*Global Brand Blockbusters: For the eighth consecutive year, BusinessWeek teamed up with Interbrand, a leading brand consultancy, to publish a ranking of the top 100
global brands by brand value. Google, Apple and Amazon are among this year's top gainers, while Merrill Lynch, Gap and Morgan Stanley are among the companies that slipped
dramatically down the list.
As the business climate has worsened in recent months, a number of blue-chip companies have announced plans to cut marketing costs, including Coca-Cola and Visa.
Then there are the other guys--companies that refuse to let tough times distract them from their long-term brand-building efforts. Sometimes they see a recession as the
perfect moment to get a leg up on a weakened rival. Others strengthen their brands to ward off discount competitors. Still others feel they have a knockout new product that
requires support.
This year's top 10 brands are:
1. Coca-Cola
2. IBM
3. Microsoft
4. GE
5. Nokia
6. Toyota
7. Intel
8. McDonald's
9. Disney
10. Google
In terms of arriving at the top global brands, Interbrand takes the following steps toward valuation:
Step 1: Calculate how much of a company's total sales falls under a particular brand. In some cases, the brand encompasses nearly all sales; in others it is tied to only one
set of products. Using reports from analysts at JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and Morgan Stanley, Interbrand projects five years of sales and earnings tied to each brand's products
and services [Editor's Note: The 2008 list was calculated prior to the recent economic collapse].
Step 2: Calculate how much of those earnings results from the power of the brand after stripping out operating costs, taxes and charges for the capital employed to arrive at
the earnings attributable to intangible assets. Then Interbrand estimates the brand's effect on earnings relative to other intangible assets, such as patents and management
strength.
Step 3: Discount future earnings against current interest rates, as well as against the brand's overall risk profile, to arrive at a net brand value.
Source: BusinessWeek/Interbrand
*Stress Test: Stress is unavoidable, but research from the Center for Creative Leadership reveals that good stress--"eustress"--acts as a stimulating factor for leaders and,
in turn, contributes to success. Bad stress, on the other hand, is detrimental.
The research identified the following factors inherent to leadership roles that contribute to increased stress:
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Ambiguity
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Lack of control
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Working beyond technical expertise
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Too much success
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Doing more with less, faster
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Building relationships and managing conflict
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Developing and supporting others
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Personal insecurity
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High expectations
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Performance demands
Source: Center for Creative Leadership
*Multitaskers' Anonymous: While the modern multimedia world has prompted many people to embrace A.D.D. tendencies when it comes to their consumption habits, data from MRI's
2008 MediaDay study shows that some consumers do, in fact, focus exclusively on one medium at a time. Among the findings:
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More than 50% of at-home usages occurs while the consumer is exclusively engaged with a single medium;
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54% of Internet usage in an average day is exclusive, as is 49% of TV viewing;
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When more than one medium is consumed simultaneously in the home, it is typically TV and another medium; for example, 17% of Internet usage takes place while watching TV;
and,
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When using media outside the home, the percentage of exclusive usage drops significantly for the Internet and TV, with only 20% of Internet usage taking place exclusively.
This is largely because 62% of usage is done while simultaneously ?working.
Source: MRI