EXTRA: Qantas brand his Brand Australia

EXTRA: QANTAS may still be Australia’s most valuable brand, judging by estimates from valuation group Brand Finance – but as the Qantas star drops lower in the sky so does Australia’s.

According to the Brand Finance commentary, Qantas’ recent marketing and branding problems, stemming from the grounding of the fleet last year, are bad news for Brand Australia. 

“The national carrier flies the flag for Australia internationally,” the Brand Finance report said. “It is the first point of contact many visitors have with the country and its tailfins advertise Australia’s importance to travellers at airports worldwide.

“If Qantas were to fail, it would have a significant impact on attracting tourism, skilled people and investment to Australia.”

While Qantas is so important to Australian tourism and remains Australia’s most valuable airline brand, it has slipped further down the overall Australian brand rankings, from 14 to 17. Virgin Australia continues to close the gap, Brand Finance speculates, benefitting from recent rows over whether the Australian Government should step in.

The total value of Australia’s top 100 brands now stands at $117 billion, but some of Australia’s most iconic brands are faltering, revealed the Brand Finance report.

Woolworths still holds on to Australia’s top spot, with 44 percent growth last year bringing its total brand value to more than $12 billion.

Woolworths has extended its lead over rival supermarket superpower Coles by $2.3 billion. Coles had a fairly successful year, growing 25 percent to $7 billion, but with Woolworths powering ahead, ‘only’ $5 billion of brand value now separates the two, said Brand Finance.

TELSTRA PHONES HOME IN
Australia’s second most valuable brand is Telstra. Its brand value is up 59 percent, one of the fastest rates of growth of any Australian brand.

Telstra’s $9.3 billion brand value means that it has become one of the world’s top 20 most valuable telecoms brands for the first time.

The aggressive telecoms operator has retained its advantage in network coverage over Optus and continues to leverage its brand effectively through its triple-play and broadband offering. A 9.2 percent growth in profits has led to an increased Telstra dividend this year for the first time since 2006.
Telstra’s success has pushed BHP Billiton into third place. While brand value growth remains positive for BHP and many other mining brands, the pace of that growth is slowing amid concerns about a Chinese slowdown in infrastructure and housing development, speculated Brand Finance.

ANZ remains the most valuable bank brand in Australia at $6.6 billion. Brand Finance rationalised that ANZ’s ‘Asian strategy’ was proving successful – and ANZ sponsorship hit the jackpot this year with Li Na’s win at the Australian Open. An estimated 70 million Chinese viewers were exposed to the ANZ brand because of that single sponsorship.

Billabong continues to struggle, falling further to 75^th place in 2014 from 43^rd last year.

“The decision to write off the brand on the company’s balance sheet seems to have been premature to say the least,” said Brand Finance Australia director, Richard Haigh. “Billabong continues to attract investors willing to attempt a revival. Though weakened, there is undoubtedly value remaining.”
Leighton has been badly affected by corruption and bribery allegations, noted Brand Finance.

“Aside from the reputational impact, litigation also casts a shadow. Consequently its brand rating (a benchmark of the strength and future potential of the brand similar to a credit rating) has been downgraded to A+ and it has lost millions in brand value,” Brand Finance reported.

 

RETAIL BRANDS PRESSURED
According to the Brand Finance report, crowded and competitive retail space is seeing both Westfield and David Jones suffer.

Westfield’s sell off of several sites has compounded its brand value performance. It has fallen 15 places in the national rankings and lost $53 million in brand value.

David Jones is also down 15 places. A merger with rival Myer was earlier mooted and this has had an effect. Lately the most likely course for David Jones has been for shareholders to agree to a $2.2 billion takeover bid by South Africa’s Woolworths group, but Australian investor Solomon Lew is also in the mix, incressing his take.

Myer’s brand value is larger than David Jones’ and growing fairly rapidly – up by 37 percent this year – raising questions about the long term viability of the David Jones brand under such a joint partnership, Brand Finance observed.

