BrandFinance® Brandirectory

We help companies improve brand performance management and reporting by integrating market research, investment, market and financial metrics into a single insightful model to track performance over time and against competitors and to uncover the most important drivers of overall brand and business value.

Specific Offerings

• Brand Scorecards
• Intranet-based Solutions

We help businesses understand the relationship between brand attributes and key value drivers in the business model. This is achieved by creating a framework for measuring brand equity and connecting it to value driving behaviour in each stakeholder group. Resources can then be allocated and prioritised based on the overall impact on financial value.

Specific Offerings

• Brand Strength Analysis
• Brand Ratings
• ßrandßeta Analysis®
• Brand Value Added (BVA®)

Brand Finance uses one or more of three widely recognised Approaches to valuing brands, depending on the circumstances of the particular assignment.  Compliant with both IVSC and ISO standards we may apply a Market Approach, which determines value by benchmarking against transactions involving similar brands which may have been bought or sold.  Or we may apply a Cost Approach, which determines value by considering the cost to recreate a brand of equivalent economic utility. But more commonly we apply the Income Approach, which estimates the value of future income attributable to the brand and expresses this as a Net Present Value.  Within the Income Approach the most common method used for finance and tax brand valuations is the Royalty Relief method because it is transparent, based on commercial practice and is  more verifiable for audit and legal purposes.  However, we also frequently use the price premium, volume premium, margin uplift, cost savings, economic substitution and income split methods when appropriate.  

Our understanding of your business, the data available, and our technical expertise ensure that your brand will be robustly valued, using the most appropriate Approaches and Methods, whatever the circumstances.

Specific Offerings

• Product Brand Valuation
• Corporate Brand Valuation

We help clients by valuing branded businesses, brands and other intangible assets for purchase or sale providing reassurance to the investment and management teams. In addition, we assist in securing finance against brands by using a mixture of financial, legal, marketing and commercial due diligence.

Specific Offerings

• Trademark and IP Audit
• Visual Identity Audit
• Marketing budget Audit
• Licensing and Franchising Audit
• Sustainability Audit
• Market Research Audit

Branded business value (BBV) is the value of the entire business operating under a particular set of trademarks and associated intellectual property. Typically determining a BBV is the first step in a brand valuation exercise as calculating a brand value alone can lead to a narrow assessment of the impact that brand has on a business. BBVs give us a greater understanding of the business value as a whole as a starting point for more accurate valuations of the individual intangible assets, including brands.

Specific Offerings

• Branded Business Valuations 

We have considerable experience in conducting post-acquisition purchase price allocations and impairment reviews on specific intangibles, for financial reporting purposes. Such exercises require comprehensive and up-to-date understanding of the appropriate standards, and (in terms of audit approval) often benefit from the assurance of being conducted by a 3rd party.

Specific Offerings

• Purchase Price Allocations
• Impairment Reviews 
• Investor Relations

We help clients communicate the financial potential of the brand to inform and assist potential investors. Our independent reports provide reassurance to leveraged finance / debt providers and have enabled clients to secure finance against their brand, intellectual property and intangible assets.

Specific Offerings

• IPO
• Brand Asset-Backed Finance
• Securitisation

Brand Finance is an international leader in the valuation of intangible assets. A high level of technical understanding and expertise is applied in determining the most appropriate Approaches and Methods to arrive at a reliable valuation, given the unique nature of each intangible asset.

Specific Offerings

• Customer Lifetime Value
• Patent / R&D / Technology Valuation
• Database Valuation
• Website Valuation
• Copyright Valuation

We work closely with clients, internal and external counsel and courts to provide clear and objective expert reports relating to complex brand valuation and licensing issues.  We have frequently advised clients on the issues and assisted with mediation, arbitration and litigation.  Often the most satisfactory conclusion to a dispute is to reach a compromise in mediation or pre-court settlement. We assist all parties to understand the data, assumptions, technical valuation issues and risks under each of several scenarios.  We help to protect the commercial value of brands through a range of licensing and trademark disputes that have been settled both in and out of court.

Specific Offerings

• Loss or Damage Assessment
• Expert Witness

We help maximise earnings and provide greater brand presence and knowledge by identifying the best opportunities for licensing and franchising, both internally and externally. We also provide advice on best practice in licensing agreements.

Specific Offerings

• Licensing / Franchising Strategy
• Licensing / Franchising Negotiation
• Royalty Rate Analysis

We conduct a benchmarking study of the strength, risk and future potential of a clients brand relative to its competitor set. This helps understanding the strengths and weaknesses of the client brand compared with key competitor brands.

Specific Offerings

• Market Sizing
• Demand Forecasting
• Competitor Benchmarking

We help clients improve decision-making by providing insights which assist with budget optimisation, resource allocation, brand performance and evaluation of marketing activities. We help improve the efficiency of brand campaign planning and targeting by isolating and quantifying the impact of different marketing activities. The model guides the mix and combination of future marketing activities.

Specific Offerings

• Marketing Mix Modelling
• Marketing Return on Investment
• Sponsorship Return on Investment 
• Segmentation studies
• Budget Setting/ Optimisation
• Econometric Modelling
• Pricing / Price Elasticity Modelling

Many acquisitions do not add value to the acquirer.  Many divestments or closures turn out to have been a mistake.  Before taking action it is necessary to conduct a thorough brand due diligence to ensure that targets are fairly priced and will be sustainable. It is equally important to ensure that underperforming brands are not susceptible to a turn round if a few robust brand management actions are taken.  If a sale is to proceed has the subject brand been preened for sale and presented in the most flattering light?  

Brand Finance specialises in all forms of brand due diligence for mergers and acquisitions.  We have specialist teams of IP lawyers, licensing specialists, market researchers and business analysts.  We work to investor timetables and can produce robust results fast.

Specific Offerings

• Branded Business Sale or Purchase
• Brand Due Diligence
• Information Memoranda
• Bid Defence

The growing importance of intangible assets has significant tax planning implications. Brand Finance works for both fiscal authorities and brand owners on transfer pricing and capital gains tax issues. The Brand Finance team is expert at understanding and explaining the tax benefits and the implications of differing internal and external licensing strategies. We have experience in determining appropriate arms-length royalty payments between subsidiaries, and have assisted several companies in setting up bespoke IP holding companies, which own, manage and licence out brands and other IP to the rest of their organisations.

Specific Offerings

• Tax Valuation
• Transfer and Advance Pricing
• Brand / IP Holding Companies

Brand Finance has developed an accelerated brand strategy and innovation process known as BrandGenius®.

This process involves a series of three or four management workshops (Insight, Strategy, Creation, Implementation) which are interwoven with on-the-ground research and analysis to feed the process.  These are 1 or typically 2 day workshops with intense consulting activity between sessions to arrive at accelerated solutions to client problems.  Projects have included market segmentation, brand positioning, brand vision and mission, product and service development, brand naming, product launch, licensing and franchising, market entry, sustainability planning, certification strategy, brand architecture, brand portfolio review and distribution/business model redesign. 

Specific Offerings

• Brand Genius Workshops

It is vital that the brand valuation includes an assessment of the legal protection afforded to the brand in each geographical jurisdiction and product or service registration category. These legal rights vary between legal systems and need to be carefully considered when forming the brand valuation opinion. For example, the legal rights protecting brands exist at a national (UK), supra-national (EU) and global (WIPO) level and have different characteristics.

Specific Offerings

• Trademark Registration Strategy