In the first week of January, in a special report in Actualidad Económica, the international branding consultancy, Interbrand, published the list of Spanish brands with the greatest financial value in 2007. Movistar topped the list with a brand value of 12.2 billion euros. Among the ten most valuable Spanish brands, nine are linked to the Leading Brands of Spain Forum. Other members of the Forum also occupy important rankings in the list drawn up by Interbrand.

 

The two large banks, Santander and BBVA, occupy the second and third places with respective brand values of 9.4 and 7.7 billion euros, followed very closely by Telefónica (6.2) and Zara (4.1). Other members of the Forum, such as El Corte Ingés, La Caixa, Repsol, Mango, Iberdrola and Iberia are among the most valuable Spanish brands. Of the top five Spanish brands, Zara is the only one that appears in the worldwide ranking of the one hundred most valuable brands in the world, also compiled by Interbrand. The other top four Spanish brands – Movistar, Santander, BBVA and Telefónica – are not listed in this international classification owing to the fact that they do not have a global presence – which is an Interbrand requirement for this classification. Zara, however, is operating in four continents.

 

BEST SPANISH BRANDS 2.007

Position	Brand	Sector	Brand value (million €)
1	Movistar	Telecommunications	12.236
2	Santander	Financial Services	9.362
3	BBVA	Financial Services	7.736
4	Telefónica	Telecommunications	6.185
5	Zara	Fashion	4.112
6	El Corte Inglés	Distribution	1.930
7	La Caixa	Financial Services	1.594
8	Banco Popular	Financial Services	1.516
9	Repsol	Energy	721
10	Mango	Fashion	702
11	Mahou	Drinks	674
12	Iberdrola	Energy	670
13	Caja Madrid	Financial Services	551
14	Banco Sabadell	Financial Services	515
15	Iberia	Transport	413
16	Mercadona	Distribution	398
17	Bancaja	Financial Services	394
18	El País	Media	376
19	Banesto	Financial Services	370
20	Endesa	Energy	345
21	Prosegur	Security	340
22	Mapfre	Financial Services	324
23	Real Madrid	Leisure and Sports	299
24	Damm	Drinks	294
25	Roca	Construction materials	272
26	NH Hoteles	Hotel and catering	254
27	Bankinter	Financial Services	239
28	F.C. Barcelona	Leisure and Sports	232
29	Acciona	Construction	213
30	Telepizza	Hotel and catering	211

 

Interbrand mentioned the strong change in direction taken by Movistar in April 2005 when the company changed the Movistar image across the world, taking advantage of the acquisition of telephony assets from the US company BellSouth in eleven countries in Latin America. The consultancy company highlighted the fact that Movistar has a “communication style that combines feelings and functionality with a strong focus on the open character of the brand and on the benefits of being with the leading operator”.

 

In short, as Jaime Martín, Strategy and Evaluation Manager of Interbrand, states “Spanish brands are gaining a growing importance, as can been seen by calculating the total value of the 30 brands in the ranking of Best Spanish Companies 2007. The total exceeds 53 billion euros – a figure equivalent to the GDP of countries such as Morocco or Croatia”.

 

To prepare this biennial ranking, Interbrand first selected 200 brands to evaluate and then applied a series of criteria. Three such criteria were that the brand should have one hundred percent Spanish origins, the public financial information should be available and the brand should have a positive EVA (Economic Value Added). The brand evaluation methodology used by Interbrand looks at the economic strength of brands, the importance of the consumer’s purchase motives and the potential income that the brand can generate.