Woolworths crowned Australia’s biggest brand, as Qantas takes a big reputation hit

Posted on 17 January 2024

The most valuable broadcaster was the Nine Network

Woolworths has been crowned Australia’s most valuable brand despite a 5% brand value decline. The results come from the 2024 Brand Finance Australia 100, an annual survey ranking the country’s brands that was released this week at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

The report is divided into brand value and brand strength.

For brand value, Woolworths’ top position comes alongside a listed value of AU$ 14,587M. Telstra comes in second, worth AU$ 12,371M, followed by Commonwealth Bank (AU$ 10,041M), Coles (AU$ 9,342M), and BHP (AU$ 9,058M).

The highest ranked broadcaster was the Nine Network at #58, down from #51 in 2023. Seven stayed steady at #62.

New entries to the country’s most valuable brand list were software company Atlassian, debuting at #12, joined by HCF (#49), TAL (#50), Lovisa (#91), Alinta Energy (#92), CarSales.com (#96) and GHD (#98).

In the brand strength list, brands are given a score out of 100 which is calculated using factors such as marketing investment, financial performance, and reputation.

Topping brand strength was Bunnings with a score of 88.23. In second was NRMA (87.04), before Woolworths ( 84.68), Telstra (83.37), and JB Hi-Fi (82.7).

One brand suffered more than others in the 2024 strength rankings, with Qantas dropping 10 points with a score of 71.35, and dipping to #41 on the rankings. The drop comes after a tumultuous 2023 that saw CEO Alan Joyce leave the company early, the High Court finding that workers had been fired illegally, and service levels that didn’t meet customer expectations.

Writing for Mediaweek, Robyn Sefiani, president ANZ & reputation counsel, Sefiani Communications said “Good reputations take years to build and can be destroyed in days or weeks if a crisis is mishandled and public trust is lost. Trust, once lost, is hard but not impossible to regain.”

Whilst the 2024 results will leave a lot to be desired, there is hope for the airline in 2025, as Sefiani said:

“Qantas, as the once-loved national airline brand, will recover if it can return service levels to that expected by the travelling public. On the plus side, Qantas is now starting to take delivery of a whole new fleet of aircraft, including the Airbus A350s, which will fly non-stop from Sydney to London and New York. There will no doubt be excitement as these take to the sky.”