Slightly off-topic, but likely worth a look to anyone with a vested interest in how the global economy fares (which means pretty much everyone reading this blog):
Millward Brown Optimor has compared the financial performance of its list of most valuable brands - you know, the one that pegs Google to be the most valuable at
a whopping $100 billion - with the
S&P 500 as a whole.
The analysis shows the top 100 brands, which Millward Brown refers to as the BrandZ Portfolio and includes many technology companies like Apple, Vodafone, Microsoft, Nokia, BlackBerry, Intel and others, are recovering from the recession at a faster pace than the market. As the chart above shows, the most valuable global brands have been outperforming the S&P 500 for a number of years now but show a much faster recovery from the recession than the market in recent months.
TechCrunch50 Conference 2009: September 14-15, 2009, San Francisco
