Each year since 1984, Interbrand, the largest brand consultancy firm in the world, has compiled “the list” of leading global brands based on three criteria: financial strength, ability of the brand to drive consumer selection and likelihood of ongoing revenue being generated by the brand. 

Published annually in partnership with BusinessWeek, Interbrand’s Best Global Brands report is hailed by business leaders as one of the three most influential benchmark studies conducted.  

Aside from the Consumer Brands which tend to stay in the lead, we thought it would be interesting to see what business-to-business brands made the Top 100 list in 2009.  Some things surprised even us.   

Top Consumer Brands for 2009               
#1 Coca Cola (still the uncontested leader)
#2 IBM (IBM’s brand value surpassed Microsoft’s in 2008 and held tight in 2009)
#3 Microsoft
#4 GE
#5 Nokia

Top B2B Brands on the List
#14 Cisco (Still a leader in network systems)
#27 SAP (SAP continued to invest in its brand during the economic downturn)
#45 Accenture (We can’t wait for the 2010 report on this one)
#47 Siemens
#66 CAT (No one mistakes the identity of Caterpillar yellow)

For a review of Interbrand’s full report, go to www.interbrand.com/best_global_brands_intro.aspx