12 Regional Brands Valued Among the Top 500 in the U.S.

Brand Finance has just released its 2017 list of America’s Top 500 brands, based on their dollar value, and the Missouri-Kansas region is represented by an even dozen.

The good news for those regional companies is that 10 of the 12 saw their brand values, and thus their brand rankings, rise over the past year, with eight moving up by at least 10 spots on the list, and four of those making jumps of more than 50 spots. Leading the way in terms of ranking improvement was Panera Bread, up 87 spots to No. 342, with a brand value of $1.93 billion. That was just ahead of the 81-spot improvement for Enterprise, which came in at No. 128, with a brand value of $5.31 billion.

The highest-ranking regional company was Sprint, with a brand value of $8.5 billion (and up three spots to No. 67 in the rankings). Anheuser-Busch score three Top 500 brands, led by Bud Light at No. 89 (up 29 spots, with a $6.61 billion brand value); Budwesiser at No. 111 (up 22 spots, with a brand value of $5.86 billion; and Busch at No. 462 (up 66 spots, with a brand value of  $1.33 billion.

The other regional companies listed for 2017, in order of their ranking: No. 106 Purina, down seven spots with a $5.95 billion value; No. 181 Express Scripts, down 14 spots, with a brand value of $4.06 billion; No. 188 Emerson, up two spots with a brand value of $3.83 billion; No. 210 Cerner Corp., up 18 spots with a brand value of $3.44 billion; No. 222 O’Reilly Auto Parts, up 62 spots with a brand value of $3.2 billion; and No. 256 Centene Corp., up 37 spots, with a brand value of $2.71 billion. The lone regional company to drop out of the Top 500 was Monsanto Corp.

Brand Finance issues yearly assessments of brand values for thousands of the world’s biggest companies, basing its rankings on factors that include marketing investment, familiarity, preference, sustainability and margins. Google toppled Apple, Inc., for No. 1 on this year’s U.S. list, a full version of which is available here.