Vodafone tops Kantar BrandZ UK rankings

The BrandZ Top 75 Most Valuable UK Brands Ranking valued Vodafone at £18.9bn, a 13% fall on the 2019 rankings, but still the most valuable brand in the UK.

HSBC bank was in second, valued at £15.3bn, and oil firm Shell was third with a £13.1bn valuation. The rest of the top ten were in order: energy company BP; BT; beverage firm Lipton; telecommunication provider Sky; Tesco supermarkets; personal care brand Dove; and mobile phone provider O2.

The fastest growing brand was the online supermarket Ocado, which rose in value by 63% to £2.7bn and 18th place in the rankings.

Food delivery businesses Just Eat ( 20th place) and Deliveroo ( 29th) also grew 19% and 40% respectively to valuations of £2.2bn and £1.6bn.

The value of the top UK brands overall fell 15%, or £26bn, since 2017, but this was at a lower rate than the FTSE 100 during the same period.
But the last year has seen the top 75 brands lose 13% of their value, which is behind projections for the global economy.

Jane Bloomfield, chief growth officer at Kantar UK, said that high-performing brands have been an exception in a UK economy affected by Brexit and Covid-19.

“Many of our UK Top 75 continue to trade on size and stature, which is a precarious position in a highly competitive global landscape,” she added.

“A lack of innovation and differentiation leaves them exposed as household budgets fall and consumers re-evaluate brand choices, often permanently switching to new brands they have found during the pandemic.

“No brand is too big or too well known to fail in the current climate. Understanding the drivers of brand growth and acting on them quickly is business critical.”