Brand Finance Global Forum 2020 - The Value of Design to Customers

Alex is an all-rounder on all areas of valuation and quantitative market research but is a technical specialist in the assessment on the return on investment of different brand architecture and brand positioning options. Much of this experience has focused on identifying the brand structures, media investment, media mix and distribution channel management needed to minimise risk and maximise opportunity from any brand changes.

His other area of expertise is the use of market research and brand valuation for licensing strategy and transfer pricing having helped to set up brand licensing teams and structures with many clients.

He is a Chartered Accountant, Chartered Tax adviser and has completed the Advance Diploma in International Tax, with a specialisation in Transfer Pricing. He holds a dual degree in Economics and Environmental Policy from the London School of Economics and has completed training in Data Analysis and Marketing Strategy. He has worked internationally across all continents and in most sectors and now manages Brand Finance's teams and client work across Asia and Australasia.

Andy joined Brand Finance as Insight & Research Director in 2013. He has a wealth of experience in international research, with over 25 years in the field, many of which were spent in senior leadership positions at Mars, PepsiCo and Vodafone. Whilst Director of Customer Insight and Segment Strategy at Vodafone, Andy set up and developed the insight function, and was a key player in the creation of the Vodafone brand globally . During his time at Brand Finance, Andy has worked for many notable clients including Holcim, HSBC, Turkish Airlines, Vodafone and Shell. With his expertise in linking customer insight to brand and marketing implications, Andy has been able to advise clients about their brand and marketing strategy, enabling them to take important decisions about how to maximise their brand’s utility. This advice has covered a wide range of issues including; brand architecture, brand positioning, portfolio management, brand franchising and licencing agreements.  Andy originally graduated from St John’s College, Cambridge, with a degree in Natural Sciences

David is the Chairman and CEO of Brand Finance Plc – the world’s leading brand valuation consultancy. He has worked in the area of branded business, brand, and intangible asset valuation since 1991. He specialised entirely in the field after becoming the Director of Brand Valuation for Interbrand in 1995. He subsequently left Interbrand in 1996 to launch Brand Finance which is celebrating 25 years in business this year.

David represented the British Standards Institution in the working parties responsible for crafting international industry standards: ISO 10668 on Brand Valuation in 2010 and ISO 20671 on Brand Evaluation in 2019.

David is a passionate writer and has authored many articles on brand valuation, published in numerous marketing and finance newspapers and magazines, such as: Financial Times, Accountancy Age, and Marketing Week. He has also lectured on the topic of brand valuation for Harvard, Chicago, and London Business Schools.

David 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 practising certificate with the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW).

Lakshminarasimhan Srinivasan (Lakshmi), Global Head of TCS Interactive, is on a mission to transform businesses through design-led innovation and achieve iconic customer experience outcomes by leveraging experiential and immersive technologies.

In his more than two decades with TCS, Lakshmi has been instrumental in formulating strategy and driving growth in multiple TCS business units.

Before becoming the global head of TCS Interactive, he established TCS’s Blockchain unit and transformed it into an industry leader, driving innovation for adopting blockchain technologies for purposeful ecosystems. He nurtured relationships with several leading academic institutions and managed collaborative research and co-innovation with TCS. Previously, he established and managed TCS’s Eco Sustainability Unit to help clients integrate sustainability into their strategies. Through his efforts with Eco Sustainability, he evolved and integrated various Energy and Sustainability services into mainstream offerings of TCS.

Lakshmi has also served as the head of TCS Telecom in Europe, where he built strong relationships for TCS with several European telecom service providers, fuelling the company’s growth and leadership position in this important sector. He has also led TCS’s Telecom Business Process Services practice, defining its growth strategy and executing across global telecom players, driving the unit’s rapid growth. Lakshmi played an instrumental role in refining TCS’s overall Business Process Services strategy.

Lakshmi is a university gold medalist and holds a bachelor’s degree in engineering from the College of Engineering, Anna University, Chennai, India. Lakshmi is based in Boston, MA and besides US, has lived and worked in India, United Kingdom and Europe. He follows American football and is a great fan of the Indian cricket team.

Rowena Curlewis is the co-founder and CEO of drinks design specialist agency Denomination. Denomination specialises in the alcoholic beverages sector across wine, beer, spirits and cider. Key clients of Denomination include Treasury Wine Estates, Accolade Wines, Pernod Ricard, Symington Family Estates, Yalumba, Ste. Michelle Wine Estates, Zonin1821 and Distinguished Vineyards US. Rowena and her business partner Margaret Nolan have worked on the Penfolds brand since 2002, and have been instrumental in setting the creative benchmark globally for this iconic brand.

Denomination has won 200+ design and drinks awards since 2012 including International Design Agency of the Year 2016, 2017 and 2019 by Harper’s Wine & Spirits, and #1 The Dieline Wine & Champagne 2019 and 2020.

Rowena is the lead spokesperson for Denomination. She is a regular contributor to drinks press including Harpers Wine & Spirits, Drinks Business, Drinks International, WBM, Formes de Luxe, Communication Arts, Dieline, Packaging News, Global Drinks Intel, The Grocer and Computer Arts; and a keynote speaker at Printex, Wine Communicators Australia, World Spirits Conference, London Wine Fair and AGIDEAS.

Tim Bravo started his professional career in 2006 with the broadcaster Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR). He then held further positions, for example in the Corporate Communications department of Lanxess AG. In 2011, Bravo joined the Volkswagen Group. Following various positions with SEAT S.A. in Barcelona, he moved to Stuttgart as Press Spokesperson of Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG in 2014.

Over the past three years, Bravo, who holds a degree in communications science, was the Press and PR Manager of Porsche Latin America, based in Miami, and was responsible for the entire communication activities of the Porsche brand in the region. In his new function with Bugatti, Tim Bravo will be responsible for the worldwide media communications of the French luxury brand.