By Trevor Datson, European Consumer Goods Correspondent
LONDON, July 23 (Reuters) - U.S. soft drinks giant Coca-Cola still tops the world brand league table, but the movers and shakers in the 2004 Interbrand chart are hi-tech companies like Apple and Amazon .
Interbrand, the consultancy whose rankings have become a benchmark for brand valuation, now estimates the value of the big red soft drinks brand at $67.4 billion, down four percent since the 2003 rankings.
Second-placed Microsoft also shed brand value over the year, dropping six percent to $61.4 billion -- but eight of the world's top 10 brands by value are still American, Interbrand's Best Global Brand survey shows.
Interbrand values brands -- the most valuable asset of many consumer companies -- using a complex methodology that incorporates techniques similar to those beloved of stock market analysts. But it also takes into account "softer" factors such as customer perceptions and loyalty.
While overall brand values increased by 2.2 percent, the fortunes of different sectors and industries varied widely.
"This year's rankings rewarded companies that build communities around products and services, creating 'cult brands' that enable customers to feel as if they own the brand," Interbrand explained.
MCDONALD'S GROWS FATTER ON LEANER FOOD
While the recovering U.S. economy helped boost brand values in the financial services industry, publicity surrounding the fast-food industry and the issue of obesity was almost uniformly negative, and companies lost out as a result.
Burger King dropped out of the top 100 entirely, while Yum Brands Inc.'s Pizza Hut and KFC brands both slipped. By contrast, though, a healthier menu and some creative advertising saw McDonald's actually boost its brand value by one percent to $25 billion.
The "international cuisine in a bun" chain also moved one place up the rankings to seventh, but the real movers were further down the list.
Apple Computer, whose iPod digital music players have taken the world by storm, gained a staggering 24 percent in brand value to $6.9 billion and rose seven places to 43. Internet store Amazon saw a 22 percent rise in brand value to $4.2 billion, gaining eight places to 66.
Luxury brands also fared well, with Cartier entering the league at 91, and Estee Lauder making its debut one place below.
There was bad news for Ford , which lost 15 percent of its brand value to $14.5 billion dollars due to competition in the U.S. market and weakness in Europe. Toyota , by contrast, gained nine percent to $22.7 billion and forced Mercedes out of the top 10.
But the biggest loser in absolute terms was Finland's Nokia , whose late mobile phone launches and conservative styling brought about an 18 percent drop in brand value to $24 billion, a loss of over $5 billion.
THE WORLD'S TOP-TEN BRANDS BY VALUE
Source: Interbrand
RANK NAME VALUE, $bln PCT CHNG '04 '03 '04 '03 1 1 Coca Cola 67.4 70.5 -4 2 2 Microsoft 61.4 65.2 -6 3 3 IBM 53.8 51.8 4 4 4 GE 44.1 42.3 4 5 5 Intel 33.5 31.1 8 6 7 Disney 27.1 28.0 -3 7 8 McDonald's 25.0 24.7 1 8 6 Nokia 24.0 29.4 -18 9 11 Toyota 22.7 20.8 9 10 9 Marlboro 22.1 22.1 0