The Brands they are a-changin'

SHOOT: All of the world's top brands have lost chunks of their value. They're becoming less relevant in a world with less disposable income. And the top two brands? One is a computer company [IBM] and the other, a fizzy drinks company, that rots your teeth, is bad for immunity and in excess can promote diabetes, cancer, obesity and a plethora of associated ailments [COCA COLA]. I won't be surprised if new, functional brands wipe out the current top ten. For example, medicenes, energy companies, possibly a new kind of car company [or an old car company that's re-invented itself] and...food companies [or farms] and possibly even a new brand of construction firm specialising, probably, in New Urbanism. The world is not changing - it has changed, fundamentally. It's taking a while for reality to catch up to some people.

clipped from news.yahoo.com Consumers lost trust in brands this year as the recession deepened, according to an industry report released Thursday, although longtime staples Coca-Cola and IBM retained their spots as the world's two most valuable brands. This is the first time the combined value of the world's top 100 brands as ranked by Interbrand, a branding agency, has fallen in the 10 years Interbrand has assessed them. The list's total value, including brands like Google Inc., Nintendo and Sony, fell 4.6 percent to $1.15 trillion, Interbrand estimates. "That says something about the environment that we're in, especially when you consider that brands are by nature less volatile than business valuations," said Interbrand CEO Jez Frampton, who called a company's brand its most valuable asset. The environment — a recession the likes of which the world hasn't seen for decades — has eaten away at people's trust in specific brands, starting with financial companies, he said.