WASHINGTON — Falls Church-based Capital One Financial, Bethesda-based Lockheed Martin and Chevy Chase-based Geico lead the list of 11 companies headquartered in the Washington area that make this year’s list of the 500 most valuable brand names.
The annual report, from consulting firm Brand Finance, ranks Amazon the most valuable+ brand name in America, up from third place last year.
Apple is unchanged, ranked as the second-most valuable brand name. Google slipped from No. 1 last year to No. 3 this year.
Facebook, AT&T, Microsoft, Verizon, Walmart, Wells Fargo and Chase round out the 10 most valuable brands.
Brand Finance calculates a brand’s value using attributes like emotional connection, financial performance and sustainability. It also factors in a “royalty rate” determined by comparing licensing agreements sourced from its own database of license agreements and other online data bases.
Revenue and economic growth rates are also factored in.
Capital One, with its well-known “What’s in Your Wallet” advertising campaign, ranks as the 55th-most valuable brand name in the U.S., down from No. 54 last year.
Defense contractor Lockheed Martin is No. 74, up from No. 75 last year.
Auto and home insurance giant Geico — with its familiar Gekko, Caveman and other marketing themes over the years — ranks No. 99, up from No. 134 last year.
Notably new to this year’s list of the Washington region’s most valuable brands is Tysons-based DXC Technology, formed in April 2017 by the merger of Computer Sciences Corp and the enterprise services business of Hewlett Packard Enterprise.
D.C.-area companies as ranked by Brand Finance as the most valuable American brands of 2018:
- No. 55 Capital One Financial
- No. 74 Lockheed Martin
- No. 99 Geico
- No. 106 Hilton
- No. 111 DCX Technology
- No.120 Marriott International
- No. 154 General Dynamics
- No. 161 Northrop Grumman
- No. 240 Discovery Communications
- No 323 Mars Inc.
- No. 402 SAIC
Brand Finance has published its entire list of the 500 most valuable American brands of 2018 on its website.
