Ad Age has rounded up their top forty brands in the US for 2009. Game brands making the cut include 2K Sports NBA 2K franchise, EA’s “The Beatle s Rock Band,” social game maker Zynga, and the independently developed game World of Goo. Other noteworthy brands on the list are Microsoft’s Bing search engine, Mountain Dew, Jordan Brand sports apparel, and HP’s female-targeted Limited Edition Mini laptops.

Each brand gets its own case study by Ad Age writers, who talk to marketing executives and outline efforts in the year that helped put their brands above competitors. Read more at Ad Age.