Northern Lights
Maui Wowie
Purple Haze

How could there possibly be anything close to an objective metric for this kind of thing?

For the third year in a row, the brand equity of "Cunt Buckets" fell by double-digit percentage points.

I predict terrible things to happen in Wal-Mart board meetings over this news. Google-Mart anyone?

Of the top ten, 30% consists of good old American health products -- Coke, McDonald's, and Marlboros. Weep not for our contribution to the world.

Throw Microsoft in there and god-damn!

@vulturesquadron: It's a question that people do debate. But you can read about their methodology at BrandZ.com. It seems to be a fairly valid effort at least-- rankings of ethereal things like brands will obviously all vary based on methodology.

This is terrible new for Julia Allison (R).

This list reinforces my oppositional personality: I drink Pepsi, shunned the ipod for a Creative Muvo, and smoke American Spirits (oh, dear me, I hope they're not owned by the black-lung cowboy).

@TheHonJudgeSmails: Aren't they in the Louis Vuitton group? It's their version of the Birkin bag.

No beer brands in the top 25? Huh, looks like brewers need to advertise some more.

Ok, I want an analysis of how badly Jakob Lodwick's moustache diluted Mary Rambin's brand on my desk by the end of the day. Nothing less than TOP TEN is acceptable for Style By Mary Rambin (tm)! We need to go all Mach 3 on his ass! Or his face. Whatever. Get Julia on the phone and tell her that Operation Delilah is in play.

@Hamilton Nolan: The financial brands on that list make me a little skeptical. Bank of America is really the top banking brand in the world? And ICBC just below BMW? Maybe...but something seems off there.

@vulturesquadron: Well you have to remember that they rank by how much the brand supposedly contributes to the business, financially, and their methodology rewards consumer-facing brands more than the opposite.

@postmanagitator: Aside from the Muvo, are you my consumer doppelganger? I'm about to head over to the 7-Eleven for some American Spirits right now. God, those things are fantastic.

@SarahHeartburn: LVMH pretty much owns everything female, methinks.

@Clare: (shakes head sadly)

I expected a lazy R or V bar V reference by now. Maybe I'm the only hick present. Gollllleeeee!

@Hamilton Nolan: That makes sense, as opposed to the poorly-named "market penetration" metric.

Looks like an updated target list for Al-Qaeda. Just cut and paste into Excel and sort. BofA and AE will be first. That was easy.

@Juancho: I'm having a rough patch. Don't judge me.

Are there tattoo parlors that specialize in putting these brands on human skin?

Walk out on the street & ask people what they think about China Mobile!
The collective answer will be "HUH"!
If the rest of the world has never heard of you, then you can't be on the top brands list.

This list has all the credibility of that worthless crap that the Robert Half Co. comes out with every few months about how something affects how much work a company's employees do!

This was all about getting this Millward Brown's name out there.

@famousauthor: Ask Jason Preston.

@MrJames: Do t-shirts count as temporary tattoos? In a parallel and washable universe...