Brand Finance has released its list of the most powerful brands in the world right now. We count down through the top 10 brands with the highest brand strength index (BSI) to reveal the most powerful of them all.

This worldwide management consultancy firm is well-known for recruiting some of the highest-qualified staff in the world. It has a network of over 1,400 partners and 18,500 employees who work with clientele that includes 80% of the world’s largest organisations.

However, the company has fallen five places from last year, when it was proclaimed the fifth most powerful brand in the world.

The leading baby-product brand has a strong portfolio of several everyday brands such as Aveeno, Neutrogena and Band-Aid. Brand Finance claims the company has been a leader in innovation, and has generated an “emotional” connection with customers through these brands, giving it total power when it comes to selling reliable and essential products.

However, the brand was kicked down the table this year by NBC. Last year, it sat at number seven with a brand value of $15.1 billion (£12.15 billion).

As one of the ‘big four’ auditors, PricewaterhouseCoopers sits alongside KPMG, Ernst & Young and Deloitte, but is the most powerful of all those brands. The company has a high number of business units in 150 countries around the world, which allow it to amass a huge client base.

However, much like the other companies listed here, the tables have shifted around. PwC dropped by four places over the past year. This time last year it stood at number four.

NBC is the most powerful broadcast television network in the world, and has invested more recently in being at the centre of breaking news too. It is surprisingly unthreatened by competitors such as Netflix and Amazon Prime, as it proves there is still a huge market for traditional television.

Unlike others on this list, NBC has climbed up the list of the most powerful brands, jumping up to seventh from ninth place in 2016.

It’s unsurprising that Disney is among the most powerful brands in the world. The acquisition of Star Wars, Pixar, the Muppets and ESPN have boosted Disney’s portfolio and raised its profits considerably. Buying Star Wars in 2012 was acclaimed by many as “the deal of the century”, costing Disney $4 billion (£3.22 billion), despite the Star Wars brand being worth some $10 billion (£8 billion).

Of course, its recent purchases are just the icing on the cake for Disney. The company has a long-standing history of success, although it has slipped down the ranking as last year it held the title of most powerful brand in the world.

A new addition to the top 10, international financial services giant Visa has a seriously extensive network, with 44 million merchants and billions of cards. With operations across the world, Visa can handle 30,000 simultaneous transactions and up to 100 billion computations every second. That’s a lot of power.

According to Brand Finance, the move towards a cashless society in its core markets have had positive effects on the brand with people becoming increasingly reliant on its services rather than on cash.

This Italian sports car manufacturer has also zoomed its way into the top 10 most powerful brands this year after being knocked out last year. In 2014, it was named the world’s most powerful brand, although its influence is not matched by its value.

While the carmaker scores highly on areas such as desirability, loyalty and consumer sentiment, it is also a niche, luxury brand with a cap on the number of vehicles it produces. That’s why it’s only number 332 on the list of most valuable brands.

It’s probably unsurprising that this sports brand has featured so highly. Nike has remained one of the coolest brands since its launch 40 years ago, and has seen sales soar recently due to a high demand for shoes and apparel in North America.

These sales and increased popularity have seen Nike jump up this list by three places since last year, when it sat at position six.

As the world’s most valuable brand, it’s unsurprising it’s also one of the most powerful. Google remains pretty much undefeated in its search business, which is where the majority of its advertising income comes from.

The brand has jumped up to second position this year from 10th last year and its value has soared up to $109 billion (£88 billion).

It may not be as valuable as others on this list, landing at position 196 on the most valuable brand list, but Lego is now the most powerful brand in the world. Thanks to new lines featuring Harry Potter, Batman and Star Wars, its brand power has continued to grow.

According to Brand Finance, Lego scores highly for# familiarity, loyalty, promotion, marketing investment, staff satisfaction and corporate reputation, which is why it sits firmly at the top.