Rated Top Ten

BBC News reports here: Crime thriller Disturbia, which centres on a suspected serial killer, has stayed on top of the North American box office chart for a third week.

The Top Ten North American Box Office Hits are:
1. Disturbia
2. The Invisible
3. Next
4. Fracture
5. Blades of Glory
6. Meet the Robinsons
7. Hot Fuzz
8. Vacancy
9. The Condemned
10. Are We Done Yet?

The Top Ten Music Video & Concerts on DVD in this week’s Bestellers List at Amazon, see The Top Ten Music Video & Concerts on DVD here for more info including some reader reviews in our online store (ranking as of writing of this article, might change over time)

And the top ten Music Video & Concerts on DVD this week are:

• Celtic Woman – A New Journey: Live at Slane Castle, Ireland
• Live at the Majestic
• Il Divo – Live at the Greek
• The Law of Attraction In Action
• Bach – Cello Suites / Rostropovich
• Pink Floyd – Pulse
• The Last Waltz
• Nine Inch Nails – Live – Beside You in Time
• Dress to Kill
• Celtic Woman

Spiegel Online reports here: It’s just what the world needed. Now, there’s a solar-powered swimsuit, making it a snap to recharge your iPod right on the beach and reduce your carbon footprint while you sunbathe.

Global net use makes rapid rise, BBC News reports here: The net is helping to close the digital divide between industrialised nations, suggests a report.

The Top Ten E-Ready Nations are:
1) Denmark
=2) US
=2) Sweden
4) Hong Kong
5) Switzerland
6) Singapore
7) UK
8 )Netherlands
9) Australia
10) Finland

BBC News reports here: Sin City star Jessica Alba has been crowned the sexiest woman in the world by readers of FHM magazine in the UK.

1. Jessica Alba (actress)
2. Keeley Hazell (model)
3. Eva Longoria (actress)
4. Adriana Lima (supermodel)
5. Scarlett Johansson (actress)
6. Hayden Panettiere (actress)
7. Cheryl Tweedy (singer)
8. Angelina Jolie (actress)
9. Emily Scott (model)
10.Elisha Cushbert (actress)
Source: FHM

The Top Ten Books in this week’s Bestellers List at Amazon, see The Top Ten Books here for more info including some reader reviews in our online store (ranking as of writing of this article, might change over time)

And The Top Ten Books This Week are:

• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Book 7)
• Little Green Book of Getting Your Way: How to Speak, Write, Present, Persuade, Influence, and Sell Your Point of View to Others
• The Children of Hurin
• The Secret
• The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable
• The Road (Oprah’s Book Club)
• Einstein: His Life and Universe
• Do You!: 12 Laws to Access the Power in You to Achieve Happiness and Success
• Where Have All the Leaders Gone?
• The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich

Yahoo presents here the Top Ten Green Cars: The Green Rating measures a vehicle’s environmental friendliness on a scale of 1 to 100. The higher a vehicle’s Green Rating, the “greener” it is and the lower its harm to both human health and the health of the planet.

1) 2007 Honda Civic Hybrid CVT AT-PZEV w/ Navigation System
2) 2007 Toyota Prius Touring
3) 2007 Honda Civic GX NGV 5-Spd AT [Limited Availability]
4) 2006 Honda Insight CVT w/ AC
5) 2007 Toyota Camry Hybrid 4-Door Sedan
6) 2007 Ford Escape Hybrid FWD
7) 2007 Toyota Yaris S
8 )2007 MINI Cooper Base
9) 2007 Hyundai Elantra Limited
10)2007 Honda Accord Hybrid 5-Spd AT w/ Nav System

BBC Newes reports here: Japan’s Toyota overtakes US rival General Motors to become the world’s biggest carmaker, the company says. The battle between Toyota and GM for the top spot will be keenly monitored until annual production figures reveal any transformation in the pecking order.

Press Release from Millward Brown: LONDON, UK, 23rd April 2007 — The second annual BRANDZ™ Top 100 Most Powerful Brands ranking published in cooperation with the Financial Times was announced today by leading global market research and consulting firm Millward Brown. Google has risen to the top of this year’s ranking, taking the number one spot with a brand value of $66,434 million. This was followed by General Electric ($61,880 million), Microsoft ($54,951 million) and Coca-Cola ($44,134 million).

