• by Tanya Gazdik , February 7, 2017

After five years atop the list, Apple has lost its number one spot to Alphabet partly due to Google’s increasing dominance and Apple’s slowing sales. 

The eighth annual Davis Brand Capital 25 ranking is a global study of overall brand performance, evaluating companies’ abilities to successfully manage brand value, competitive performance, innovation strength, company culture and social impact.

Apple came in second, followed by Microsoft, IBM and General Electric.

Technology -- specifically artificial intelligence -- is spread across multiple industries.

Automotive brands, including Toyota (number six) and Ford (15th) made strides in autonomous vehicle programs. Alphabet’s Google Home and Amazon’s Echo (10th) brought accessible AI into consumers’ daily lives, while Citigroup (24th) explored machine-learning algorithms in banking.

Industry rivals had a decisive shakeout on the 2016 list. Daimler AG (7th) beat its Bavarian rival, BMW AG (12th), largely due to the Mercedes-Benz nameplate. Coca-Cola (13th) outperformed PepsiCo (16th), settling the 2016 cola wars.

The retail landscape shifted in 2016, with LVMH and Walmart falling off the list entirely, and CVS Health (22nd) making its debut. Procter & Gamble (8th), Johnson & Johnson (14th) and Nestlé S.A. (19th) all secured positions on 2016’s list, signaling a strong consumer mainstream.

“We believe a comprehensive view of brand is most valuable today,” said Patrick T. Davis, founder and chief executive officer at Davis Brand Capital, in a release. “How talent values employer brands is just as important as how shoppers may prefer one consumer brand more than another. Now, the social impact of a brand is just as important as the financial strength of a brand. Great companies with great brand managers know this, and grow their brand capital across a full spectrum of factors and audiences.”