Support ‘soars’ for brand value disclosure, says study
Top public companies have increased support for the disclosure of brand values from 25 to 72 per cent since last year, according to research carried out by Brand Finance.
Seventy-three per cent of City analysts also believe there should be greater disclosure of information on brand values, up from 58 per cent in 1997.
Seventy-seven per cent of both – analysts and those companies in the FTSE 350 responding to the research – believe branding will become more important in the next five years.
According to the report, there is concern among analysts about the marketing costs involved in creating new Internet brands. The report also suggests off-line bricks-and-mortar brands will recover ground lost to Internet brands.
The report measures the performance of individual companies. Savings and life assurance company Skandia is top with marketing services group WPP second, based on a list of criteria which include focus on shareholder value, corporate brand and analysts’ presentations.
Skandia is also the highest scoring company for its disclosure of marketing performance and plans.
Benetton was rated the highest among analysts for taking a long-term view of marketing investment. It also came second in the product league table after Burmah Castrol. BMW scored the highest among analysts for its corporate brand.