• by Karl Greenberg , November 13, 2014

In your sleep, you can probably name the top global brands, regardless of which order they're in and who did the survey on which the list is based. Depending on the study and with a few variations every year, the top 20 are pretty likely to be stuck up there playing musical chairs among themselves. And it’s a good bet that Microsoft, Google, Intel and Disney are going to have the best seats. 

APCO Worldwide has its own list, but in this case it's of the corporations that are championing their stakeholders most effectively. Yes, the 100 Champion Brands -- winnowed from 500 of the largest public and private corporate brands -- does indeed include the perennial kings of the hill, but with some shuffle: Microsoft, Intel, Google, Nestle and Disney are the top five; Apple is six and Amazon is 15th, above BMW and below Heinz. Nike is 17th. 

In APCO's study, which was done by its Insight market research division with the University of Virginia's Darden School of Business, the top brands exhibit exemplary performance in four areas: meeting stakeholders' most important expectations; acting in a way that is consistent with what the company says; forging deeper emotional connections between stakeholders and companies; and acting on behalf of stakeholders' interests to add value to society.

Following Disney, Apple, Philips, Honda, Sony, Adidas, HP, P&G, IBM, Heinz, Amazon, BMW, Nike, Levi Strauss, Colgate-Palmolive and Costco round out the top 20. 

Said Margery Kraus, founder and CEO of APCO Worldwide: "In order to be successful, great brands must recognize that they need to go beyond trust and be champions for their stakeholders before those stakeholders will champion them."

The research is based on a poll of 36,000 people in 14 global markets. Three-quarters of them say corporations have a bigger impact on their lives than they did a decade ago. But nearly 70% say that when they consider a corporation and its products, they want to know how the former operates in the world as much as what it sells. 

Nearly all who participated (94%) believe companies have the ability to shape a better society, and almost as many said that most companies exist to create value for multiple interests in society.

APCO Worldwide says the University of Virginia Darden School of Business' Institute for Business in Society is using the survey’s data and the Champion Brand model to discern attributes that Champion Brands share. The company says Darden and APCO will use the findings as diagnostics to predict impact to companies "that use Champion Brand as a guiding corporate brand strategy."