The list of the best brands in the world is here The Best Global Brands report by Interbrand is out
For the fourteenth consecutive year, Apple remains the most powerful brand in the world. It’s a phrase that sounds familiar, almost predictable, yet it captures better than any analysis the state of global branding in 2025. According to Interbrand’s latest Best Global Brands 2025 report, the combined value of the world’s 100 strongest brands has reached $3.6 trillion, marking a 4.4% increase from 2024. But behind that number lies a truth that goes beyond economics: today, the power of brands is no longer measured in material goods but in their ability to colonize everyday life.
The top 10 speaks for itself. After Apple, the podium is occupied by Microsoft (+10%) and Amazon (+7%), followed by Google and Samsung, which however recorded a 10% drop. Completing the first half of the ranking are Toyota, Coca-Cola, Instagram, McDonald’s and Mercedes-Benz. A list that highlights one key detail: eight of the top ten brands are American, and almost all of them belong to the tech universe. The only European brand is Mercedes, in decline, while the only Asian one is Samsung, also down.
Fashion has lost to tech
The dominance of technology is now so pervasive that fashion—once the guardian of prestige and dream codes—seems almost to have vanished from sight. Among the top twenty-five names, Louis Vuitton is the only fashion brand present, showing a 5% decline. You have to scroll down to the twenty-fourth position to find Chanel, while Gucci, Hermès and Dior rank even lower. For the first time in years, the luxury industry appears marginal in the global narrative of brand value.
This absence is not only economic but also symbolic. For decades, fashion built its power on the imaginary, on the idea of representing a possible world. Today, however, technology has taken its place: NVIDIA (+116%), YouTube (+61%) and Instagram (+27%) are not just service companies—they shape the daily rhythm of life for the vast majority of the global audience. NVIDIA most of all, as the driving force behind the artificial intelligence revolution, with its chips forming the backbone of new AI model development.
How do you become the most powerful brand in the world?
Apple continues to reign because it has managed to merge both dimensions: the symbolic allure of luxury and the functional strength of technology. Its language is esthetic, almost religious, but its infrastructure is real, tangible, and embedded in daily life. As the report highlights, it doesn’t just sell products—it sells experiences, identity, and belonging. It’s the same logic that Interbrand identifies in the most resilient companies: those capable of building a “competitive moat”, a symbolic trench protecting them from market volatility and digital standardization.
According to the report, the brands growing the fastest are those able to consolidate their role in people’s lives across five dimensions: identity, performance, experience, ecosystem, and leadership. It means being recognizable, reliable, engaging, integrated, and consistent. In a world where the customer journey is increasingly mediated by algorithms, only those perceived as indispensable will survive.
For fashion, this shift may be the biggest challenge yet. In a market increasingly dominated by data, artificial intelligence and digital distribution, luxury brands must rediscover their cultural function beyond aesthetics. Because if value is measured by a brand’s ability to shape reality, storytelling alone is no longer enough. Interbrand’s report ultimately captures a world where technology has become the new universal language of power, replacing the imagination of luxury with that of efficiency—transforming desire into function and culture into algorithm.
