Firm: Sony Brand Less Valuable than Microsoft, Cigarettes, Beer, Toothpaste

Millward Brown Optimor, a “global brand strategy” analyst firm, just stepped into a heaping pile of fanboy doodoo with its latest rankings of the 100 most valuable brands in the world, pegging Sony at 94th. Nintendo is 32nd, Microsoft fourth.

That’s behind Marlboro (at No. 7) Budweiser (No. 38) and Colgate (No. 47). Considering that Microsoft and Sony make more than games and games consoles, Millward Brown decided to make things worse and break out brand rankings by platform and it doesn’t get any better.

Nintendo has the No. 1 and 2 positions with the Wii and DS respectively ($9.9 billion and $7.8 billion “estimated value,” respectively), followed by the Xbox 360 ($4.5 billion) and then the PlayStation 3 ($426 million) PSP ($155 million) and PS2 ($49 million).

Wondering what “estimated value” means? Here’s their words, not mine: “The dollar value of each brand in the ranking is the sum of all future earnings that brand is forecast to generate, discounted to a present-day value.”

True, but I don’t brush my teeth with a DualShock or smoke MLB 10: The Show. Well, not literally. Get the full report here. [pdf]

Wii Named Top Gaming Console Brand [Game Politics]