Brief:
- WeChat, the messaging service run by Chinese tech giant Tencent, saw its brand value soar 1,540% to $50.7 billion over the past five years, the fastest growth among 100 brands worldwide. Powering much of that growth was the integration of complementary services into a single platform that would typically require dozens of individual apps, per a ranking that Brand Finance shared with Mobile Marketer.
- Amazon saw the greatest brand value growth in terms of dollars, ballooning $142.8 billion in the past five years to total $187.9 billion. The e-commerce giant's technology has helped it to outpace competitors in distribution speed and costs, boosting its brand value, according to Brand Finance.
- China and the U.S. each had 39 of the world's fastest-growing brands, more than any other regions in the ranking. China's brands are more dominant, with two out of every three spots in the top 30, and a combined value of $857 billion that makes up 48% of the top 100's total value.
Insight:
WeChat's rapid growth in brand value reflects the messaging app's dominance in China, where it provides a complete lifestyle hub for a massive audience of smartphone users. WeChat allows other companies to develop "mini programs" that work inside its main app, expanding the features of phones to handle a wider variety of tasks, including multimedia messaging, shopping, payments, gaming, ride hailing and travel booking. The platform's success as an all-encompassing super app reportedly has inspired Facebook to build out Messenger to include a broader range of features, mimicking WeChat's mobile functionality for Western regions.
Amazon's brand value reflects the e-commerce giant's drive to provide a broad range of services under its Prime umbrella. Subscribers not only get access to quicker shipping, but also discounts at Whole Foods Market, exclusive programming on its Prime Video streaming platform and ad-free songs on Amazon Music. Amazon also is the leading marketer of smart speakers, with sales that jumped 45% in Q3 from a year earlier, giving the company a stronger platform for the burgeoning voice commerce space.
Among industry groups, banks showed the most rapid growth among its top 100, with 10 of those coming from China. Their rapid growth reflects a massive expansion of the Chinese middle class that demands more services to manage their money. The media industry ranked No. 2 in the ranking with a combined brand value of $242.6 billion. In addition to WeChat and Tencent, the fastest-growing brands in the media business included NetEase, Facebook, Netflix, Baidu and Disney-owned ABC. Disney ranks No. 25 overall in brand value, but its growth hasn't kept pace with digital rivals in social media, online gaming and digital streaming, per Brand Finance.
