Members of the Brand Exchange Club gathered in the heart of the City of London for the launch of the Brand Finance Technology 100 2026 Journal, bringing together brand leaders and tech experts to discuss how artificial intelligence is transforming value creation and reshaping marketing.
Housed in Brand Finance’s own members club, the Brand Exchange draws inspiration from the historic London coffee houses that gave rise to the Stock Exchange and Lloyd’s of London. Conceived as a space where brands meet finance, it provides a fitting setting for conversations that bridge marketing, valuation, and strategic leadership.
Opening the evening, David Haigh, Chairman of Brand Finance, introduced the main themes of the evening, highlighting that technology brands are not simply high-growth businesses, but are among the most intangible companies in the global economy.
opens the Brand Finance Technology 100 2026 launch event at the Brand Exchange Club
Lorenzo Coruzzi, Brand Finance Valuation Director and tech sector expert, then presented the findings of the Technology 100 2026 Journal, revealing the world’s top 100 technology brands. The total value of the world’s top tech brands reached a staggering USD3.7 trillion in 2026, with the US accounting for more than three-quarters of the total value, followed by China. Semiconductors are the fastest-growing sub-segment in the ranking, with OpenAI and Anthropic entering the ranking for the first time.
“What we are seeing is not simply cyclical growth, but a structural reallocation of value toward companies that control compute, data, and semiconductor capability. That is where brand strength and financial performance are increasingly converging.”
Lorenzo Coruzzi, Valuation Director, Brand Finance
Trust was a central theme at the event. During his presentation, Lorenzo emphasised that trust is a key driver of brand consideration across sectors. He outlined Brand Finance’s three-part framework - functional trust, relational trust, and principled trust - arguing that sustainable value creation depends on embedding these dimensions into core business strategy, rather than treating them merely as communications outputs.
presents the Brand Finance Technology 100 2026 Journal findings at the Brand Exchange Club
The discussion then turned to AI and its implications for marketing and brand management. Navin Rammohan, Senior Vice President and Segment Head of Marketing at Infosys, and Rupert Kemp, Director in the Office of the CEO at Google DeepMind, joined Lorenzo for a panel discussion exploring how AI is reshaping brand strategy and organisational decision-making.
Navin highlighted how artificial intelligence will shift the basis of brand equity from messaging to behaviour. He emphasised that while efficiency gains are already visible across marketing functions, the greater opportunity lies in effectiveness, using AI to drive deeper personalisation, faster decision making, and measurable business outcomes. He also noted that enterprise AI adoption has moved decisively beyond experimentation, becoming a CEO level priority that requires structural transformation rather than incremental deployment.
Rupert expanded on these points, elaborating on how AI is becoming embedded in daily workflows and decision-making processes. He suggested that the long-term impact of AI will depend less on novelty and more on sustained utility, with trust building as systems consistently deliver reliable outcomes. At the same time, he warned that trust can erode quickly if performance falls short, underscoring the need for responsible deployment and strong governance as AI becomes increasingly embedded in the brand experience.
The pane also explored the structural implications of AI for marketing leaders. Our speakers noted that the CMO role is evolving into that of an orchestrator, aligning data, technology, and strategic direction across the organisation. While agencies may consolidate or become more specialised, strategic brand thinking remains essential. AI can accelerate execution, but true differentiation continues to depend on a clear promise, consistent delivery, and a strong sense of purpose.
As the debate moved toward hyper-personalisation and AI agents interacting with one another, questions emerged about whether brands will increasingly market to algorithms rather than individuals. The consensus was that strong brand fundamentals will remain decisive. AI may change channels and interfaces, but it does not replace the need for trust and customer centricity.
Closing the evening, Brand Finance Chairman David Haigh reflected on how AI might reshape Brand Finance’s own valuation methodologies, particularly in forecasting long-term brand performance. He underlined that while the technology introduces new competitive dynamics and potentially threats, it also offers transformative opportunities to enhance analytical depth.
Thank you to all our speakers for an insightful evening.
