On Thursday 18 June, Brand Finance welcomed senior marketing and brand leaders to the Tate Modern for the launch of the Brand Finance UK 250 2026 report and a thought-provoking discussion on one of the most pressing challenges facing marketers today: how to build trust and convert it into measurable business value in an increasingly sceptical world.
The event brought together CMOs, brand strategists, and business leaders for a morning of insight, debate, and networking, featuring exclusive UK 250 findings, a panel discussion with leading marketing executives, and a keynote address from world-renowned marketing expert Mark Ritson.
As part of Brand Finance's global programme of events and during the firm's 30th anniversary year, the gathering explored the evolving relationship between trust, brand strength, and financial performance, while examining how marketing leaders can demonstrate impact in an environment of increasing scrutiny and budget pressure.
h
UK 250 2026 Ranking Reveal
Annie Brown, Managing Director UK at Brand Finance, presented the findings of the Brand Finance UK 250 2026 report at the Tate Modern in London, revealing the latest ranking of the UK's most valuable and strongest brands. Shell was named the UK's most valuable brand, while Revolut claimed the title of fastest growing. Annie's presentation focused on the critical relationship between trust, brand strength and financial performance, exploring the factors driving long-term brand value and resilience in a rapidly evolving market.
Panel Discussion | The Trust Dividend: How CMOs Build Value in a Sceptical World
Paula Oliveria, Global Head of Strategic Services at Brand Finance, moderated a panel discussion between participants from Vodafone Group (Anne Stilling, Global Director Brand and Customer), L&G (Andy McQuillan, Chief Marketing Officer, Asset Management), and PwC (Global Chief Marketing Officer), where they explored:
Keynote | Trust vs Traction: Rethinking What Drives Brand Growth
World-renowned marketing expert and MiniMBA Founder Mark Ritson put a deceptively simple question to the room: can we trust trust? Drawing on examples ranging from Johnnie Walker to Betty Crocker, he explored how strong brands build emotional connections but challenged the assumption that trust alone drives growth. His argument: salience, being the brand that comes to mind first, remains one of the most powerful levers available to marketers. The question he left the audience with: should brands focus more on being trusted, or on being remembered?
Mark Ritson holds a PhD in Marketing from Lancaster University and was a marketing professor for 25 years teaching at London Business School, Melbourne Business School, MIT Sloan, and the University of Minnesota. An award-winning MBA educator, he is recognised as one of the world’s leading marketing experts. He has consulted globally for brands including Baxter, Dom Perignon, Annheuser Bush, De Beers, and Sephora, and from 2002 to 2015 served as in-house professor for LVMH, the world’s largest luxury group. He is the founder of the MiniMBA, which has provided MBA-level training in marketing, branding and management to more than 35,000 executives.
Passionate Marketeer for 25+ years –strong background in global marketing learnt in FMCG and telco sectors. Company s include Kraft Foods, Black&Decker, Young&Rubicam – but the majority in Vodafone Germany and Group. Functions include Strategic Planning, Commercial and Brand & Media. Believes in data-driven decision-making to stimulate growth, enjoys collaborating with creative minds and sees the magic in emotion.
Non excec in various boards (Vodafone Germany, Vodafone Group VSSL but also supporting start ups), Meta Emea client council member and WFA Exec Committee member.
Mother and passionate athlete (hyrox).
As CMO of L&G - Asset Management, Andy is a leader to a global marketing team spanning the UK, Europe, US and Asia. Drawing on strong in-house capabilities, the team drives commercial objectives across L&G with a range of full-funnel marketing - from raising brand awareness, to channel and product marketing, to sales enablement, CRM and retention. Awards include Investment Week Marketing Leader of the Year 2021 and Marketing Team of the Year 2022.
Andy joined L&G in 2019 from Vanguard, where he was Head of UK Marketing. Prior to that, he was First Vice President, Strategic Marketing & Communications, EFG International, based in Zurich, Switzerland. Previously Andy was a founding partner of GMQ, a strategic consultancy focusing on the wealth management sector. He started his career with a variety of leadership roles at Barclays and is a graduate in economics from Cambridge University.
Antonia is the global Chief Marketing Officer of PwC, leading brand strategy for one of the world's most trusted companies, driving global marketing campaigns and running the clientfacing technology stack. Before that, she was CMO at Capita where she built a strategic, data driven marketing function, transforming them from a loss making function to contributing 5bn+ pipeline. Prior to that, she led marketing for Thomson Reuters, delivering 17% of gross sales and 34% of pipeline. She also led marketing for Accenture’s $3bn operations business to accelerate sales, drive customer loyalty and raise brand profile. She is passionate about B2B marketing and building high performance teams, loves solving business challenges, and driving strong, creative ideas can build real differentiation and brand profile.
David is the Chairman 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).
Annie is a qualified management accountant and has worked on Brand and Business valuation projects serving global clients, including Barclays and Shell. She is experienced across of variety of services including brand licensing, research analytics, rebrand uplift and balance sheet valuation. Annie heads up various studies at Brand Finance, including the annual Global Intangible Finance Tracker (GIFT™) and the Brand Guardianship Index. In addition, Annie has conducted research and analysis for the Brand Finance brand rankings, specialising in Banking, Retail and Oil & Gas sectors. Annie has served clients worldwide, with a particular focus on the USA and the Middle East. Annie joined Brand Finance as an Analyst in August 2017 after graduating from The University of Edinburgh with a Masters degree in Philosophy and Economics. She has since completed her CIMA professional qualification.
Paula is a senior leader operating at executive and board levels in the intersection between strategy, branding, and sustainable development with experience in Europe, South America, and Asia. She worked with leading organisations such as the British Council, Samsung, Renault and Arcadis, helping to understand and grow the value of their brands. She also worked on strategic and multi-stakeholder engagement programs for non-profits such as the Gates Foundation, Forum for the Future and the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation.
