Branding is the lynchpin of business and critical to the UK economy, the minster for intellectual property said today.
David Lammy made the remarks at the branding in a modern economy conference, held today at the Department for Business. Lammy said the government was keen to work with businesses and organisations to ‘develop the next steps that will harness the potential of brands in the UK.”
Government figures put the amount spent on creating and managing brands in the UK at £32bn, the same amount spent on staff training.
Speaking at the event, Richard Reed, the co-founder of Innocent, said his company was set up as a branded business from the concept stage.
“Our brand got investors excited enough to invest in something that didn’t exist yet. You can’t separate a good business from a good brand. A product without a brand is like sex without love – there’s no lasting relationship.”
Reed said Innocent’s most important asset was the relationship between the company and its consumers. He said that an organisation can never own its brand, as it ultimately rests with the consumer, but it should do all it can nourish it.
Rita Clifton, the chairman of brand consultancy Interbrand, said that often small businesses did not give branding as much attention as larger organisations and that it left her wanting to give them ‘a good spanking’.
© Crimson Business Ltd. 2009
