According to a study conducted by global research agency Millward Brown, the top 100 most valuable global brands mostly include tech giants. The research data was collated from BrandZ (the world’s largest repository of brand equity data), Kantar Worldpanel and Bloomberg.

The BrandZ index determines brand value based on mixed factors which include brand’s contribution to earnings, valuation of intangible assets, measures of customer perception and an estimate of growth potential.

The tech giants like Apple, Google, IBM, Microsoft and China Mobile are found among the top 10 brands. Apple, Google and IBM, on top in the list, are valued at more than $100 billion each. The value of Top 100 brands is up 17 percent from last year as they are now worth $2,400 billion, according to Millward Brown Optimor, the WPP subsidiary that compiles the rankings.

The technology sector continues to grow and many tech giants have made it into the top 100 brands list. Google was leading the list from the past four years but now Apple takes the lead. Due to iPhone and iPad, Apple’s brand value has jumped 84 percet to $153.3 billion. Apple’s value is $40 billion higher than that of Google’s.

Peter Walshe, Millward Brown’s BrandZ director says, “Apple has built its whole brand on a promise it lives up to. The BrandZ Top 100 are not only more trusted and recommended but are more valued - people are prepared to pay what they’re worth.”

“The big story in this year’s rankings is the power of the tablet,” says Eileen Campbell, MBO’s global chief executive.

Steve Centrillo, cofounder and managing partner of Smiths, a branding agency in New York, points to music and mobile handsets. “Apple has radicalised two industries in which it had no expertise. It shows that companies willing to buck the trend can be very successful,” he says.

Also, Stuart Wood, executive creative director at Fitch, the design and branding consultancy feels its “people power” that has allowed Apple to reinvent itself.

Walshe says technology brands now make up a third of the ranking and account for half of its value, up from a third when BrandZ first began. Apple has increased its brand value by $137 billion, or 859 per cent, since 2006 when the BrandZ rankings were launched.

But not every tech brand has had success story, Nokia has dropped 38 places from last year as its brand value has fallen 28 percent to $10.7 billion. Even BlackBerry has seen sliding down 11 places to 25th on the list with brand value sliding by 20 percent.

The study shows that Facebook has racked up the biggest percentage growth and Amazon has surpassed Walmart to become the top retailer. In fact, Amazon’s brand value is more than three times that of eBay which grew 15 percent to $10.7 billion.

And the top 20 risers based on brand value growth percentage include Facebook (246%), Baidu (141%), Wells Fargo (97%), Blurberry (86%), Apple (84%), Skol (68%), Pizza Hut (58%), Geico (53%), Standard Chartered Bank (45%), Hermes (41%), Starbucks (40%), Petrobras (39%), Amazon (37%), UPS (35%), Cartier (34%), Estee Lauder (31%), MetLife (31%), Siemens (29%), Ikea (28%) and Canon (27%).

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Millward Brown's Nigel Hollis on the BrandZ Top 100 Video:

Here is the list of Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands:

Facebook Microsoft Standard Chartered bank Wells fargo