In business, branding is everything. From humble sari-sari stores to multinational conglomerates, the brand is arguably a business' most important asset. It's literally how people recognize the enterprise and provides a unique identity that eventually encourages customer loyalty. This is why businesses should do all they can to polish and protect their brand.
The folks at London-based brand valuation consultancy firm Brand Finance released its 2023 report ranking the most valuable brands in the Philippines earlier this week. The company defines brand value as "the net economic benefit that a brand owner would achieve by licensing the brand in the open market."
Based on brand Finance's own independent study, telecom giant PLDT is the country's most valuable brand for the second year running. The Manny Pangilinan-controlled company benefited from a two percent increase in its brand value to reach $2.6 billion (about P141 billion). The report highlighted how PLDTcaptured a higher market share of the fiber industry in the past year, which led to a 45 percent improvement in year-on-year revenue.
PLDT was the top brand in Brand Finance's inaugural most valuable brands in the Philippines list in 2022. In second place last year was telco rival Globe Telecom which was worth $2.075 billion. Unfortunately, it slid to third place this year, with its brand value falling two percent to an even $2 billion.
Leapfrogging over Globe to land at number two this year is the Sy family's BDO, which recorded a 49 percent increase in its value from last year, from $1.453 billion to $2.2 billion. Brand Finance noted the particularly strong performance of the banking sector and the consequent rise of the brand values of some of the country's biggest banks. Besides BDO, also making considerable advances are Bank of the Philippine Islands or BPI, whose brand value is up eight percent to $1.3 billion, good enough for number five; and the Ty family's Metrobank at number six, its brand value rising four percent to $1.1 billion.
Five other banks also made it to Top 20 list: Union Bank of the Philippines at 10th place and brand value at $557.28 million, Security Bank (13th, $331.44 million), Chinabank (16th, $278.29 million), RCBC (18th, $246.02 million), and Philippine National Bank (19th, $234.69 million).
Jollibee was the fastest-growing brand in the rankings, with its brand value rising 53 percent to $1.6 billion, enough to land it three rungs higher to 4th place.
Others in the Top 10 most valuable brands in the Philippines are Meralco (7th, $900 million); Petron (8th, $689 million); and Puregold (9th, $623 million). Both Petron and Puregold are making it to the list for the first time.
Included in the Top 20 are Bear Brand, SM Prime, Security Bank, Ayala Land, Converge ICT, Chinabank, Philippine Airlines, and Cebu Pacific.
Strongest brands in the Philippines
Meanwhile, Brand Finance also published a second list that ranks what it believes are the country's strongest brands, which is based on "a balanced scorecard of metrics evaluating marketing investment, stakeholder equity, and business performance.
"Compliant with ISO 20671, Brand Finance's assessment of stakeholder equity incorporates original market research data from over 150,000 respondents in 38 countries and across 31 sectors," the company said.
In this ranking, Globe took the top spot with a score of 87.1 out of 100, making it the country's strongest Filipino brand. At number two is BDO, with a score of 86.5, followed by Cebu Pacific with 81.0, BPI at 80.3, and Bear Brand with 79.9.
Completing the Top 10 are PLDT (with a score of 78.0), Meralco (77.8), Metrobank (77.77), Unionbank (75.7), and Philippine Airlines (73.2).
"This year, we would like to congratulate PLDT, Globe Telecom and Jollibee for topping Brand Finance's Top 20 Philippines brands rankings as our most valuable, strongest and fastest growing brand respectively," said Alex Haigh, Brand Finance's managing director for Asia Pacific. "We also see success in the nation's banking sector, as banking brands' investments to digitalise and improve customer experience have resulted in brand value growth across all brands in the sector."
Brand Finance was also responsible for the City Index List 2023, which ranked the world's top cities based on brand perception. Manila ranked 82nd out of 100 cities, with a score of 58.3 out of 100.
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