Apple tops Sir Martin's list of the world's most valuable brands

It may be no surprise that Apple (AAPL) ranks as the number one most valuable brand in the world. The iPhone maker tops the 'BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands' for 2015.

The study is backed by WPP (WPPGY), the world’s largest advertising firm by revenues and led by Sir Martin Sorrell.

If “we took the top 100 brands over the last 10 years that we’ve ranked as the top 100, we would outperform the MSCI composite index world stocks by three times,” said the CEO.

The legendary brand master said “the real driver of total shareholder return is always topline growth and if you invest in the brands, you grow the topline.”

Technology companies dominated this year’s list with Google (GOOGL), Microsoft (MSFT) and IBM (IBM) rounding the top four spots. Sir Martin said millennials and “even more interesting the centennials” are a big reason why.

“Technology defines who you are and what you stand for in the same way other assets in other generations delineated people in different ways,” he said.

Sorrell advised “everybody with a brand” to be aware of trends, he believes will get more intense like the sharing economy.

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“If we look at Airbnb and if we look at Uber, we are going to live in an economy where sharing rather than ownership is going to become more and more important,” he said.

Another trend, Sorrell believes will inevitable become more in focus is mobile. He expects mobile to become the vehicle for brands to both understand and engage with consumers.