• by Karlene Lukovitz  @KLmarketdaily, May 27, 2015

McDonald's, Coca-Cola and Budweiser are #1 within their categories of fast food, soft drinks and beer in the 2015 BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands ranking, compiled by Millward Brown and WPP.

Coca-Cola and McDonald's also made the top 10 within the overall global Top 100, ranking #8 and #9, respectively — although tech brands dominate the overall ranking (Apple, Google, Microsoft and IBM hold the top four positions). Marlboro was the only other consumer brand within the overall ranking's top 10. The combined value of all consumer and retail brands declined from 36% to 22% of the total value of the Top 100 over the past year, according to BrandZ's value estimates, while technology brands' combined value rose from 35% to 44% of the total value of the Top 100. 

Fast Food Leaders 

McDonald's may be struggling to revive its mojo in the U.S., and it did lose 5% of its global brand value since last year (its value now stands at $81.2 billion), but it has held the top global fast-food brand position for all 10 years that this research has been conducted.

Starbucks, Subway and KFC retained their respective second-, third- and fourth-place rankings from last year, and all three saw healthy increases in global brand value. Starbucks's value rose 14%, to $29.3 billion; Subway's rose 7%, to $22.6 billion; and KFC's rose 6%, to $12.7 billion.

Chipotle Mexican Grill saw the biggest change in brand value — up 44%, to $10.7 billion — and it moved up one place in the fast-food category rankings, to #5. 

Those ranked sixth through tenth, in order, are: Pizza Hut (+13%, to $8.5 billion); Tim Hortons (+13%, to $4.6 billion); Domino's Pizza ($3.8 billion); Burger King (+19%, to $3.2 billion); and Panera (+3%, to $3 billion). 

Domino's Pizza is new to the list; its brand value has risen by 900% over the past 10 years.

Panera lost two places in the rankings, and Pizza Hut lost one. Burger King, as well as Chipotle, gained one place.  

Soft Drink Leaders

Coca-Cola's global brand value rose 3%, to $70 billion, in the past year. 

The other brands in the top 10 within what BrandZ calls the "soft drinks" category are, in order: Diet Coke (+6%, to $13.8 billion); Red Bull (+5%, to $11.4 billion); Pepsi (+16%, to $10.8 billion); Nescafe (-5%, to $6.3 billion); Tropicana (+16%, to $6 billion); Fanta (+23%, to $6 billion); Sprite (+16%, to $5.3 billion); Nespresso (+5%, to $5.2 billion); and Gatorade (+14%, to $4.7 billion). 

Nespresso lost two places in the rankings, while Fanta and Sprite each gained one place.

Lipton, Minute Maid, Dr Pepper, Mountain Dew and Diet Pepsi hold the #11 through #15 rankings in this category.

Beer Leaders

Budweiser's global brand value rose 16%, to $13.8 billion, bumping it up one place to #1, and bumping Bud Light down to #2. Bud Light's brand value rose 3%, to $12.9 billion. 

The other brands in the top 10 within the beer category are, in order:

Heineken (+12%, to $9.7 billion); Stella Artois (+5%, to $8.7 billion); Skol (+20%, to $8.5 billion); Corona (+6%, to $8.5 billion); Guinness (-1%, to $5 billion); Brahma (+17%, to $4.2 billion); Coors Light and Modelo. The last two are on the list for the first time; their respective brand values are $3.9 billion and $3.6 billion. 

Brahma gained two places in the rankings, and Skol, as well as Budweiser, gained one place.

The BrandZ Top 100 Brand brand value calculations are based on a proprietary method that employs earnings for specific brands and comprehensive survey-based research measuring the strength of the consumer relationship with that brand. It is the only ranking that measures consumer brand perception along with financial data to calculate brand value, according to Millward Brown and WPP.