Following our recent proof-of-concept study looking at the relative online prominences of the top twenty fashion brands of 2023, we extend the idea to analyse the top 100 most valuable global brands overall. We also expand the concept by using a much larger set of webpages and looking at not only the prominence of the brands, but also the sense of the sentiment of the respective mentions. Brand prominence is relevant to areas such as search-engine optimisation and web-traffic analysis, and brand valuation. However, the addition of sentiment to the analysis can provide information relating to customer perception and brand value, and allows factors such as the impact of news stories and marketing initiatives to be tracked. 

Overall, we find Google to be the most prominent brand by a significant margin (prominence score: 2.856), followed by Microsoft (0.670), LinkedIn (0.655), Amazon (0.637) and Facebook (0.523). We also find a (weak) positive correlation between online brand prominence and brand value, though the latter metric (as provided by Kantar[2]) also takes into account other factors, specifically characteristics pertaining to the ability to generate revenue.

Various social-media and search brands (Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and YouTube) and technology brands (Oracle, Salesforce and SAP), are disproportionately more prominent than might be expected on the basis of their brand value. This reflects both their general overall online ubiquity and the frequency of their mentions in web content relating specifically to business. Conversely, some luxury brands (Louis Vuitton, Hermes, Chanel) have lower prominences, potentially reflecting a lower reliance on search-engine optimisation, and an increased reliance on brand reputation, to drive users to their online content.

The top five most positively referenced brands (by sentiment) are Amazon (22.48), Microsoft (21.47), Google (20.81), Facebook (13.67), and Apple (13.48). The most negatively referenced brand is ICBC (-2.71), in part due to references to the recent cyber-attack against the organisation. 

In future more-detailed studies, the methodology could be further refined by the introduction of other ideas, such as: the use of additional search terms, other languages, or region-specific search sources; customisation of the lists of sentiment keywords and/or the use of keyword-based relevance filtering; or separation of official from third-party brand references. These approaches could allow for more focused analyses, such as industry-specific deep-dives giving insight into customer comment.

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               [1] https://www.kantar.com/inspiration/brands/revealed-theworlds-most-valuable-brands-of-2023