Interbrand is a marketing consultancy that values well-known corporate brands. In its latest survey: 1. It claims Coca-Cola remains the world's top brand, valued at $68 billion, though down slightly from the previous year. 2. Car companies and luxury brands like watchmakers saw above average declines in brand value due to the recession. 3. Brands associated with cheaper products like McDonald's and Kellogg's saw their value rise relative to others.

1. LISTEN TO :
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/language/wordsinthenews/2009/09/091002_witn_brands.shtml
BBC, Learning English, Words in the news, 9 October 2009
Answer the following questions.
1.What is ‘Interbrand’ ?
2.What do they say about Coca Cola ?
3.What does Interbrand’s latest survey say?

2. MOST VALUABLE BRANDS A
It's hard to put a fin__________ (A1) value on a well-known corporate (B1) name
but every year the marketing consult__________ (A2) Interbrand has a go. For
example (B2) , it claims the world's top br__________ (A3) Coca-Cola is currently
worth(B3) $68bn, a couple of billion dollars l__________ (A4) than 12 months
earlier (B4) .
Its latest survey suggests the rece__________ (A5) has had a considerable impact
(B5) on the corpor__________ (A6) pecking order. Car companies (B6),
s__________ (A7) as BMW and Toyota, along (B7) with Harley Davidson
motorc__________ (A8) , have seen above average declines in the value (B8) of their
brands - as have some lux__________ (A10) firms, like watchmakers ( B10)
Cartier and Rolex, and Armani __________thing (A11). The lesson seems to be
consumers(B11) don't value exp__________ (A12) things they don't actually need
to buy so much when times are hard (B12).
Mean__________ (A13) , firms associated with relatively cheap (B13) products -
McDonalds f__________ (A14) food and Kellogg's cornflakes (B14), for example
- have seen the value of their brands r__________ (A15) relative to others in the

3. recession. The Google brand (B15) has also done well - maybe that's because more people are
b__________ (A16)-hunting on the internet.
According to the survey, the world's five most valuable (B16) brands are Coca-Cola, IBM,
Microsoft, General Electric and Nokia, unchanged from last year.
Mark Gregory, BBC News
MOST VALUABLE BRANDS B
It's hard to put a financial(A1) value on a well-known corp__________ (B1) name
but every year the marketing consultancy(A2) Interbrand has a go. For ex__________
(B2) , it claims the world's top brand (A3) Coca-Cola is currently w__________(B3)
$68bn, a couple of billion dollars less (A4) than 12 months ear__________(B4) .
Its latest survey suggests the recession (A5) has had a considerable imp__________
(B5) on the corpororate (A6) pecking order. Car comp__________ (B6),
such(A7) as BMW and Toyota, al__________ (B7) with Harley Davidson
motorcycles (A8) , have seen above average declines in the val__________ (B8) of
their brands - as have some luxury (A10) firms, like watchm__________ ( B10)
Cartier and Rolex, and Armani clothing (A11). The lesson seems to be
cons__________ (B11) don't value expensive (A12) things they don't actually need
to buy so much when times are h__________(B12).
Meanwhile (A13) , firms associated with relatively ch___________ (B13) products -

4. McDonalds fast (A14) food and Kellogg's corn__________(B14), for example -
have seen the value of their brands rise(A15) relative to others in the recession. The Google
br__________(B15) has also done well - maybe that's because more people are bargain
(A16)-hunting on the internet.
According to the survey, the world's five most val__________(B16) brands are Coca-Cola,
IBM, Microsoft, General Electric and Nokia, unchanged from last year.
Mark Gregory, BBC News