Millward Brown, a subsidiary of advertising and communications giant WPP has come out with its 2009 list of top 100 global "valuable" brands.

Topping the list for the third year in a row is Google followed by Microsoft.  Nigel Hollis, the Chief Global Analyst for MB sets three principal pointers in this article in the Financial Times on what goes to making a great brand.

These include a need to adapt to local needs and culture, the ability to seek to tap a human truth or to get a basic human motivation and to align the organisation around the global brand strategy.

Unfortunately, none of the hospitality majors including those with new hotel brands as this in 2008 made the cut into MB's list and the only brands tangentially, if tenuously, linked to hospitality are MacDonald's, Pepsi, Budweiser, Red Bull, and KFC (in that order).

A brand, as they say, is the sum of its parts.

For hotels vrirtually all aspects of a company's operation such as customer interface, communicating with employees and its core corporate philosophy together with its advertising&marketing efforts.goes towards establishing brand preeminence.

Many of the premiere hotel brands have most if not all these elements down pat but clearly more needs to be done when |the likes of State Farm, Auchan and Bradesco (?) make it but there is no room at the top for hotel companies.

Vijay is Chief Operating Officer and part-founder of Apple Core Hotels- a chain of 5 midtown Manhattan hotels offering value and comfort in the heart of the city.Member of the board of Directors - Hotel Association of New York.

www.vijaydandapani.com