Google is world's most powerful brand

Consulting firm Millward Brown released a new edition of its "Brandz Top 100 Most Powerful Brands" survey.

It reveals that Google is currently world's most powerful brand with a brand value of $66.4 billion. That's more than General Electric ($61.9 billion), Microsoft ($54.9 billion), Coca-Cola ($44.1 billion), Wal-Mart ($36.9 billion) and thousands of other companies.

The value Millward Brown Optimor assigns to corporate brands is based on a company's "intangible earnings," a metric derived from public financial data supplied by Bloomberg Datamonitor.

Millward Brown Optimor determines the portion of intangible earnings attributable to the company's most loyal users. It then projects this value forward based on "research-based loyalty data from the Brandz database," market valuations, the brand's risk profile, and its potential for growth.

"Intangible assets are things like brands, patents, human resources, and distribution networks," said Ove Haxthausen, a director at Millward Brown Optimor in New York. "Things that give you a competitive advantage."

The study reveals Google gained 77% brand value compared to a year ago while Microsoft lost 11%. The brands with the highest short-term growth rate were Google, Apple, Louis Vuitton, Starbucks, Porsche, eBay, Chanel, Hermes and Rolex.