Ditching brand valuation?

Recently we came across an article in marketing journal Campaign titled “Why we need to make 2020 the year we ditch brand valuation“. The article addresses the “noticeable limitations of brand valuation”, and the “increasing scepticism in boardrooms about how to use them”.

In particular, the article questions the relevance of public brand value rankings and calls to ditch them. Instead of brand value, the author advocates for a measurement of the impact of brand and brand investment on customer’s decision making. Nick does howver not doubt the importance of brand valuation in transactions, or for banks.

This – short but bold – article is remarkable. Its author Nick Cooper is Global Executive Director at Landor Associates, part of global WPP Group and sister company of Kantar Millward Brown, one of the publishers of various annual brand value rankings. Public dispute between siblings on a long-time PR tool and cash cow?

MARKABLES, who is referenced in the article, has been criticizing the public brand value rankings since long, and unfolded in detail the important discrepancies between transaction based brand values and prices actually paid on one side, and marketing-based brand valuation for marketing investments on the other.