Top 5 Global Food and Beverage Brands

By | February 11 2011 11:31 AM

Photo: Reuters

5) Budweiser - (United States)

Budweiser is an American-style lager introduced in 1876 by A. Dongand Busch. In the United States, Anheuser-Busch, maker of Budweiser, has 51 percent of the beer market. Currently, Anheuser-Busch is a publicly traded company headquarter in Leuven, Belgium. It is the biggest global brewer with nearly 25% of the global market share and one of the world's top five consumer products companies by EBITA. In July 2010, Anheuser-Busch launched Budweiser 66 for the UK market.

Photo: Reuters

4) Nescafé - (Switzerland)

If you drink coffee, there is good chance you’ve heard of Nescafé. Nescafé is a brand of instant coffee made in Switzerland in 1938. It all started when the Brazilian government approached Nestlé to discover a way to preserve its huge coffee surpluses. After 7 years of research and experiments, Max Morgenthaler, a coffee specialist, invented a form of coffee powder that could be converted into the coffee drink by mixing it with water. According to Nestle, 3,000 cups of Nescafé are consumed every second.

Photo: Reuters

9. PepsiCo

Coke’s rival PepsiCo (NYSE: PEP) jumped in rank from 17th place. With massive operations in both soft drink and snacks (including the Pepsi, Frito-Lay, Tropicana and Quaker brands) Pepsico posted a 5 percent decline in its fourth quarter profits, due to higher commodity costs, although revenue surged to $18.1 billion from $13.3 billion, boosted by the acquisition of two bottlers last year. PepsiCo’s markets in Asia, the Middle East and Africa are flourishing.

Photo: Reuters

Elusive McLobster appetizing the Internet

The rumors of the elusive McLobster is appetizing the internet as it trends on Twitter as well as Google. The sandwich is real and exists in select places seasonally, but McDonalds is not testing it.

Photo: Reuters

1) Coca-Cola - (United States)

Coca-Cola has such a strong brand that it can manufacture enormous profits by just adding sugar into carbonated water. Its carbonated soft drinks are sold in stores, restaurants, and vending machines in more than 200 countries. It was originally introduced in 1886 as a medicine by John Pemberton. It was then purchased by businessman Asa Griggs Candler, whose creative marketing made Coke the world's most popular soft drink of all time. Nowadays, Coca-Cola products are served around 705 million times per day.

A brand is the identity of a specific product, service, or business. A global brand is one which is perceived to reflect the same set of values around the world. Global brands create powerful enduring relationships with consumers across different countries and cultures. They give buyers a sense of security, trust, and familiarity.

As the global market is saturated with millions of products, the value of the brands has become even more important for marketers to differentiate their products from competitors. Moreover, it is a key to maintaining high profit margins.

For these reasons and more, marketers spend millions of dollar on TV,online, magazine and other ads to enhance the brand image at all cost.

Below are the 5 food & beverage companies with the most powerful global brands. These names are recognized by millions of loyal customers in hundreds of countries. This list is compiled from interbrand ranking 2010.