Coca-Cola, the soft drink company known for its slogan: "It's the real thing" has finally ended its top Best Global Brand 13-year reign as Apple takes the lead, according to a closely followed most valuable brand annual report.

Interbrand's (a brand consulting company by Omnicom Group) report, which is a compilation of records for the Best Global Brands since 2000 revealed that Coca-Cola failed to snag the top spot this year and even fell to No. 3 while Apple was declared No. 1 brand.

"What is it they say, 'Long live the king'?" Global Chief Executive at Interbrand Jez Frampton said in an interview. "This year, the king is Apple," adding that it was only "a matter of time."

The 100 most valuable brands report was mainly based on criteria that include financial performance and stability. Last year, Apple was came second place from the eighth spot in the 2011 report, so it is not surprising that it came first this time around.

"Every so often, a company changes our lives, not just with its products, but with its ethos. This is why, following Coca-Cola's 13-year run at the top of Best Global Brands, Interbrand has a new No. 1 - Apple," the introduction to the report reads.

According to the report, Apple's brand value is at $98.3 billion this year, up by 28 percent compared to last year's report. Meanwhile, Coca-Cola's brand may have risen by 2 percent but it was just not enough given that its total value is at $79.2 billion.

Although "Coca-Cola is an efficient, outstanding brand marketer, no doubt about it," Mr. Frampton said, adding, that Apple and other technology brands have become "very much the poster child of the marketing community" within the recent decade.

Google snagged the second place, a favorable leap from its fourth place standing in 2012.

Yahoo! Finance reported that out of the top 10 Best Global Brands for 2013, five are in technology, namely: Apple, Google, Microsoft (5th and unchanged from last year), Samsung (8th, last year 9th), and Intel (9th, last year 8th).

I.B.M., ranked as a business services brand, landed 4th place, down a notch from 2012.

"Brands like Apple and Google and Samsung are changing our behavior: how we buy, how we communicate with each other, even whether we speak with each other," Mr. Frampton said. "They have literally changed the way we live our lives."