IBM, Microsoft Top Tech Brands; Apple, Google Behind

(MoneyWatch)  CoreBrand, which has been measuring corporate brand and financial performance for years, pulled together for us the top ten technology brands. Whether measured as perception of brand strength or as the contribution that brand makes to market cap, you may find some of the results surprising.

The first list is a measure of what CoreBrand calls brand power. There are a few caveats. The list does not include consumer electronics or telecom companies, which CoreBrand treats as separate categories.

Also, the ratings for this category are based on surveys of industry-aware people in the U.S. with long memories -- people who, for example, remember John Scully as well as Steve Jobs when talking about Apple. "They are analogous to the retailer investor audience, people who buy and sell their own portfolios," Robinson says. "They understand the role of finance and image. That naturally takes out some of the fadness of the iPhone and other high profile products."

Here's CoreBrand's list of the top ten tech companies in terms of brand power.

1. IBM Corporation
2. Microsoft Corporation
3. Toshiba Corporation
4. Texas Instruments Incorporated
5. Yahoo! Inc.
6. Motorola Inc.
7. Apple Inc.
8. Dell Computer Corporation
9. Hewlett-Packard Company
10. Google Inc.

I found the results a bit surprising. Although I know TI and Toshiba have good reputations, I'd never have guessed that they, or Motorola, would appear as having stronger brand than Apple or Google. According to CoreBrand managing director Timothy Robinson, the explanation comes from both the long-term outlook of the people surveyed and the size of the audiences that the various companies reach:

When we look at companies like Apple, at companies like IBM that recovered from a fall in the 90s, or even companies like Microsoft that, let's face it, are companies that people love to hate, it's important to understand the role your brand plays in reaching out to all of your customers, and not just the fad media news that happens. The short-term media blitz is important, but that's not a 20 year business strategy. The brand should be thought of as a long-term business strategy if you want it to drive long-term market cap value. The second thing we think about is it's not just how intensely loyal an audience is. The Apple fans are intensely loyal. But Microsoft or IBM has a far larger image base.

To use a food analogy, a top restaurant in New York City will have quality of food, presentation, and service that far surpass what McDonald's can provide. But the latter has those billions and billions of burgers and people it serves. The power of brand is a combination of quality and size.

Apple is really hip and happening, and we interpret that as the quality of their brand. -- In the world of technology, Apple's share is, what, five percent? Six percent? IBM, Microsoft, and Dell will have a bigger audience. Maybe not as rabid of a fan base, but you have to think about the size of that audience.

The list is also a snapshot. Apple has been expanding its reach, and Google has been proving itself a phenomenon. "Google has come from nowhere to in the top ten in the last four years," Robinson says. "That's really unheard of."

Another measure of brand is an estimated percentage of a company's market cap that it represents. From that view, there's a different top ten list.

1. IBM Corporation
2. Microsoft Corporation
3. Yahoo! Inc.
4. Apple Inc.
5. Texas Instruments Incorporated
6. Dell Computer Corporation
7. eBay Inc.
8. Google Inc.
9. Hewlett-Packard Company
10. Earthlink Inc.

For those at the very top, the percentage is in the high teens. The power of Apple's brand is more apparent, and Google also shows better on this list. But Earthlink? A brand built on the dial-up heritage, but that is now more vulnerable.

Cattle branding image via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.