Tech Triumphs with Google, Microsoft, Apple and IBM Scoring Top Marks in Millward Brown's Ranking of the World's Most Valuable Brands

BrandZ Top 100 worth over US$2 trillion, a 40 percent growth over five years, strong brands outperformed the stock market and proved resilient in recession

NEW YORK and LONDON, April 28, 2010 - Strong brands prove their resilience to recession in the fifth annual
Millward Brown Optimor (www.millwardbrown.com/Home.aspx ) BrandZ Top
100 Most Valuable Global Brands (www.millwardbrown.com/brandz )
ranking released today. When most key financial indicators plummeted, the
value of the top 100 brands rose by four percent in the last year to more
than US$2 trillion. The BrandZ Top 100, commissioned by WPP, is the only
valuation in the world that takes into account customers' opinions on brands
and demonstrates this with a dollar value.

"In the past, many companies were quick to cut their marketing spend
during a down economy," said Joanna Seddon, CEO of Millward Brown Optimor. "A
new trend has emerged in the wake of the recession as more companies realized
the importance of maintaining and even increasing budgets to support brand
loyalty and engagement."

    Other key findings include:

    - Tech Takes All: Technology brands demonstrated their pervasiveness in
      our daily lives. Google leads as the Most Valuable Global Brand worth
      US$114 billion. IBM was second at US$86 billion, an increase of 30
      percent. In third place, Apple's brand value grew by 32 percent and is
      now worth US$83 billion, Microsoft was fourth with a value of US$76
      billion.
    - Social Media in your Face(book): Facebook, the popular social
      networking site, entered the technology sector ranking for the first
      year with a brand value of US$5.5 billion. Use of social media was a
      key trend across many of the successful brands this year, for example,
      HSBC's highly successful Expat Explorer online community.
    - All the BRICs in the Wall: The first Indian brand, ICICI Bank, enters
      the Top 100 at number 45. This is the first year that all members of the
      BRICs have been represented with new entrants from China, Russia and
      Brazil.
    - Banking on Brands: Taking the BrandZ Top 100 as a portfolio and
      comparing it to the S&P 500 over the last five years reveals that
      US$1000 invested in the BrandZ Portfolio in 2006 would now be worth
      US$1185 compared to US$885 invested in the S&P 500, proving that strong
      brands outperform the stock market.
    - Strong Brands Bounce Back Higher: Brands such as Samsung, the highest
      riser with an 80 percent growth in Brand Value, and Starbucks with an
      increase of 17 percent are evidence that businesses with strong brands
      are able to recover from adversity faster.

Commenting on the ranking, Eileen Campbell, Global CEO of Millward Brown
said: "This ranking has elevated the importance of building brands among some
of the world's most successful companies. CEOs and CFOs around the world
should be asking their brand and marketing teams how they can leverage brand
to both protect and grow the business."

                        The Most Valuable Global Brands 2010

                                     Value in $      Brand Value change from
    Rank         Brand                million               2009

    1            Google               114,260               +14%
    2            IBM                   86,383               +30%
    3            Apple                 83,153               +32%
    4            Microsoft             76,344                 0%
    5            Coca Cola             67,983                +1%
    6            McDonald's            66,005                -1%
    7            Marlboro              57,047               +15%
    8            China Mobile          52,616               -14%
    9            GE                    45,054               -25%
    10           Vodafone              44,404               -17%
    ---          --------              ------                ---

Download the complete BrandZ ranking
(www.millwardbrown.com/brandz ), including regional and category
breakdowns. The rankings are also available as a free application for the
iPhone, Nokia and BlackBerry from www.brandz.com/mobile.

About the BrandZ Most Valuable Brands Ranking

Developed for WPP's operating companies by Millward Brown Optimor, the
BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands ranking is now in its fifth year.
It is the only study to combine measures of brand equity based on interviews
with over a million consumers globally about thousands of global "consumer
facing" and business-to-business brands with a rigorous analysis of the
financial and business performance of each company (using data from Bloomberg
and Datamonitor) to separate the value that brand plays in driving business
revenue and market capitalisation. Consumer perception of a brand is a key
input in determining brand value because brands are a combination of business
performance, product delivery, clarity of positioning, and leadership.

The ranking takes into account regional variations since, even for truly
global brands, measures of brand contribution might differ substantially
across countries.

About Millward Brown

Millward Brown (www.millwardbrown.com/ ) is one of the world's
leading research agencies and is expert in effective advertising, marketing
communications, media and brand equity research. Through the use of an
integrated suite of validated research solutions - both qualitative and
quantitative - Millward Brown helps clients build strong brands and services.
Millward Brown has more than 78 offices in 51 countries. Additional practices
include Millward Brown's Global Media Practice (media effectiveness unit),
Millward Brown Optimor (focused on helping clients maximize the returns on
their brand and marketing investments) and Dynamic Logic (the world leader in
digital marketing effectiveness). Millward Brown is part of Kantar, WPP's
insight, information and consultancy group.

About WPP

WPP is the world's largest communications services group. Through its
operating companies, the Group provides a comprehensive range of advertising
and marketing services including advertising; media investment management;
consumer insight; public relations and public affairs; branding and identity;
healthcare communications; direct, digital, promotion and relationship
marketing and specialist communications. The company employs over 138,000
people (including associates) in 2,400 offices in 107 countries. For more
information, visit www.wpp.com.

Miquet Humphyres, +44(0)1926-826179, Miquet.Humphryes at millwardbrown.com