Brands that are “meaningful” to consumers are growing faster and becoming more visible to large language models (LLMs), according to data from Kantar’s 2026 BrandZ global ranking.
The research found brands that improved their meaning and relevance with consumers have increased their brand value by an average 129% since 2019, compared with 80% growth for brands which lost meaning over the same period.
Kantar defines “meaningful” brands as those consumers feel emotionally connected to and believe meet their needs. According to Kantar head of brand activation Jodie Gillary, that dynamic is becoming even more important as AI changes how consumers discover and choose brands.
“The growth of chat-based tools is changing how people access brands and how brands are chosen and, therefore, meeting needs has really come to the fore,” she says.
“Given that when you’re asking AI, you are asking for something first and foremost that is best – you’re asking it to match the brand to your needs.”
The findings come as AI is accelerating one of the biggest shifts in brand value the industry has seen, pushing the threshold to enter Kantar’s BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands ranking to its highest level yet. The combined value of the global top 100 reached a record $13.1tn (£9.6bn) this year, up 22% year-on-year.
Gillary argues brands now need to optimise for both people and machines.
“AI is going to completely change the way that we discover and interact with brands,” she says. “Brands that meet these specific needs in a way that is different to other brands will be the Holy Grail now. But in an AI world, brands also have to be talked about so that the machines can find them in order to recommend them.”
The research suggests visibility within AI is increasingly linked to online relevance, cultural presence and clear associations with specific consumer needs. By strengthening their “meaning”, brands can also influence pricing power, with meaning now accounting for 46% of brand pricing power in apparel and personal care.
Brands that are not investing in either social or search are going to be at a disadvantage, because this is increasingly how brands are discovered and chosen.
Jodie Gillary, Kantar
Two brands highlighted by Kantar as examples are La Roche-Posay and CeraVe, which both entered the personal care ranking for the first time this year. According to the findings, both brands achieved the highest share of LLM responses in skincare-related searches, with La Roche-Posay accounting for 11.29% and CeraVe 10.94%.
“In terms of humans, they’ve got very strong momentum. They’re outperforming the category to some degree. Data-specific research we’ve done this year in the UK shows that they are the two most visible skincare brands to LLMs,” adds Gillary.
The brands have achieved that visibility in different ways. La Roche-Posay has become strongly associated with specific skincare concerns, including acne, scarring and sun damage, helping the beauty firm generate discussion across online forums and communities LLMs draw from.
Meanwhile, CeraVe has built relevance through internet culture and campaigns designed to generate online conversation and social visibility.
AI takes centre stage
AI is a dominant theme throughout this year’s rankings. For the first time, three brands simultaneously exceeded the $1tn brand value threshold, with Google ranked first at $1.5tn, followed by Apple ($1.4tn), Microsoft ($1.1tn) and Amazon ($1tn).
Google reclaimed the top spot for the first time since 2018, after its brand value rose 57% year-on-year. Kantar attributes the growth to the integration of its generative AI model Gemini across its products, the rollout of agentic AI search features and continued investment in data centres.
AI challenger brand Claude from Anthropic also made a strong debut, with the brand entering the global top 100 at number 27 with a brand value of $96.6bn (£71.3bn).
Meanwhile, OpenAI’s ChatGPT recorded the highest year-on-year increase in brand value in this year’s ranking, up 285%. According to Kantar, the only larger increase recorded in the history of the top 100 was BlackBerry’s 390% rise in 2008.
“These AI brands are not only powerful brands in their own right, but they’re also having a massive impact on other brands in the ranking,” Gillary explains.
However, media and entertainment was the fastest-growing category overall, outpacing even AI. The world’s leading media and entertainment brands grew 40%, driven by gains from Meta’s platforms, YouTube, Netflix and TikTok. According to Gillary, those platforms are also helping drive growth for other brands through visibility and discovery.
“You’ve got social media brands growing rapidly on one side and AI brands growing rapidly on the other,” she says. “Both are driving brand growth, but in different ways. They’re not necessarily benefiting directly from each other, but they are reshaping how brands are discovered and chosen.”
Despite the dominance of technology brands, McDonald’s was the only non-tech brand to appear in the top 10, ranking tenth overall – down from eighth last year.
The rankings also point to changing dynamics across retail and financial services. Zara overtook Nike to become the world’s most valuable apparel brand, which Kantar links to its investment in personalised AI-powered shopping experiences designed to improve relevance and convenience for consumers.
Financial services also recorded strong growth, driven by traditional banking brands strengthening consumer trust and relationships.
Chase and HSBC were among the strongest performers in the category. HSBC was also the only UK brand to appear in the global top 100 this year, after no UK brands featured in 2025’s ranking.
Gillary says the findings reinforce that the fundamentals of brand building remain unchanged, despite the rise of AI.
“The rules of brand building still apply. It’s essentially how you go about meeting people’s needs, being part of culture, showing up in a way that is different to other brands and justifying your price premium,” she adds.
However, Gillary argues brands which effectively integrate technology into consumers’ lives are likely to gain an advantage.
“If you’re able to leverage tech then that is a shortcut, because it fits with people’s lives. It meets them where they are. So brands that are not investing in either social or search are going to be at a disadvantage, because this is increasingly how brands are discovered and chosen,” she says.
