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Nokia is Finland’s Top Brand - BF

10-May-2018 | Source : Brand Finance | Visits : 4342
LONDON - Nokia’s brand value has grown by 63% over the last year to €7.1 billion, extending its leadership as Finland’s most valuable brand, according to the latest report by Brand Finance, the world’s leading independent brand valuation and strategy consultancy. After reaching a nadir in 2014 due to several years of significant brand struggles, Nokia’s brand value has sustained strong brand growth ever since.
 
Nokia’s brand value peaked in 2008 at over €22 billion, making it the world’s 9th most valuable brand at the time. The subsequent rise of smartphones at the expense of feature phones – a sector dominated by Nokia – caused the Finnish brand value leader to decline to just €1.5 billion in 2014. After involvement in various corporate ownership changes, the Nokia brand has rebounded strongly, and now, in 2018, it has led Finland in all three categories of most valuable, fastest-growing, and strongest brand for two consecutive years. It is the only Finnish brand to attain an AA+ brand strength rating.
 
Nokia now has a refocused corporate strategy concentrated on four key areas: high-performance end-to-end networks for communication service providers; network equipment and services for enterprises; building a standalone software business; and finally, consumer-facing business and licensing based upon its strong IP portfolio. In that context, Nokia’s solid performance has put it in an excellent position to lead the global transition to 5G that is now underway.
 
David Haigh, CEO of Brand Finance, commented:
 
“Nokia has focused the brand on its core networks activities as well as extending into new licensing areas over the last year. It is a perfect example of how reinvigorating a well-loved brand through licensing can be a route to success. We expect to see significant growth of Nokia’s brand value in the future as the implementation of the new strategy accelerates.”
 
Fortum grows strongly with potential ahead
Energy company Fortum (up 28% to €0.7 billion) was the second-fastest growing brand amongst Finland’s top ten most valuable brands. During 2017, Fortum made investments in new businesses and geographical areas. In addition, improved market conditions increased revenues in Fortum’s power production. Looking forward, Fortum’s planned takeover of Uniper and other growth projects will be a key issue for the brand to manage.
 
Kone remains steady on the second floor 
Kone maintained its brand value at just under €1.5 billion last year, securing second place on the Finnish ranking again. The lift and escalator brand is a global leader in the sector, with sales of €8.9 billion during last year, a small increase from €8.8 billion the previous year. As the global population continues to urbanize, Kone’s strategic direction is to achieve significant brand differentiation by improving customer focus. This will lead to a particular service-minded emphasis on construction of new equipment, as well as maintenance and modernization of existing buildings.
 
Elisa and Kesko swap rankings
Telecommunications company Elisa (up 3% to €0.9 billion) moved from fourth place to third in the Brand Finance Finland 10 league table this year, swapping positions with retailer Kesko (down 7% to €0.8 billion). Despite EU roaming changes coming into force and leading to data roaming price reductions by almost 90%, Elisa’s revenue increased from €1.6 billion in 2016 to €1.8 billion in 2017. This was achieved through close cooperation with Vodafone and Telenor, and a small increase in customer subscriptions.
 
Meanwhile, Kesko’s brand subsided despite net sales growth in comparable terms by 1.8% as they continue their transformation project to introduce a new brand alignment across their large chain of retail stores. Kesko’s brands have benefited from a strong year for the grocery trade, and business sales are well-positioned to pick up from any long-term customer behavior changes towards food service in restaurants and away from home-consumption of food and drink. In addition, now that the last remaining Siwa and Valintatalo stores have been converted into K-Markets, Kesko will be better positioned to focus growing its main brand in the future.
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