Ninety-year-old Lego is the fifth strongest brand in the world | Photo Credit: cjmacer

Each year, I look forward to the report on the world’s most valuable and strongest brands, published by Brand Finance, a respected brand valuation consultancy firm. Here are some of the top conclusions of the 2026 report:

Apple remains the world’s most valuable brand, while Tata retains its top spot in India. Both these iconic brands have strengthened their valuations this year, through a consistent focus on their core purpose and by enhancing the trust and love they have earned among millions of customers.

Nvidia’s brand value has more than doubled since last year, and it is now the fifth most valued globally. This is an amazing rise in a single year, making it more valuable than Facebook and Walmart. Clearly, Nvidia’s rise signals the age of artificial intelligence, which is now upon us.

Of the top eight — Apple, Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Nvidia, Tik Tok, Walmart and Samsung — seven are native technology brands, with Walmart being the sole exception.

The report also lists the world’s “strongest” brands, which is quite different from the “most valuable” brands. These brands enjoy the strongest brand perception, which leads to the best outcome on customer behaviour. The five strongest brands are YouTube, WeChat, Microsoft, Google and Lego.

While many of these headlines are not surprising, I would like to dwell on some of the traditional brands — such as Lego, Walmart, Deloitte and Michelin — that truly surprised me with their resilience and strength in a world dominated by the rise and rise of AI.

Lego is more than 90 years old, yet this toy maker holds its own as the fifth strongest brand in the world. It draws high admiration and enjoys a huge reputation. How does a toy brand manage this? First, it appeals both to children and adults, through toy sets of different complexities. As the Brand Finance report points out, familiarity of toy brands generally falls among older groups. Defying this trend, Lego has a familiarity of 86 per cent even among 55- to 64-year-olds. To bolster this inter-generational appeal, Lego has developed strategic partnerships with popular brands such as Ferrari and Harry Potter. It has also built deep emotional links with its customers, based on the timeless human desires of creativity, imagination and joy. Here is a case-study in marvellous brand reinvention, particularly given that Lego was virtually bankrupt just about 20 years ago.

Walmart is not as old as Lego, but still grey-haired at 64. Until around 15 years ago, it was slotted in our minds as a “traditional retailer” in a world overtaken by e-commerce. However, Walmart has evolved to become even more robust during the past few years. It began life with a hugely appealing consumer value proposition of “everyday low prices”, backed by a strong supply chain and economies of scale. In the past decade, it also added “convenience” through its successful e-commerce business, powered by a treasure trove of data and thousands of its own stores as fulfilment centres. Its market capitalisation recently touched an astronomical $1 trillion.

Marketers may wish to study what has contributed to the continuing strength of traditional brands.

A big takeaway for me from the Brand Finance report is that, while native digital and AI brands currently enjoy a tailwind, the stars of our brand universe include many traditional names that have built and evolved sharp and compelling customer value propositions. In the final analysis, this is what matters the most.

(Harish Bhat is an avid marketer and bestselling author)

Published on April 6, 2026