Optus suffers $1.2b hit to brand

Instead Woolworths, Telsta and the Commonwealth Bank took out the top three spots as Australia’s most valuable brands.

The annual analysis of the country’s most value brands showed Woolworths is worth a whopping $16.2 billion – a jump of 18 per cent compared to last year, according to the rankings from Brand Finance Australia.

Popular retailer Bunnings ranked as Australia’s strongest brand, followed by Woolworths and Coles.

Meanwhile, Optus was set to record its biggest year of growth in terms of its brand value up to $4.4 billion but instead it fell to $3.3 billion.

“Removing the impact of this one-off pernicious event, Optus’ brand value would have otherwise increased by 11 per cent,” said Mark Crowe, managing director of Brand Finance Australia.

Optus also fell 27 spots in the brand strength index, from 14th place last year to 41st.

Optus managing director Matt Williams said the results weren’t surprising but it was disappointing.

“We are taking steps to rebuild confidence in Optus,” he said.

“We are seeing improvements in brand momentum, and we are dedicated to continuing to do better for our customers.”

However, Telstra celebrated maintaining second place as Australia’s most valuable brand, recording a 29 per cent increase in value to $13.2 billion.

The 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, according to the analysis.

The total value of Australia’s top 100 brands rose by 15 per cent to reach $194 billion, the report found.

“Across the world, there’s been significant disruption in labour markets, goods markets, and

fuel markets,” Mr Crowe said.

“Despite this disruption, Australian brands have grown quickly as they bounce back from the pandemic-disrupted past. With customers facing significant cost pressures, strong brands have an opportunity to earn a premium return.”

While battling supply chain issues, Woolworths focus on customer experience and its moves to manage climate change including working to reduce emissions from its own operations through green electricity and electric vehicle trials, as well as the phasing out of some plastic use helped win it the top position, the analysis found.

Coles also saw its brand value surge by 10 per cent to be worth $10.9 million and took out the fourth spot of Australia’s most valuable brand.

The leading banks experienced an overall 17 per cent increase in brand value, led by the

Commonwealth Bank which soared by 28 per cent to $11.4 billion, followed by NAB up 36 per cent to $7.9 billion and ANZ increased by 22 per cent to $7.6 billion.