Asia’s Top 1000 Brands 2014: Samsung holds on, Sony tops Apple

Produced in collaboration with Nielsen and conducted annually since 2004, the Asia's Top 1000 Brands survey is the region's most comprehensive ranking of brands on the region, country and sector level. The 2014 edition of the survey is online at campaignasia.com/top1000 and appears in the June print issue of Campaign Asia-Pacific (available in e-magazine form to subscribers).

The interactive Asia's Top 1000 Brands site allows subscribers to view the complete Top 1000 ranking (which includes adspend data for the Top 100 brands), explore the 10 prior years of Top 1000 rankings and even pit two brands against each other in an interactive comparison.

In coming weeks, we will be releasing lists of the Top 100 brands in the individual markets covered in the research: Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam. In addition, the Top 1000 site will showcase a wealth of insight and analysis about the sectors and brands in the survey, by both Campaign's editorial staff and industry contributors.  

Sony regained second position after conceding to Apple in last year’s survey. Samsung came top in 10 of the 13 markets surveyed (Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines). Sony came top in Taiwan and Vietnam as well as its home market Japan.

The top 10 brands continued to give little ground. Six are technology brands (five highly active in the smartphone category). Nestlé remained the only FMCG brand to make the top 10. Nike, Adidas and Chanel also remained in the top tier.

Asia's Top 1000 Brands 2014: Top 1000 ranking Adspend for Top 100 Rankings back to 2004 Top 100 in 13 specific markets Interactive comparisons Analysis and commentary Explore now >>

Observers have noted Apple’s shortage of innovation this year, and this appears to have dealt the brand a blow. Looking ahead, the company’s US$3 billion acquisition of Beats promises to break the status quo. At the same time, Sony has shown resilience despite posting a major financial loss for the fourth year in a row. In May, it reported a loss of $1.3 billion in the last quarter. The company is undeniably down, but the rankings indicate the brand is not yet out.

Samsung’s position is also not unassailable. Smartphones account for three quarters of its consumer-electronics business, but in April it reported a 4 per cent drop in mobile phone sales. It also faces increasingly strong competition from brands such as Xiaomi that can produce good quality products at more competitive prices—although Xiaomi is a long way off joining the survey’s top 10.

Further down the rankings, luxury brands performed well. Rolls Royce, The Peninsula and Hermes jumped by at least 40 places. In the mass market, Uniqlo continued to rise, jumping 129 places. Garuda, which last year staged a major new branding campaign in an effort to restore a tarnished image, also bounced back. Last year it was almost out of the ranking entirely, but this year it jumped 420 places to 545, as more established brands Cathay and Singapore Airlines both fell 15 and 20 places respectively.