Moisés Naím, contributor to the El País newspaper and director of Foreign Policy magazine, wrote a think piece entitled “How much is a name worth?” for the newspaper on April 27th in which he analysed the findings of Millward Brown’s recent study on the Top 100 Most Powerful Brands.

“According to the ranking, there are only three continents in the world: North America, Europe and Asia. Of the 100 most powerful brands, 52 are North American, 34 are European, 11 are Asian, two are Canadian and one is Russian (mobile operator MTS). Of the European brands, the only one to make the top 10 was Nokia, and there are four Spanish brands in the ranking (Banco Santander, BBVA, Zara and Telefónica Movistar)", wrote Naím.

Naím stresses the importance of brand value for some of the world’s largest companies and points to the paradox of Chinese brands, which have a high economic value without making any effort to enter other markets because of the sheer size of their own domestic market.

He also spoke about brands and piracy, stating that, in the future, brands will be better protected by the technology they use than anti-piracy laws themselves.