Produced by Millward Brown Optimor, the firm’s finance and ROI arm, the ranking identifies the most powerful brands in the world as measured by their dollar value. A full report will be published today, exclusively in the Financial Times.

The aggregate value of all brands in the BRANDZ™ Top 100 increased by 10.6% in one year, from $1.44 trillion in 2006 to $1.6 trillion in 2007.

“Success stories from this year’s BRANDZ™ Top 100 demonstrate that winning brands leverage major market trends effectively to create business value,” said Joanna Seddon, global CEO Millward Brown Optimor. “Strong brands are capable of extending into areas of opportunity to access new revenue streams and to help businesses respond to market changes.”

The most notable trends emerging from this year’s BRANDZ™ Top 100 include:

The rise of the East – Today, consumers in emerging markets – especially the ones known as the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China) have more disposable income than ever before. In order to succeed in the BRICS, Western brands must offer products or services that are relevant to the local consumers. Fast food brands such as KFC ($4,485m) and McDonald’s ($33,138 million) appeal to BRIC consumers looking for a Western dining experience. Apparel brands including Nike ($10,290 million), Levi’s ($1,041 million) and Zara ($6,469 million) fill the gap between local brands and imported luxury brands by providing “affordable fashion” to young consumers. Luxury brands such as Louis Vuitton ($22,686 million), Rolex ($5,387 million) are also seeing significant growth in these markets as wealthy consumers look for brands that represent their status.
Converging technologies – Convergence is the hot topic in technology: The ability to mix and match different services (voice, data, GPS, music, internet, email etc) and deliver them over different devices has the potential to improve the lives of consumers. In the face of increasing complexity, branding has been leveraged to simplify and contrast different offerings: from Apple’s ($24,728 million) basics-but-smarter iPhone to Sony Ericsson’s Walkman-branded music phones to Nokia’s ($31,670 million) all-in-one mobile computers, manufacturers are crafting coherent offerings that are aligned with their brand identity. Like Apple and Nokia, strong brands are able to stretch so parent companies can increase revenue streams by investing in high growth ventures.
Delivering on Corporate Social Responsibility – Delivering on the promise of corporate social responsibility helped boost the value of major brands including BP ($5,931 million), Shell ($ 4,679 million) and Toyota ($ 33,427 million). BP was the first major oil company to address climate change with its ‘beyond petroleum’ brand positioning. BP executed on that brand positioning to become one of the top three global suppliers of solar energy. Shell followed suit. Toyota’s success in marketing its hybrid model Prius contributed to its positive brand image and its continued leadership in the automotive sector.
Fast food brands react to health conscious consumers – Rising concerns about healthy eating disrupted the fast food industry that had enjoyed continuous growth since the 1980s. Most fast food chains, including McDonald’s ($33,138 million), repositioned themselves with the introduction of healthier food alternatives. Burger King ($1,401million) took the opposite stance through marketing campaigns that called attention to the chain’s original offering: the high-calorie and masculine hamburger. The 63% increase in Burger King’s brand value proves that strong brands succeed whether they follow or defy market trends.
Simon Targett, who edited the Financial Times Global Brands Supplement said: “A lot can change in world business over 12 months, and this year’s brand rankings are testimony to that with Google taking pole position as the world’s most powerful brand.”

Commenting on this year’s BRANDZ™ Top 100 ranking, Eileen Campbell, global CEO of Millward Brown said: “”It is a huge achievement to become one of the world’s most powerful brands and Millward Brown congratulates all of the companies featured in this year’s BRANDZ™ Top 100. These top performers demonstrate the real financial value that successful business and brand management can deliver. There are tons of actionable insights that can be derived from these rankings. They prove that a blend of good business leadership, responsible financial management and powerful marketing are an unbeatable combination that can be leveraged to create and grow corporate wealth.”

The BRANDZ™ Top 100 is the only brand ranking to combine financials with solid measures of consumer sentiment derived from WPP’s BRANDZ™ database, the world’s largest repository of brand equity data. The BRANDZ™ study has interviewed more than one million consumers globally and covers 39,000 brands worldwide. The BRANDZ™ Top 100 is the first study to cover both business and consumer brands and to include predictive metrics of future brand performance. Market performance metrics and financial data were obtained from Datamonitor and Bloomberg respectively.

The complete BRANDZ™ Top 100 report with category and regional breakdowns as well as additional analysis is available online at www.millwardbrown.com/mboptimor, www.brandz.com and at www.ft.com