Dairy giant Vinamilk tops the list of 50 most valuable brands listed on Vietnamese stock markets, which was released by UK-based Brand Finance at the recent Vietnam Brand Matters Forum. Vinamilk is worth more than 1.1 billion USD in value, nearly double that of the runner up Viettel. The aggregate value of those 50 brands is about 5.5 billion USD, slightly higher than DBS – the most valuable bank brand in the ASEAN, which was worth 4.4 billion USD. This is the first time, Vietnamese brands were considered for the list by Brand Finance – the UK based Brand Evaluation company, which is thanks to the strategic cooperation between Brand Finance and Mibrand, the leading local Brand Management Consultant company. Annually, Brand Finance announces the values of more than 57,000 brands around the globe. Some of the top annual reports by the marketer include Top 500 Global Brand, Top 500 Banks, National Brand Report. Those reports were widely published by top media sites such as BBC, CNN, CNBC, Bloomberg, The Economist and The Wall Street Journal. According to Lai Tien Manh, Managing Director of Mibrand Vietnam, the list of the top 50 Vietnamese brands on Vietnam's Stock Market brought a completely new point of view on how a brand should bring value to a company. Brand value can be clearly valued with a specific amount of real money. It helps raise awareness and improve brand management capability among Vietnamese managers and marketers. The expert also said that, in this early stage of Vietnam entering TPP, brands will be a key for companies to open TPP markets once tariffs are lowered. Therefore, brand management deserves to have more attention from local businesses in the future. "We are happy to see that among our clients, seven of them appeared on the list of the top 50 brands announced this year. We believe that those brands will have an opportunity to stay strong and help businesses to expand even further in the big market of TPP," Manh said. Besides Vinamilk and Viettel, the list also includes FPT, Vietcombank and Bao Viet insurer. The FPT giant software group was ranked sixth with a value of 239 million USD and a brand rating of AA plus, according to Brand Finance. FPT's total asset value stood at more than 1 billion USD in 2014. Meanwhile, Bao Viet ranked 17th with a brand value of 79 million USD and a brand rating of A plus. Bao Viet Group has offered more than 120 insurance products in tandem with stock services, fund management and banking, serving more than 17 million clients across the nation. The world's leading brand valuation consultancy firm conducts valuations based on a number of criteria, including the ability to generate added value and profit, the brand's influence on clients' selection of products and services and market cap.-VNA