Apple has held on to its title as the world’s most valuable brand portfolio, with an estimated worth of almost $146bn*, according to the latest Brand Finance Portfolio 100, which evaluates brands to determine which are the most powerful and valuable by country and by industry.

Alphabet (Google’s parent company) takes second place on the table with a portfolio value of $99bn, followed by Samsung Group ($83bn), Wal-Mart Stores ($78bn) and Microsoft Corp ($74bn).

Also featuring in the top 10 are Amazon.com in sixth place with a value of $70bn, followed by Nestle SA ($67bn) and Verizon Communications ($63bn). At&T ($60bn) and Toyota Motor Corp ($55bn) round out the top 10.

Coca-Cola, the longest-standing sponsor of the Olympics, was the most successful brand sponsor at Rio 2016, with the best performing TV ads among US viewers, according to a recent study by Google.

Based on an analysis of the top 12 most advertised brands based on NBC’s broadcasts of this year’s summer games, Coca-Cola’s “That’s Gold” campaign performed the best across the board with strong full-funnel performance placing based on analysis across three specific areas of performance.

When Satochi Tajiri first created the Pokemon concept in 1995, and released the first two Gameboy video games (red and green) a year later, he would never have envisioned middle-aged bureaucrats running round London (and every other city in the world) trying to catch them all just 20 years later.

Pokemon Go is rapidly becoming the most successful mobile app of all time. It took just 13 hours to hit the top of the US sales charts, and after a global frenzy of anticipation cut that to just 3 hours for the German charts. It’s lucrative too, topping $2 million of revenue per day in the US market, according to Yahoo.

There are lots brands can learn from Pokemon Go, but here are some you may not have considered…

Lesson 1: Reality trumps quality every time

Remember when reality TV came on the scene? “Proper” TV people bashed it, claiming a lack of production values, wit, etc. But people lapped it up anyway.

Why? Because it broke free of the studio and embraced the rough and ready unpredictability of the real world. It was closer to us and, therefore, more relevant. Pokemon Go has done the same.

In spite of its success, it’s considered a poor game by any objective measure. A Guardian review summarised it as “not a good game, but a great experience”.

The fact that it exists in the world around us, not just on our screens, means, like reality TV, that quality doesn’t matter. Take your campaigns out of their media spaces and into the world around them, and the same will apply for you.

MediaCom has stormed ahead on the Festival of Media LatAm Awards 2016 shortlist, with a total of 24 campaigns shortlisted across 13 different categories, including Best Communications Strategy, The Effectiveness Award, Best Social Media Campaign and the newly-introduced Best Use of an Influencer. OMD follows with 15 entries and Initiative hot on its tail with 14.  

Campaigns run in Argentina dominate this year's shortlist, while Brazil and Colombia come in joint second place. The competition represents work from a wide range of advertisers including BBVA, The Coca-Cola Company, Diageo, Grupo Ramos, Procter & Gamble, Unilever, VISA and Volkswagen. 

The quality of campaigns has been evaluated by more than 40 judges from leading brands, media agencies, specialist companies and media owners. The final jury is being chaired by Jennelle Tilling, CMO for KFC Global. Click here for more information about this year's judges and the awards scheme. 

Winners will be announced during the two-day Festival of Media LatAm conference, which takes place at Turnberry Isle, Miami from October 6-7, 2016. Click here for more information about the festival and details on how to attend.

Check out the full shortlist below and link through to read the full case studies.

To celebrate the 70^th anniversary of McCann Montevideo, the agency has launched a limited-edition perfume called ‘I CANN Eau de Créativité’ that symbolises its commitment to creativity.

With the purpose of making it a medium to boost creativity, the idea was developed based on the idea that McCann’s role is to encourage creativity among clients and in their brand development, therefore it wanted to create a product that would boost creativity among its own people.

The thinking behind the name ‘I CANN’ emphasises that everybody can develop and express the power of their own creativity, and a campaign to promote it has been starred by agency staff.

A recent event hosted by Collective, experts in digital brand solutions, brought together charity branding experts from MacMillan Cancer Support, WWF and MediaCom to explore how to balance brand building and fundraising for charities. The event culminated in a panel debate exploring some of the key digital marketing challenges that charities face, from shock tactics and measurement to the tension between brand building and fundraising.  

The short series of videos below focuses on the key outcomes of the event, including a sneak peek at some of the charity brand experts' favourite charity campaigns, plus Collective's creative director Alex Burn reveals the six key factors charities need to bear in mind when marketing themselves digitally. Check it out below...

The best charity campaigns [from the experts]:

6 rules for successful charity marketing in digital [Alex Burn, Creative Director, Collective]:

We've got a bunch of great charity campaign case studies right here on Cream. Need more inspiration? Check this out >>>>