Study: GE brand in top 6

A back-to-basics ad campaign and sponsorship of the London Olympic games won General Electric Co. the sixth slot on a ranking of global brands.

In the study published by Interbrand, Fairfield-based GE trailed only Coca-Cola, Apple, IBM, Google and Microsoft.

“As the market swooned over social networks, the mobile media revolution, and the all-knowing cloud, GE pulled the ultimate trump card,” Interbrand wrote in its report. “In 2012, the brand launched GE Works, an integrated communications platform. With gripping imagery and stories of meaningful human outcomes, the campaign reasserted the brand as the world’s maker of ‘real’ things ”“ from job creation in the manufacturing sector to advanced health care technologies, GE’s focus has been squarely on asserting its global leadership role.”

Norwalk-based Xerox Corp. ranked 59th on the list, and the Johnnie Walker and Smirnoff brands of Diageo plc came in at 83rd and 90th respectively, with Diageo having its U.S. headquarters in Norwalk. Nestlé, whose Nestlé Waters North America subsidiary its based in Stamford, was ranked 57th.

Besides Armonk, N.Y.-based IBM, several other Westchester County, N.Y. employers numbered among the world’s 100 best brands, including:

• PepsiCo, 22nd;
• Danone, 52nd,
• Heineken, 92nd; and
• MasterCard, 94th.