 4.6% increase in the brand strength score, the fact that they have joined the rankings almost at the tail end would make it extremely challenging for them to stay on the rankings unless they manage their brand strength in a concentrated manner.

PTT, the major oil and gas player from Thailand was the third most valuable ASEAN brand. PTT had the highest BSI %age score improvement (24.5%) across all ASEAN Brands. This indicates that while their value increase is relatively smaller (US% 850 million) , the brand remains strong and will continue to grow but without being a threat to the #2 ranked DBS.

Brand Finance determines the relative strength of brands through a balanced scorecard of metrics evaluating marketing investment, stakeholder equity, and business performance. According to these criteria, Ferrari is the strongest of only 14 brands in the Brand Finance Global 500 2019 ranking of the world’s most valuable brands to be awarded the highest AAA+ rating.

Along with the level of revenues, brand strength is a crucial driver of brand value. As DBS’s brand strength flourished this year, its brand value also improved, racing ahead 38% to
US$ 9.02 billion.

Samir Dixit, Managing Director of Brand Finance Asia Pacific, commented: “While the usual ASEAN brands have managed to retain their positions and also grow in the global 500 rankings, it is very disheartening to see that new entrants from ASEAN are either missing or are far and few only despite ASEAN being poised to become the 3^rd largest economy globally by 2030”.

Samir Further added that “ I would like to see at least top 3 brands from each of the ASEAN countries to be in the global 500 rankings. Only then we can say that both ASEAN and ASEAN brands are globally competitive. The current performance only shows that ASEAN companies are largely non-brand focused and the senior management mostly focuses only on the business and not the brand”

“With mounting trade pressures, shifting consumer preferences and stock market & investor challenges, the brand management approach for ASEAN companies will have to fundamentally change else there will be more dying brands (and businesses) in ASEAN than growing brands.” 

Note to Editors

Every year, leading valuation and strategy consultancy Brand Finance values the world’s biggest brands. The 500 most valuable brands in the world are included in the Brand Finance Global 500 2019 report.

The 2019 iteration of the Brand Finance Global 500 report on the world's most valuable brands across all sectors and countries will be launched on 22nd January at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Brand value is understood as the net economic benefit that a brand owner would achieve by licensing the brand in the open market. Brand strength is the efficacy of a brand’s performance on intangible measures relative to its competitors.

Additional insights, more information about the methodology, as well as definitions of key terms are available in the Brand Finance Global 500 report.

For an infographic and additional analysis on the most valuable B2C and B2B brands by region, including Amazon and IBM (The Americas), Mercedes-Benz and Shell (Europe), Samsung and State Grid (Asia), Etisalat and ADNOC (Middle East), and Telstra and BHP (Australasia), please also consult the Brand Finance Global 500 report.

Brand Finance helped craft the internationally recognized standard on Brand Valuation – ISO 10668, and the recently approved standard on Brand Evaluation – ISO 20671.

Data compiled for the Brand Finance league tables and reports are provided for the benefit of the media and are not to be used for any commercial or technical purpose without written permission from Brand Finance.