Luxury and premium categories dominate the BrandZ Top 50 ranking. Carrefour is also back in to the top 10 for 2020. The brand focusses on omnichannel, e-commerce and innovating the retail experience. AXA insurance and telecoms giants Orange and SFR also make the top tier. Year on year, the power of French brands is becoming more concentrated and seeing more growth, largely thanks to international popularity and prestige in both established and flourishing new economies. France’s blue-chip luxury brand stable has also evolved to embrace a rapidly evolving younger luxury consumer seeking connected experiences, exclusive sportswear, diversity in representation (and among designers), and the new ethical and sustainable spirit starting to pervade in luxury. These major luxury players are doubling down on ultra-lavish brand experiences—from fashion shows to branded private townhouses—to reward their most loyal and wealthy clientele, while using experiences elsewhere to create evocative social media content and engage entry-level consumers. This, in turn, has created a barrier to entry for smaller brands with less resources, as each experience, stage set, and destination show is more extravagant than the next.

The Top 10 Most valuable French brands also share focus on technology and innovation. L’Oréal continues to invest in new beauty tech advances, from exploring biotech to photo recognition tools like Modiface to sensor diagnostic tools such as wearable appliances that measure skin pH. Garnier has been piloting virtual hair dye tools in stores. Orange has diversified into mobile payments and wallets. Dior, one of 2020’s stars, has been blurring innovation with art, working with Japanese artist Hajime Sorayama to create a futuristic giant female robot for Dior’s Pre-Fall 2019 menswear show in Tokyo.

THE TOP 10 MOST VALUABLE BRANDS 2020

1. Louis Vuitton, Luxury, $53,407m

2. Chanel, Luxury, $43,038m

3. Hermès, Luxury, $34,623m

4. L’Oréal Paris, Personal Care, $27,828m

5. Orange, Telecom Provider, $19,912m

6. Lancôme, Personal Care, $13,052m

7. Garnier, Personal Care, $7,061m

8. AXA, Insurance, $6,991m

9. SFR, Telecom Provider, $6,885m

10. Carrefour, Retail, $6,392m

source brandz.com

feature image credit: Veselina Dzhingarova flickr stream

original image cropped