VICTORIA TOPS THE STATE LIST
Victoria continues to hold off New South Wales as Australia’s top brand value by ‘state-of-origin’. Despite having fewer brands in Australia’s top 100, Victoria’s total is $57 billion, $9 billion ahead of and New South Wales, according to Brand Finance figures.
Victoria has continued to pull further ahead despite now having fewer brands in the table that New South Wales. Last time around Victoria had 40 brands in the table against New South Wales’s 39, this year the numbers have been reversed.
Western Australia has 11 brands in the top 100, ahead of fourth placed Queensland, with only seven brands. South Australia has three, while Tasmania, ACT and the Northern Territory have no brands valuable enough to make the Brand Finance Australia 100 list.

www.brandfinance.com

Total Brand Value by State

 

Rank	State	Brand Value 2014 (AUD bn)		No. of Brands 2014	Brand Value Change (AUD bn)	Brand Value Change (%)	Brand Value 2013 (AUD bn)	No. of Brands 2013
1	VIC	56.8	39		13.7	32%	43.1	40
2	NSW	47.6	40		12.2	35%	35.4	39
3	WA	6.2	11		1.5	30%	4.8	12
4	QLD	5.1	7		2.0	66%	3.1	6
5	SA	1.3	3		0.3	25%	1.1	3

 

Australia’s Most Valuable Brands

 

