Brands
BrandZ launches Top 50 most valuable Indian brands
MUMBAI: Global research agency Millward Brown will announce the BrandZ Top 50 most valuable Indian brands 2014 on 19 August 2014.
Currently in its ninth year, the BrandZ Top 100 most valuable global brands study aims to create a new milestone with the launch of its first Indian edition, BrandZ Top 50 most valuable Indian brands. The rankings will be unveiled on 19 August in the presence of WPP CEO Sir Martin Sorrell and top executives of leading Indian companies.
The study will reveal key insights on trends in the Indian market by WPP companies across India, insights into how brands drive financial growth, the brands with the greatest potential for growth, the elements that have led to successful brand building in India and the way forward for building valuable brands in India. A highlight is the release of the list of top 50 most valuable Indian brands. The study analyses brands across various key business sectors including banking, automotive, telecom, personal and household care, foods, beverages, and insurance.
Millward Brown south Asia managing director Prasun Basu said, “BrandZ is a unique brand valuation methodology that has established a global credibility. This makes the BrandZ Top 50 Most Valuable Indian Brands the definitive and most robust ranking available. BrandZ approach starts with officially available financial information and scientifically attributes the contribution of consumer facing brands to business success, especially important in the context of large corporations, business houses or conglomerate brands. The stronger the relationship that a brand can build with consumers in its category, and is able to leverage those consumer connections, the more sustainable and profitable the brand becomes. Therefore, the Top 50 are reputable, successful engines of financial growth for the future of India”.
Millward Brown chief global analyst Nigel Hollis commented, “The BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands study has given marketers and brand managers deeper insights into their brands. Globally, the BrandZ study covers two million consumers and more than 10,000 different brands in over 30 countries. The Indian edition of BrandZ aims to enable brand owners to evaluate their brands, compare them with competitors around the globe, especially in a world where Indian brands have already demonstrated their ambitions to go global and make better-informed investment decisions. We hope that the study becomes a benchmark reference for brand insights in the market.”
Commissioned by WPP and carried out by Millward Brown, BrandZ valuations rankings are the only global rankings study that uses a unique brand valuation mechanism that combines officially released financial data and consumer-driven brand equity measurement to calculate brand value. The valuation study, which was introduced globally in 2006, in China in 2011 and Latin America in 2012, has seen a huge success and has received an overwhelming response in both markets as well as internationally .
Brands
Lululemon picks former Nike executive to be its next chief
Heidi O’Neill, who helped grow Nike into a $45 billion giant, will take the top job in September
CANADA: Lululemon has found its next chief executive, and she comes with serious credentials. The athleisure giant named Heidi O’Neill as its new CEO on Wednesday, ending a search that has left the company running on interim leadership since earlier this year. O’Neill will take charge on September 8, 2026, based out of Vancouver, and will join the board on the same day.
O’Neill brings more than three decades of experience across performance apparel, footwear and sport. The bulk of that time was spent at Nike, where she was a central figure in one of corporate sport’s great growth stories, helping take the company from a $9 billion business to a $45 billion global powerhouse. She oversaw product pipelines, brand strategy and consumer connections, and played a significant role in shaping how Nike spoke to athletes around the world. Earlier in her career, she worked in marketing for the Dockers brand at Levi Strauss. She also brings boardroom experience from Spotify Technology, Hyatt Hotels and Lithia and Driveway.
The board was unequivocal in its enthusiasm. “We selected Heidi because of the breadth of her experience, her demonstrated success delivering breakthrough ideas and initiatives at scale, and her ability to be a knowledgeable change and growth agent,” said Marti Morfitt, executive chair of Lululemon’s board.
O’Neill, for her part, was bullish. “Lululemon is an iconic brand with something rare: genuine guest love, a product ethos rooted in innovation, and a global platform still in the early stages of its potential,” she said. “My job will be to accelerate product breakthroughs, deepen the brand’s cultural relevance, and unlock growth in markets around the world.”
Until she arrives, Meghan Frank and André Maestrini will continue as interim co-CEOs, before returning to their previous senior leadership roles once O’Neill steps in.
Lululemon is betting that a Nike veteran who helped build one of the world’s most powerful sports brands can do something similar for an athleisure label that has genuine love from its customers but is still chasing its full global potential. O’Neill has done it before at scale. The question now is whether she can do it again.
