Beverages, Tobacco and Snack Foods Are Strongest Branded Consumer Packaged Products Worldwide

Manufacturers and Retailers Can Use The Insights To Better Understand Competitive Performance and Opportunities

31 October 2001
Stamford, CT

Only 43 consumer product brands ring up annual sales of more than US$1 billion each and can be considered truly global, according to a study released today by ACNielsen, the global authority on consumer behavior and marketing information.

"Despite a proliferation of brands in the marketplace and a focus by major manufacturers on being more global, there are relatively few global mega brands out there today," said Jane Perrin, ACNielsen Managing Director of Global Services, the sponsor of the study, Reaching the Billion Dollar Mark - A Review of Today's Global Brands. "We looked at well over 200 brands in this study and although more than half had a global presence, they just didn't have over a billion dollars in sales. Over the next few years, we expect this picture will change dramatically."

The study's findings are based on ACNielsen data from 30 countries in North America, Europe-Middle East-Africa, Asia Pacific and Latin America. Together, the countries account for 90 percent of the world's Gross Domestic Product.

Leading Categories
The category with the most billion-dollar brands was beverages, with 13 brands making the final list (See Table 1). The total Coca-Cola brand was number one among beverages at well over US$15 billion in sales, with its two sub-brands, Coke and Diet Coke, being billion dollar brands in their own right. Pepsi Cola and its associated sub-brands, Pepsi and Diet Pepsi (including Pepsi Light, Pepsi Max and Pepsi One), ranked as the number two beverage.

There were three snack foods that registered over a billion dollars in global sales (Doritos, Lay's and Pringles) and four tobacco brands that had a significant global presence and met the billion-dollar criteria (Benson & Hedges, Camel, L&M and Marlboro).

In terms of sales growth, the annual average rate across the 43 brands was less than 10%, but 8 of the 43 brands experienced double-digit growth in the most recent year. Growth across categories showed little consistency.

Manufacturer Predominance
There were 23 manufacturers of these 43 billion-dollar brands. Eight of the 23 companies had more than one brand on the list. Pepisco had the most brands with six. The Philip Morris Companies (including Kraft Foods) and Procter & Gamble each had five brands. The Coca-Cola Company came in at four, with Kimberly-Clark Corporation, The Gillette Company, Mars and Nestl?ith two brands each. The 43 brands reported in the study accounted for more than US$125 billion in sales. Nearly three-quarters of these sales were attributable to the eight manufacturers with multiple brands on the list.

Regional Highlights
In general, regional sales of the 43 brands closely follow the global findings. For example, in each of the four regions Coke and Marlboro were consistently the top two brands of the 43 studied. All of the brands had their largest markets in either North America or Europe, Middle East & Africa, which aligns with regional GDP strength. North America was the dominant region for 24 brands and Europe was dominant for 16 brands. For three brands (Gillette, Pedigree, Always), both North America and Europe shared equal importance.

Table 1. Billion Dollar Global Brands

Source: ACNielsen

Perrin said, "With coverage in over 100 countries, ACNielsen is unique in its ability to provide a true global perspective on today's consumers. While other branding studies are just a tally of shipment sales from a company's annual report, this ACNielsen report is unique in its findings as it measures actual retail sales from 30 countries."

Methodology
There were three main criteria that a brand had to meet to be included in the study. First, the cumulative sales for the 12 months ending with the first quarter of 2001 had to be equal to or exceed US$1 billion. Second, the brand had to have a measurable presence in each of the four major geographic regions - Latin America, Asia Pacific, North America and Europe, Middle East and Africa. Finally, sales outside of the home market had to represent at least 5% of the global sales value.

The study includes 30 of the world's top markets divided into four geographical regions:

Latin America

Argentina | Brazil | Mexico

Europe, Middle East and Africa
Austria | Belgium | France | Germany | Greece | Denmark | Ireland | Italy | Netherlands | Norway | Portugal | Russian Federation | Poland | Saudi Arabia | South Africa | Spain | Sweden | Switzerland | Turkey | United Kingdom

Asia Pacific
Australia | China | Hong Kong, China | Japan | South Korea

North America

Canada | United States

About ACNielsen
ACNielsen, a VNU company, is the world's leading marketing information company. Offering services in more than 100 countries, the company provides measurement and analysis of marketplace dynamics and consumer attitudes and behavior. Clients rely on ACNielsen's market research, proprietary products, analytical tools and professional service to Editor's Note: The complete text of Reaching the Billion Dollar Mark - A Review of Today's Global Brands is available at http://acnielsen.com/billion