Rank 2014	Rank 2013	Brand	State	Brand Value 2014 (AUDm)	Brand Rating 2014	Brand Value Change (AUDm)	Brand Value Change (%)	Brand Value 2013 (AUDm)	Brand Rating 2013
1	1	Woolworths	NSW	12,124	AA+	3,694	44%	8,430	AA+
2	3	Telstra	VIC	9,300	AA+	3,465	59%	5,835	AA+
3	2	BHP Billiton	VIC	7,377	AA+	1,147	18%	6,230	AA
4	4	Coles	VIC	7,097	AA+	1,409	25%	5,688	AA
5	5	ANZ	VIC	6,638	AA+	1,022	18%	5,616	AA+
6	6	Commonwealth Bank	NSW	6,134	AA+	1,034	20%	5,099	AA+
7	7	nab	VIC	5,599	AA	802	17%	4,797	AA+
8	9	Westpac	NSW	5,491	AA+	1,535	39%	3,956	AA+
9	8	Rio Tinto	VIC	5,133	AA	1,142	29%	3,991	AA
10	10	Optus	NSW	3,998	AA+	1,134	40%	2,864	AA
11	11	Macquarie	NSW	2,520	AA-	332	15%	2,188	AA
12	15	Suncorp	QLD	2,107	AA-	864	70%	1,243	AA-
13	13	St. George	NSW	1,864	AA+	320	21%	1,544	AA+
14	12	QBE	NSW	1,805	AA-	204	13%	1,601	AA+
15		Devondale	VIC	1,650	AA-
16	*	Wesfarmers	WA	1,463	AA-	356	32%	1,107	AA
17	14	Qantas	NSW	1,456	AA+	149	11%	1,307	AA+
18	16	Crown	VIC	1,336	A+	131	11%	1,205	AA-
19	17	Bunnings	WA	1,269	AA-	198	19%	1,071	AA
20	*	Origin	NSW	1,149	AA-	275	31%	874	AA-
21	*	Woodside	WA	1,041	AA-	-524	-34%	1,566	AA
22	20	Virgin Australia	QLD	1,022	AA+	165	19%	858	AA
23		Flight Centre	QLD	973	A+
24	19	TATTS	VIC	923	A+	-57	-6%	980	A
25	*	Santos	SA	897	A+	-2	0%	900	AA-
26	22	Big W	NSW	873	AA	197	29%	676	AA
27	23	VB	VIC	791	AA	119	18%	672	AA
28	31	Toll	VIC	729	AA-	228	45%	501	A-
29	27	Target	VIC	723	AA	193	36%	530	A+
30	30	Bankwest	WA	719	AA	210	41%	509	AA-
31	48	BT Financial Group	NSW	700	AA+	390	125%	310	AA+
32	26	IGA	NSW	696	AA	161	30%	535	AA-
33	29	Colonial First State	NSW	678	AA	163	32%	515	AA
34	28	Office Works	VIC	659	AA-	133	25%	525	AA
35	25	MLC	VIC	649	AA-	96	17%	553	AA-
36	21	Westfield	NSW	633	AA-	-53	-8%	686	AA-
37	34	Myer	VIC	632	AA-	171	37%	461	A+
38	41	Kmart	WA	623	AA	214	52%	410	AA
39	32	AGL	VIC	622	AA-	152	32%	470	AA
40	38	JB-HiFi	VIC	599	A+	180	43%	419	A+
41		Oil Search	NSW	587	AA-
42	44	Jetstar	VIC	560	AA	178	47%	382	AA-
43	39	Computershare	VIC	554	AA-	138	33%	416	AA-
44	42	Harvey Norman	NSW	536	A+	144	37%	392	A+
45	*	AMP	NSW	514	AA	171	50%	343	AA
46	35	Worleyparsons	NSW	514	A+	72	16%	442	AA-
47	40	Boral	NSW	496	AA-	84	21%	412	AA-
48	33	David Jones	NSW	492	A	27	6%	464	A+
49	45	Foster's	VIC	463	AA-	113	32%	350	AA
50	58	Amcor	VIC	421	AA	181	75%	240	A+
51	37	Leighton	NSW	412	A+	-9	-2%	420	AA-
52	56	Sensis	VIC	406	A+	141	53%	265	A+
53	59	Seek	VIC	395	AA-	169	75%	226	A+
54		Challenger	NSW	373	A+
55	50	CSL	VIC	373	AA-	102	37%	271	A+
56		Bluescope Steel	VIC	369	A+
57		NRMA	NSW	367	AA
58	49	Lindemans	NSW	348	AA-	75	27%	273	A+
59	54	Bendigo Bank	VIC	339	AA	72	27%	267	AA-
60		Stockland	NSW	338	AA-
61	47	Thiess	QLD	336	A+	2	1%	333	AA-
62	62	Iinet	WA	326	AA-	129	65%	197	A
63	61	TPG Telecom	NSW	321	AA	115	56%	205	A
64		Sam Remo	SA	307	AA-
65	57	Lend Lease	NSW	300	A+	38	15%	262	AA-
66	55	Monadelphous	WA	280	A+	15	6%	265	A+
67	60	Pacific National	NSW	266	A	60	29%	206	AA-
68	53	UGL	NSW	265	A+	-5	-2%	270	AA-
69	69	CGU	VIC	259	AA-	113	77%	147	AA-
70	68	Swann	VIC	256	AA-	108	73%	148	AA-
71	72	IAG	NSW	249	AA-	129	108%	120	AA-
72	63	Bank Of Queensland	QLD	248	AA	60	32%	188	AA
73	51	John Holland	VIC	248	A+	-24	-9%	271	AA-
74	65	IOOF	VIC	243	AA-	88	57%	155	A+
75	43	Billabong	QLD	241	A+	-149	-38%	391	AA-
76	70	Skilled	VIC	240	A+	93	64%	147	A+
77	66	Incitec Pivot	VIC	223	AA-	72	48%	151	AA
78	64	Star City	VIC	200	A+	40	25%	161	A+
79	87	Aurizon	QLD	195	A+	125	177%	70	A+
80	36	Fortescue	WA	192	A+	-245	-56%	437	A+
81	84	M2	VIC	189	A+	114	151%	75	A
82	76	Brambles	NSW	163	AA+	50	44%	113	AA-
83		Dick Smith	NSW	161	A
84	77	Patrick	VIC	142	A+	31	28%	111	A+
85	78	ASX	NSW	135	AA	31	30%	104	AA+
86	74	Orica	VIC	134	A+	18	16%	116	AA-
87		Asciano	VIC	130	A
88	73	Adelaide Bank	SA	130	A+	13	11%	117	AA-
89	85	RACV	VIC	128	AA-	54	74%	73	AA-
90	79	Perpetual	NSW	122	A+	19	19%	103	A+
91	81	WFI	WA	111	AA-	23	26%	88	AA
92	80	OAMPS	WA	108	AA-	19	22%	89	AA
93	82	Wesfield Retail Trust	NSW	103	A+	18	22%	85	A+
94		Iluka Resources	WA	102	AA-
95	83	Talent2	NSW	97	A	21	28%	76	A
96	71	Newcrest	VIC	97	AA-	-25	-20%	122	AA-
97	92	Sonic Healthcare	NSW	95	A+	36	60%	60	A+
98	91	Platinum Asset Management	NSW	86	A	26	42%	61	A
99		SGIC	NSW	86	AA-
100	97	SGIO	NSW	86	AA-	36	73%	50	AA-

 

*Brands marked with an asterisk have had their values for 2013 restated.

ends

POSTED JULY 23, 2014