Interbrand announces Best Japan Brands 2020

 
Tokyo, Japan February 18, 2020.- Interbrand Japan, Japan’s biggest branding company (headquartered in Shibuya, Tokyo, President & CEO: Masahito Namiki) has announced Best Japan Brands 2020, a ranking of Japanese brand values using unique Brand Valuation methods to convert the brand value into monetary value.


Starting this year, which marks the 12th time these rankings have been announced, the two ranking systems of Japanese Global Brands (international sales ratio 30% or more) and Domestic Brands (international sales less than 30%) have been combined for Best Japan Brands 2020, which ranks the Top 100 brands by value. 

“A common point seen among brands with high growth in this ranking was an effort to emphasize the customer’s brand experience, such as SHISEIDO FOREST VALLEY from Shiseido, Nintendo TOKYO from Nintendo, BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment Festival from BANDAI NAMCO, and Maison KOSÉ from KOSÉ,” said Masahito Namiki, President & CEO, Interbrand Japan. “These brands have succeeded in building loyalty by giving the customer a deeper understanding of the brand, and creating attachment and fondness for the brand, through experiencing the world of the brand themselves. Providing brand experiences that meet or exceed the expectations of what customers truly seek contributes to increased brand value.” 
Best Japan Brands uses the same valuation methods used in Best Global Brands, a global brand value ranking Interbrand has announced every year since 2000, and investigates brand value in terms of business assets using global standards by comparing the value of Japanese brands and leading global brands using the same system of measurement.


Overview of Best Japan Brands 2020

The environment in which brands operate is changing faster than ever. Business practices that create results by listening to latent customer needs and providing a brand experience that meets or exceeds those expectations are increasingly the key to achieving sustainable corporate growth.
The year-on-year growth rate for the total overall brand value of the global brand ranking Best Global Brands 2019, announced last autumn, was +5.6%. This year, of the 80 brands in Best Japan Brands 2020 that also appeared in the Best Japan Brands ranking last year, the year-on-year growth rate was +0.9%, showing slower growth for Japanese brands.

Among the Best Japan Brands, the total brand value for Global Brands (brands with 30% international sales or more) had a year-on-year growth rate of +2.5%, whereas the total brand value for Domestic Brands (brands with less than 30% international sales) was -2.7%. The 57 Global Brands were also listed on the Top 100 Japanese Brands, meaning that these Global Brands are the driving force behind the growth of Japanese brands.
Looking at the overall ranking by industry, there were 12 financial brands, 11 retail brands, 10 automotive brands, 10 electronics brands, 7 cosmetics brands, accounting for more than half of the total ranking at 50 brands.

Continuing from last year, cosmetic and toiletry brand growth were significant, with Shiseido showing the highest growth rate (17th place, +23% from last year), fifth fastest-growing brand KOSÉ (37th place, +14% from last year), and Kao (20th place, +9% from last year).
Domestic Brands with high brand value continued to include telecommunications brands such as NTT DOCOMO, SoftBank, and au, as well as food industry brands such as Suntory, Asahi, and Kirin.

See the full ranking here

Methodology


Interbrand’s methodology for evaluating brand value is based on the brand’s financial strength, influence on purchasing decisions, and contribution of future earnings. In the same way that securities analysts analyze and evaluate the value of a company, we analyze and evaluate the value of a brand by asking, “What is its future earning potential?” This methodology has been certified compliant with the ISO 10668, the global standard for measuring the monetary value of brands as established by the International Organization for Standardization. The evaluation is made up of the following three specific analyses:

  1. Financial Performance: Project the company’s future earnings
  2. Role of Brand: Derive the brand’s contribution to profits
  3. Brand Strength: Evaluate the brand’s contribution to future earnings

 
About Interbrand Japan

Interbrand Japan was established in 1983̶historically the third office in Interbrand’s global network, following London and New York. Interbrand Japan provides a full suite of services to various Japanese organizations and associations from Japanese and foreign-owned enterprises to governmental offices and agencies. Please visit https://www.interbrandjapan.com/ja/index.html to learn more.
 
For more information, please contact:

Interbrand Japan
Masamichi Nakamura, Motofumi Yamamuro, Kayo Okamoto, Manami Saito
Tel: 03-5448-1200 Fax: 03-5448-1052 / Email: [email protected]