Madison Avenue may be the center of the advertising industry, but Silicon Valley is home to the most valuable brands. For the third consecutive year, Apple tops the annual Interbrand Best Global Brands report.

The technology industry dominated the Interbrand list this year, representing more than one-third of the report's overall value. Including No. 1 Apple and No. 2 Google, technology brands filled four of the report's top 10 spots. Microsoft climbed a notch to No. 4, bumping IBM to No. 5; Samsung remained at No. 7. Interbrand classifies IBM as a business services brand, and Amazon, at No. 10, as a retail brand.

The official report, which is to be released later this morning, estimates the value of the Apple's brand at 170.3 billion, up 43 per cent from last year. The Google brand, at $120.3 billion, increased in value by 12 per cent. Noteworthy is the fact that the value of Facebook's brand, ranked No. 23, increased 54 per cent to $22 billion, the highest percentage increase for any company from last year's report.

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