The Value of Brands—and Their Content

Forbes Magazine - Top 10 Most Valuable Trademarks

I worked briefly with a lovely man named David Haigh when he was at the branding consultancy Interbrand.

David was famously obsessed with brand valuation, the science (he maintained) of putting a balance-sheet value on brands—and he developed a thriving and well-regarded practice doing just this within Interbrand.

He went off to found his own business: Brand Finance. He’s clearly made a success of it, as I noticed their list of the Top 10 Most Valuable Trademarks in Forbes Magazine last week.

The list contains the famous names that you’d expect—Google, Walmart, Vodafone, etc.—with some eye-popping numbers on the estimated proportion that the brand name brings to the market cap of each business.

There is, of course, a direct correlation between strong branding and strong storytelling and customer engagement. It should be easier in theory for brands with immediate recognition to connect more easily with their customers. For, after all, what is a brand if it’s not an expression of the personality of a business? But some strong brands are trademarks and logos, rather than personalities—and determining the tone of voice and personality for Bank of America or AT&T is a rather more formidable task than doing the same for Apple, for instance.

Luckily, help is at hand!

Posted By: Craig Waller