Woolies tops most valued brand list, Optus drops

Australian consumers have continued to favour Woolworths after the retail giant was reported as the nation’s most valued brand at $16.2 billion, while Optus’ rank dropped after the September cyber-attack.

Consultancy firm Brand Finance has released its annual report evaluating the nation’s top 100 most valuable and strongest brands.

Woolworths took out the top spot for the most valued brand for a fourth consecutive year after its value rose 18 per cent to $16.2billion.

Telstra trailed the retail powerhouse after its value jumped 29 per cent to $13.2 billion, a stark difference from its competitor Optus.

The telecommunications company's brand value dropped 19 per cent to $3.3 billion, which was impacted by the cyber-attack on its customers information in September 2022.

“This strong growth has been driven by improvements for customer service, ease of dealing with, value for money and word of mouth, along with consideration and recommendation,” Brand Finance said in the report.

“Conversely Optus’ brand momentum was significantly impacted by the cyber-attack experienced in September last year which led to unauthorised access of Optus’ current and former customers’ information.

“The resulting publicity and media commentary drove negative sentiment and as a consequence Optus suffered a near 10-point drop in brand strength and a consequential 19% fall in brand value to $3.3 billion.”

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia took out the third spot after its brand was valued at $11.4 billion, up 28 per cent.

Coles was valued at $10.8 billion, followed by NAB at $7.9 billion and BHP at $7.7 billion, which was a drop of 22 per cent for the mining company.

Brand Finance said the banking sector had shown strong signs of growth with an overall 17 per cent increase in brand value.

“Leading the way is the Commonwealth which has reversed its decline in brand value and regained its place as Australia’s third most valuable brand,” the report said.

“Similarly, NAB and ANZ have recorded strong increases to be ranked the 5th and 7th most valuable Australian brands.

“Conversely Westpac and have recorded slight drops due to weaker brand strength.”

The brand consultant also ranked Australia’s strongest brands through evaluating marketing investment, shareholder equity and business perfromacne.

Bunnings Warehouse maintained its position as the nation’s strongest brand for the second year in a row due to its availability, value for money and wide range of products, according to Brand Finance.

The hardware superstore was closely followed by Woolworths, Coles and Telstra on the rank of stongest brands. 

The total value of Australia’s top 100 brands increased by 15 per cent to $194 billion.