The Eternity Brand

Google, Amazon, Apple, Tesla, Netflix, Airbnb, Facebook and Starbucks are popular brands. But there's one brand, not on this list, that has staying power that exceeds any brand known today.

Branding has changed. A hundred years ago, a brand was an identifying mark burned on livestock. You could look at a cow and see that it came from, say, the Triangle X Ranch.

Now a brand is a name, term, design or symbol that separates one product or company from another. We don't see Triangle X as much as we see Apple and Starbucks.

Today, brands are for consumers, not cowboys.

Can you hazard a guess as to what the top brands are today? Google, Amazon, Apple, Tesla, Netflix, Airbnb, Facebook and Starbucks.

No surprises there. All are brands that have been burned into our brains over the last few years.

But these brands are more than simply well-known. McDonald's is not on the list, even though its golden arches are a universal symbol. ExxonMobil has a recognizable logo, but it is not included either. No, the top brands today like Google, Amazon et al., have "the power to connect deeply with people and bring about change," says one observer. "They can influence the direction of larger...