Pulling Back the Curtain on Brand Valuation

Brand & New

Whether they discover new brands on social media or loyally purchase the same brands as their grandparents, consumers today encounter a variety of products and services designed to satisfy their diverse needs and preferences. The sum of these purchases is a core driver of economic growth.

In today’s economy, intangible assets play a large role in shaping customer behavior and purchasing habits. Consumers are anticipating a logo, recalling a jingle, or associating a product with an influencer. How does a company determine which of these marketing assets to invest in? How do investors assess the company’s intellectual property (IP) to calculate future returns? And how can governments understand whether the businesses in their jurisdiction are creating IP that is likely to fuel economic growth?

Brand valuation provides a way to standardize questions such as these. Instead of having to subjectively describe why a brand is valuable, an organization can now quantify, assess, and benchmark intangible assets, and strategize accordingly, through brand valuation exercises.

INTA is approaching the valuation and commercialization of brands as a strategic priority within in 2022–2025 Strategic Plan. The Association is committed to provide brand professionals with a solid understanding of brand valuation and evaluation, to help them become key partners to their finance teams and effectively communicate the value of trademarks to both members of the C-suite and externally. Earlier this year, INTA recently published the Presidential Task Force Report on IP Reporting for Brands. Valuation methodologies are also covered in its Finance for Non-Finance Legal Professionals Certificate Program.

Today’s guest is David Haigh, the founder and CEO of Brand Finance Plc. He is a pioneer and foremost expert in brand valuation. He has worked in the field of branded business, and brand and intangible asset valuation since 1991 and, since 1995, has specialized entirely in this area.

Mr. Haigh has represented the British Standards Institution in the working parties responsible for crafting international industry standards and has authored many articles on brand valuation, having been published in numerous marketing and finance newspapers and magazines, including Accountancy Age, the Financial Times, and Marketing Week. He has also lectured on the topic of brand valuation at business schools around the world.

Mr. Haigh graduated from Bristol University with an English degree, qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Price Waterhouse in London, and obtained a postgraduate diploma in Marketing from the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM). He is a Fellow of The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and has a practicing certificate with the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW).

Related Resources

• About David Haigh
• About the Brand Finance Institute
• Brands: Past, Present, and Future (Brand & New, July 2024)
• IP Reporting for Brands Presidential Taskforce Report (INTA, 2024)
• Finance for Non-Finance Legal Professionals Certificate Program (INTA)