In July this blog had 31151 visitors, 15% up on June which was 19% ahead of May. Still going in the right direction but Summer lassitude must surely slow the growth soon.

We work closely with the world's leading branding organisation, Interbrand. They did an excellent job helping us with the launch of Palgrave Macmillan as a an established imprint with a new name. We also publish with them across a range of titles. I therefore take a particular interest in their annual report on global brands which has had quite a bit of press attention of late.

For those of you who can't be bothered to click to the report and scroll down here are the top ten global brands:

Coca-Cola

Microsoft

IBM

GE

Intel

Nokia

Toyota

Disney

McDonald's

Mercedes

Only one 'media' company, Disney. Google appears at 24, Sony at 26, Apple at 39. Amazon is 65. The first professional publisher is Reuters at 78. There is not a single consumer publisher in the top 100. No Penguin, no Random House, no Hachette, no HarperCollins - definitely no Macmillan. And yet I cannot remember an annual report of a publishing company which did not shout about the strength of its brand and the protection this gives a publisher from the challenges of a changing technological world.

And an old chestnut from British politics but I like it. Someone once asked a colleague why everyone took an instant dislike to Peter Mandelson (now the EU Trade Commissioner, whatever that is) and the answer was 'Because it saves time.'