Google beats BBC to no. 1 brand for businesses

In the eyes of British businesses, Google has now beaten the BBC to the number 1 spot as the top B2B (business to business) brand in the UK, according to the 2008 Business Superbrands UK Top 500 business brands league table - compiled by a council of senior business leaders and an independent survey of 1,500 professionals to reveal "brands that have established the finest reputations in their fields and make the most impact on the UK business sector" (Superbrands' 25 February 2008 PDF press release).

Most of the top 500 brands are long-term UK businesses. Media brands (by which Superbrands mean Google and BBC Worldwide as well as the FT and Reuters) are having more impact than traditional commercial sectors like manufacturing. Some brands more traditionally associated with consumers are making an impact on the business sector too, notably eBay which entered the league at no. 43.

The top 10 Business Superbrands for 2008, from the combined results, were:

1. Google
2. Microsoft
3. BP
4. BBC (Worldwide)
5. GlaxoSmithKline
6. Rolls-Royce Group
7. Financial Times
8. British Airways
9. Fedex Express
   
10. Hertz

Interestingly, the business professionals surveyed ranked Microsoft 4 and Google 6 while the Business Superbrands Council went for Google, Blackberry, Apple, BBC (Worldwide), The Economist and Nokia as the top 6, with Microsoft as no. 9 (see the end of the press release).

For all 500 top brands, see the full PDF list of the UK's top 500 B2B brands for 2008.

Tags: B2B, UK, brands, superbrands, Improbulus, A Consuming Experience