Google named world's No 1 brand
Mark Sweney
guardian.co.uk,
Monday April 21 2008

Google: tops the BrandZ top 100 list for the second year running.
Google has topped a list of the world's most powerful brands, with new research estimating its value to be $86bn (£43bn).

WPP-owned research company Millward Brown puts Google at number one in its annual top 100 global brand power list for the second year in a row with a 30% year-on-year increase in its value.

Google beat General Electric to the top spot, with the NBC Universal owner's brand value estimated at $71.4bn.

The next most valuable brands are Microsoft at $70.89bn, Coca-Cola at $58.2bn and China Mobile at $57.2bn, according to Millward Brown.

"Google's rank has been driven by fantastic financial performance and equity value," said Peter Walshe, the global account director at Millward Brown.

The top five remained unchanged year-on-year, with each company recording an increase in brand valuation by between 15% and 39% compared with 2007.

However, Millward Brown's annual BrandZ research, which takes into account the financial performance of a company combined with a measure of brand equity determined by a 100,000-strong global consumer survey, produced a number of changes in the ranking of the brands that make up the remainder of the top 10.

IBM's brand value increased by 65% year-on-year to $55.3bn, moving the technology company up three places in the BrandZ list to sixth spot.

Apple was the biggest mover in the top 10, and a new entry, moving up nine places to rank seventh, with a massive 123% increase in brand value to $55.2bn.

"Apple's 123% rise has proved to be from a mix of a slue of innovative products such as the iTouch, iPhone, Leopard and computers for which consumers have given the brand a lot of credit," said Walshe.

Fast food giant McDonald's brand value grew by 49% - in eighth at $49.49bn, while Nokia was up 39% and in ninth at $43.9bn.

Cigarette giant Marlboro was the only marque to drop in the top 10, down four spots to 10th, with a 5% drop in brand value to $37.3bn.

"You have to remember that these are global valuations," said Walshe, explaining why in an anti-smoking era the tobacco company still did so well in the ratings.

"The business is expanding in markets including Asia and South America. It is only in the west that we see decline. Its brand contribution [to the brand valuation] is also extremely high."
Mobile operator Vodafone was the top-ranked British brand, up 12 places on the back of a 75% increase in value to $36.9bn (£18.5bn).

Millward Brown tracks 50,000 brands globally, which are whittled down for its annual BrandZ top 100 list.

French MPs back law to bar media from promoting anorexia
· Bill specifically aimed at 'pro-ana'
Offenders could face jail and fines up to €45,000

French MPs yesterday approved a ground-breaking law against the promotion of anorexia, making it illegal to publicly incite excessive thinness.
The bill, which would bar any form of media, including websites, magazines and advertisers, from promoting extreme thinness, encouraging severe weight-loss or methods for self-starvation, is the furthest any parliament has gone in the fight against anorexia and its public portrayal.

The law is specifically aimed at what French MPs called pro-anorexia "propaganda" websites. These sites, loosely termed "pro-ana" often support anorexia as a lifestyle choice rather than a medical disorder, sometimes personifying the condition as a girl called "Ana". The blogs and forums, which have developed in the US since 2000 and grown in France over the past two years, often include talk-boards frequented mainly by teenage girls and young women with advice on how to get through the pain of extreme hunger after eating a yoghurt a day, or how to hide extreme weight-loss from parents or doctors. Some use pictures of excessively thin models as "thinspiration" for self-starvation.

The law, which will go before the French senate next month, allows judges to imprison and fine offenders up to €30,000 (£24,000) if found guilty of inciting others to seek to become dangerously thin by depriving themselves of food to an "excessive" degree. If a victim dies, the offender risks three years in prison and a €45,000 fine.

Last week French MPs, fashion industry leaders and advertisers signed a separate voluntary charter on promoting healthier body images after a long consultation following the anorexia-linked death of a Brazilian model in 2006. Spain banned ultra-thin models from catwalks in 2007.
But Valery Boyer, the centre-right MP who tabled the bill, said the voluntary charter did not go far enough.

It is not clear whether the proposed law could affect the fashion industry or fashion magazines over use of models who are extremely thin. In an interview with Associated Press, Boyer said the legislation, if passed, could enable a judge to punish those responsible for a magazine photo of a model whose "thinness altered her health". She said: "We have noticed that the socio-cultural and media environment seems to favour the emergence of troubled nutritional behaviour, and that is why I think it necessary to act."

The French health minister Roselyne Bachelot said the law would allow "a larger public debate" on anorexia and its 30,000 to 40,000 sufferers in France.

Opponents said the bill was too vague in defining "extreme thinness" and describing who might be punished for promoting it. Leftwing opposition MPs largely abstained from yesterday's vote.
Didier Grumbach, president of the French Federation of Couture, said he was not aware how broad the proposed legislation was, but opposed sweeping measures.

Mail raises cover price by 5p
Stephen Brook
guardian.co.uk,


The Daily Mail increased its price to 50p today - prompting rival title the Daily Express to accuse it of "staggering hypocrisy".

Associated Newspapers' flagship daily said its 5p price rise was due to higher fuel charges, printing, production and distribution costs.
"We remain committed to bringing you the best-value package available through continued investment in the highest quality journalism, bigger papers and colour on every page," the Mail said in a statement to readers on page 2 of today's paper.

The price rise means that the Mail is 10p more expensive than the Daily Express, a fact its middle market rival wasted no time in pointing out on its front page today.

"10p cheaper than the Daily Mail and 10 times better," the Express proclaimed, before launching a virulent attack on the Associated Newspapers flagship, also on page 2.

The Express labelled the Mail "hypocrites" for the price rise, while the paper is running a campaign against cost of living increases.
"With great fanfare, the Mail duly announced its cost of living index. Funny that. Mail bosses couldn't have picked a better moment, because from today they've added their own unwelcome boost to inflation by putting up the cost of the Daily Mail by 5p to 50p," the Express said.

"It's just another fine example of staggering hypocrisy. This is an organisation that campaigns against waste and plastic carriers yet every weekend it wraps magazines and supplements in pointless polythene bags.

"Day in, day out it produces thousands of trashy free newspapers which nobody wants and which clog up our streets and our public transport until they end up in a landfill site.

"The Daily Express is not in the business of conning our readers with gimmicks and insincere campaigns. We promise to keep our 40p cover price for as long as is humanly possible because we know how much that means to you. The Daily Express is honest and offers the best value. And right now, that really counts."

On Saturdays, the Daily Mail remains 70p, while the Mail on Sunday costs £1.50