Top 20 brands of the world

1. Apple

• Brand value: $153,285 million

• Brand value change 2011-10: 84 per cent

• Apple is an American multinational corporation that designs and markets consumer electronics, computer software and personal computers.

2. Google

• Brand value: $111.498 million• Brand value change 2011-10:

minus 2 per cent• Google is an American

multinational public corporation invested in internet search, cloud computing and advertising technologies.

• Google hosts and develops a number of internet-based services and products.

3. IBM

• Brand value: $111.849 million

• Brand value change 2011-10: 17 per cent

• IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas ranging from mainframe computers to nanotechnology.

4. McDonald's

• Brand value: $81,016 million

• Brand value change 2011-10: 23 per cent

• McDonald's Corporation is the world's largest chain of hamburger fast-food restaurants, serving more than 58 million customers daily.

5. Microsoft

• Brand value: $78,243 million

• Brand value change 2011-10: 2 per cent

• Microsoft develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions.

6. Coca-Cola

• Brand value: $73,752 million

• Brand value change 2011-10: 8 per cent

• Coca-Cola Company is a beverage retailer, manufacturer and marketer of non-alcoholic beverage concentrates and syrups.

• The company is best known for its flagship product Coca-Cola.

7. AT&T

• Brand value: $69,916 million• Brand value change 2011-10:

N/A• AT&T is the largest provider of

fixed telephony in the United States, and also provides broadband and subscription television services.

• As of 2010, AT&T was the seventh-largest company in the United States by total revenue, as well as the fourth-largest non-oil company in the US.

8. Marlboro

• Brand value: $67,522 million

• Brand value change 2011-10: 18 per cent

• Marlboro is the largest selling brand of cigarettes in the world.

• It is made by Philip Morris USA within the US, and by Philip Morris International outside the US.

9. China Mobile

• Brand value: $57,326 million• Brand value change 2011-10:

9 per cent• China Mobile Limited is a

Chinese state-owned telecommunication company that provides mobile voice and multimedia services through its nationwide mobile telecommunications network, the largest of its kind in the world.

10. General Electric

• Brand value: $50,318 million• Brand value change 2011-10:

12 per cent• GE operates through five

segments: Energy Infrastructure, Technology Infrastructure, Capital Finance and Consumer and Industrial.

• In 2010, Forbes ranked GE as the world's second-largest company after JPMorgan Chase.

11. ICBC

• Brand value: $44,440 million• Brand value change 2011-10:

1 per cent• ICBC is the largest Bank of

China's 'Big Four' state-owned commercial banks (the other three being the Bank of China, Agricultural Bank of China, and China Construction Bank).

• It was founded as a limited company on January 1, 1984.

12. Vodafone

• Brand value: $43,647 million• Brand value change 2011-10:

minus 2 per cent• Vodafone Group is a global

telecommunications company headquartered in London, United Kingdom.

• It is the world's largest mobile telecommunications company measured by revenues and the world's second-largest measured by subscribers.

13. Verizon

• Brand value: $42,828 million

• Brand value change 2011-10: N/A

• Verizon Communications is a global broadband and telecommunications company and a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

14. Amazon.com

• Brand value: $37,628 million• Brand value change 2011-10:

37 per cent• Amazon.com is a US-based

multinational electronic commerce company.

• It is the largest online retailer in the United States, with nearly three times the Internet sales revenue of the runner up, Staples, Inc, as of January 2010.

15. Walmart

• Brand value: $37,277 million• Brand value change 2011-10:

minus 5 per cent• Walmart is an American public

multinational corporation that runs chains of large discount department stores and warehouse stores.

• The company was the world's largest public corporation in 2010 by revenue.

16. Wells Fargo

• Brand value: $36,876 million• Brand value change 2011-10:

97 per cent• Wells Fargo is an American

multinational diversified financial services company with operations around the world.

• Wells Fargo is the fourth-largest bank in the US by assets and the second-largest bank by market capitalization.

17. UPS

• Brand value: $35,737 million

• Brand value change 2011-10: 35 per cent

• UPS is a package delivery company.

• Headquartered in Georgia, United States, UPS delivers more than 15 million packages a day to 6.1 million customers in more than 220 countries and territories around the world.

18. HP

• Brand value: $35,404 million

• Brand value change 2011-10: minus 11 per cent

• HP was founded in a one-car garage in Palo Alto by Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard, and is now one of the world's largest information technology companies, operating in nearly every country.

19. Deutsche Telekom

• Brand value: $29,774 million

• Brand value change 2011-10: N/A

• Deutsche Telekom is a telecommunications company headquartered in Bonn, Germany.

• It is the largest telecommunications company in Europe.

20. Visa

• Brand value: $28,553 million• Brand value change 2011-10:

15 per cent• Visa is a global payments

technology company headquartered in 595 Market Street in San Francisco, California.

• It facilitates electronic funds transfers throughout the world, most commonly through Visa-branded credit card and debit cards.