So Interbrand had the 2005 brand value top out (via Didier) -- it is worth having a look, most notable is that Google's not in the global top 20, though, in terms of brand awareness, it stood  right on top last year  (or in 2003 if I am not mistaken). Also, I thought it would be interesting to put the top brand values head to the innovative companies one as perceived by about 1000 executives from all over the world surveyed a few weeks ago.

Company	Innovation awareness	Brand Value (mil. of $$)	Company	Brand Value (mil. of $$)	Innovation awareness
Apple	25%	7,985 (#41)	Coca Cola	67,525	not in top 20
3M	12%	not in top 100	Microsoft	59,941	9% (#3)
Microsoft	9%	59,941 (#2)	IBM	53,376	5% (#7)
GE	9%	46,996 (#4)	GE	46,996	9% (#4)
Sony	6%	10,754 (#28)	Intel	35,588	2.7% (#16)
Dell	6%	13,231 (#21)	Nokia	26,452	4.21% (#10)
IBM	5%	53,376 (#3)	Disney	26,441	not in top 20
Google	5%	8,461(#38)	McDonald's	26,014	not in top 20
P&G	4%	not in top 100	Toyota	24837	3.02 (#14)
Nokia	4.21%	26,452 (#6)	Marlboro	21,189	not in top 20

So -- lots of interesting things to notice I believe, I will let you make your own conclusions. A couple of observations though: clearly the winners in this case are Microsoft, GE, IBM and even Nokia whereas we could see a strong correlation between the brand value and the innovation factor -- that means  their innovative efforts were correctly communicated and, moreover, there is a strong consistency between what the company judge as operational efficiency and delivers as a consequence and what the market accordingly perceives.

Another observation is that a good chunk of the brand value comes from the marketing budgets, and different business models require different marketing approaches. It is interesting to note that in the top valued brands 6 out of 10 are technology companies (more or less -- where using technology is core competence and marketing is a support activity). The others have a different model that probably has the marketing closer to the main activity in the value configuration process and this may explain a higher brand value. Also, it is notable that Apple - the most perceived innovative company - has a brand that is valued at about 15% of the one of its main rival.

Finally, P&G has not made it to the top for the simply fact that this company is a sum of brands, whose awareness and value, respectively, are considerably high. I was just too lazy to look them up though. :)