Victoria’s Secret brand ranked No. 2 in Ohio

Victoria’s Secret is central Ohio’s most valuable brand — and the state’s secondmost valuable — according to the annual Brand Finance U.S. 500.

The lingerie chain, part of Columbus-based L Brands, is worth $6.2 billion, making it 109th out of 500 brands, the report from international marketing firm Brand Finance said.

Every year, the firm evaluates thousands of brands to gauge which are the most powerful and the most valuable by country, by industry and against all other brands worldwide.

Brand Finance calculates brand value by determining what a company would be willing to pay to license its brand if it did not own it. This approach involves estimating the future revenue attributable to a brand and calculating a royalty rate that would be charged for its use.

Ohio is home to 27 of the nation’s 500 most valuable brands, ranking Ohio ninth among the states, according to Brand Finance. They’re worth $81.8 billion in all. Ohio’s lineup of leading brands is dominated by Cincinnati-based Procter & Gamble, which has nine of the state’s most valuable brands.

“Ohio has been home base to some of the country’s most iconic consumer Victoria’s Secret has a store at the international airport in Athens, Greece. A study by a marketing firm values the Victoria’s Secret brand at $6.2 billion, which ranks second in Ohio to the $6.3 billion for Procter & Gamble’s Pampers diapers.

brands, many of which are listed as the most valuable in the state, including P&G’s Pampers, Pantene, Tide and Head & Shoulders all among the state’s top 10,” said Laurence Newell, director of Brand Finance North America, in an email.

“Nevertheless, equally noteworthy are brands from other sectors such as the world’s fastestgrowing restaurants brand of 2018, Wendy’s, which has embarked on a global expansion and plans to open 1,000 new sites by 2020.”

Although Victoria’s Secret was central Ohio’s most valuable brand, Pampers edged out the L Brands chain to be the state’s most valuable brand, worth $6.3 billion, ranking it 105th nationally.

Kroger was the third-most valuable brand in Ohio,

worth $5.9 billion; Pantene was fourth, at $5 billion; and Macy’s was fifth, at $4.9 billion.

Other central Ohio companies in the top 500 included Cardinal Health, $3.1 billion; Wendy’s, $2.3 billion; and Huntington, $1.3 billion.

California topped the list with 80 most valuable brands.

The top brand on the list, Amazon, is based in Washington. Brand Finance reports that Amazon’s brand value grew by a whopping 42 percent, to $ 150.8 billion, allowing the online giant to overtake Apple, despite the computer kingpin’s 37 percent growth in brand strength to $ 120.9 billion.