Annual brand rankings reports released

Nestlé is again the world’s most valuable food brand, according to the 2022 edition of the Brand Finance Food 100 ranking.

This annual report, compiled by brand valuation consultancy firm Brand Finance, ranks 5000 major brands from around the world according to their value.

Nestlé is the largest food brand, valued at $28 billion, which is roughly twice the value of the second-place holder, the Chinese dairy brand Yili, valued at $14.2 billion. Lay’s comes in third place with a value of $11.5 billion. Each of these three brands has increased their value by around $1 billion each in the last year.

Nestlé credits its decentralised structure as the reason behind its ongoing profits and ability to successfully brave the COVID-19 pandemic and supply chain pressures of the past couple of years. The company said its ability to test and launch new products in an agile fashion has led to its continued growth.

Yili products in the cheese, powdered milk and bottled water categories have all had strong growth, with the company saying that consumers in China see these foods as offering health and nutritional benefits, hence their market strength.

Savio D’Souza, Brand Finance Valuation Director, said: “People are returning to the brands they love — they are hungry for Nestlé, Yili and Lay’s! Food brand values are back above pre-pandemic levels.”

Brand Finance also looks at the relative strength of a brand in terms of marketing, reputation, awareness of consumers and various other factors that are fed into an algorithm to produce a score — the Brand Strength Index (BSI) — that reflects a brand’s power. Hershey’s was found to be the world’s strongest food brand, with a BSI of 89.8 and an AAA+ brand rating.

Brand Finance compiles reports regarding the value of many other food and beverage categories. For instance, Yili is unsurprisingly the most valuable dairy company, followed by Danone (worth $10.5 billion).

The most valuable non-alcoholic drinks company, Coca-Cola, manages to dwarf its competitors, with its total value clocking in at an impressive $47.7 billion. Pepsi takes the second place in this category with $27.9 billion.

“As pandemic restrictions recede in the rear-view mirror, many non-alcoholic brand values are surging,” said D’Souza. “People are once again able to easily get together for a Coke, a Pepsi, a coffee or cup of tea. This is good for consumers, and good for brand values in this sector of the economy.”

Coca-Cola is the company with the highest brand strength, with a BSI of 93.3 out of 100 and an AAA+ brand rating.

On the alcoholic front, the most valuable beer brand was Corona ($9.4 billion), the most valuable wine was Moët & Chandon ($1.9 billion) and the most valuable spirit was Moutai ($57.8 billion).

The rankings are available from the Brandirectory site: brandirectory.com/rankings

Image credit: iStock.com/tomertu