According to a survey by Interbrand, one of the world's largest global branding consultancies, banks are the most valuable brands in Brazil nowadays. Itaú leads the ranking, with a brand worth 8.076 billion Brazilian reais (US$ 4.515 billion). Compare this to 1.34 billion (US$ 578 million), what the brand was worth just 2 years ago.
Bradesco bank is a close second, being valued at 7.922 billion reais (US$ 4.429 billion) while state bank Banco do Brasil is third with a 7.772 billion (US$ 4.345 billion) value.
This is a tendency in Brazil, as Alexandre Zogbi, an expert in brands explains: "Banks in Brazil are champions in profitability and the brand choice matters a lot to the customer, who wants security."
According to Interbrand, the key criteria used in the survey were: a majority of the company's capital is in the hands of Brazilians, the firm is listed on an exchange or regularly publishes financial information in the market, and the company interacts with end consumers and reports positive financial results.
Interbrand, one of the world's largest branding consultancies, is responsible for the annual ranking "The Best Global Brands," in partnership with financial publication Business Week. No Brazilian company appears in its world's best brands.
State-controlled oil multinational Petrobras appears in fourth place. The brand went up two position from last year reaching 5.738 billion reais (US$ 3.208 billion). The company left behind beauty products firm Natura and beer manufacturer Skol.
A question of methodology has eliminated these two brands as well as others like Antarctica and Brahma, both beer and soft drink makers. These brands didn't lose value, but the entry of foreign capital in the companies makes them unelegilble to the Interbrand classification.
Unibanco is another success story. The bank went up from ninth to fifth place, being now valued at 4.341 billion reais (US$ 2.427 billion).
Despite a plane crash that left 199 dead earlier this year, airline Tam appears in 8th place, valued at 881 million reais (US$ 493 million) two positions better than in 2005. Gol, who was eighth in the list, is not part of the ranking anymore.
On the other hand, CVRD (Companhia Vale do Rio Doce), Usiminas and Gerdau, all from the metallurgy sector, which were not part of the list in the past, have now entered it.
