Score big for plastic – Lego has replaced Ferrari as the world’s most powerful brand. The Danish toymaker ranked number one in this year’s edition of the annual list complied by leading brand valuation experts Brand Finance, replacing Ferrari, which dropped to ninth place.
The Italian automaker has ruled the roost since 2013 when it topped the list, and it was again ranked as the world’s most powerful brand last year. The massive drop down the list is therefore quite spectacular, and for the Prancing Horse and its owners, a bit of a blow to prestige.
As Brand Finance puts it, Ferrari remains a very strong brand (brand value actually increased by 18% this year), but the hold it has is slowly diminishing – the increasing number of years without an F1 title has meant that the sheen of glory from its 1990s golden era is beginning to wear thin.
It remains to be seen if the planned increase in production volumes for its road cars will aid branding rather than saturate it further – Luca di Montezemolo kept a strict cap on production to maintain the exclusivity of the brand, but since his departure, chairman Sergio Marchionne has suggested that this policy will be relaxed to boost revenues, and the danger of over-exploitation is always there.
Lego, meanwhile, has no such issues to contend with – more is indeed better. In a tech-saturated world, parents have definitely approved of the back-to-basics creativity Lego encourages. Perception in the brand has been incredibly strong, and the highly successful The Lego Movie helped cement things further. No toying around with them humble plastic bricks, then.
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i like LEGO
pwc? mckinsey? seriously?….. no wonder i could makan so much duit last time…
Lego appeal has also widened through it’s succesful video games which have been a major contributor to their no 1 position IMHO. Also adding technology to it’s bricks has brought it into the modern world rather than relying on their back to basics product which admitedly always maintained a strong prescence in the market. But diversification is the reason for their increased success, not their traditional product.
when i was a kid, i love to build the a car, city or any collection that use of Lego bricks
but today, i am now collecting GUNPLA aka Gundam plastic
Grew up playing LEGO, the first set bought by my dad when I was around 5 or 6, back in the 90s. And I still have most of my LEGO sets, now combined to build a tower crane.
Should buy LEGO to our (future) kids, helps with their creativity and basic mechanical knowledge.
And one more thing, I think LEGO would be an awesome sponsors for any motorsport team (F1, GT Racing, 24Hr Endurance Racing etc).
I, too grew up playing with LEGO back in the late ’60s and early ’70s… Yup, they’ve been around for a long time…
Well, the Ferrari F1 car in 2013 did have a Lego inspired stepped nose.
Surprisingly, Apple & Google is not in that list. The fact that Lego rules is really nice in a world of gadgets like iphones, ipads. And look at that, Rolex is in that list too. Again, another sign that mechanical things are still valued by people.
Proton’s brand rating?
Wow! Awesome Ford Lego bricks…
lego? who cares.
Lego is better toy for kids than touch-screen devices like iPads.
In Malaysia, there are a lot of “pirated lego” blocks made in China….
Cheap but nasty stuff…
As a parent, I dare say that the availability of cheap bricks China has actually increased the brand’s power, because almost everyone refer to them as “Lego” as well. As any family grows in affluence, most will aspire to buy the real deal once they can afford it. To the uninitiated, these imitation bricks are not only available in third world countries but popular in Europe as well.
Now, seeing what imitation toys can do to increase a brand’s power; I wonder whether it can increase a car brand’s power? More Chinese knockoff cars, anyone?