Apple placed third in the fifth annual Millward Brown Optimor BrandZ Top100 Most Valuable Global Brands ranking (http://www.millwardbrown.com/Sites/mbOptimor/Ideas/BrandZTop100/BrandZTo...) released today. It ranks behind Google and IBM, but is ahead of Microsoft.

When most key financial indicators plummeted, the value of the top 100 brands rose by four percent in the last year to more than US$2 trillion. The BrandZ Top 100, commissioned by WPP, is the only valuation in the world that takes into account customers’ opinions on brands and demonstrates this with a dollar value.

“In the past, many companies were quick to cut their marketing spend during a down economy,” says Joanna Seddon, CEO of Millward Brown Optimor.  “A new trend has emerged in the wake of the recession as more companies realized the importance of maintaining and even increasing budgets to support brand loyalty and engagement.”

Technology brands demonstrated their pervasiveness in our daily lives. Google leads as the Most Valuable Global Brand worth $114 billion. IBM was second at $86 billion, an increase of 30%. In third place, Apple’s brand value grew by 32% and is now worth $83 billion, Microsoft was fourth with a value of $76 billion.

“This ranking has elevated the importance of building brands among some of the world’s most successful companies," says Millward Brown Global CEO Eileen Campbell, Global. "CEOs and CFOs around the world should be asking their brand and marketing teams how they can leverage brand to both protect and grow the business.”