Apple is the Most Valuable US brand

Apple jumps into the number one spot as the Most Valuable US brand, with a brand worth of $316 billion on the strength of devices combined with services , according to the latest BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable US Brands ranking, announced by WPP and Kantar Millward Brown. The tech giant placed second in last year’s rankings.

The BrandZ study ranks the most valuable U.S. brands, analyzes their strengths, and identifies the key forces driving growth in this dynamic and complex market. According to the report, customer experience is as important as being perceived as innovative for increasing brand value. As Americans engage with brands in more and more places, the brands that continually innovate customer experience are winning, growing 200% more than those that don’t.

Apple, increased its brand value by 13% in the last year to $316.1 billion to become the most valuable U.S. brand. Its continued innovation across an entire ecosystem of services — such as Apple Pay, iCloud and Siri — that wrap around its key devices including the new Apple Watch and iPhone X, ensures that Apple increasingly owns and transforms the user experience in a way that is very meaningful to consumers, according to Kantar.