Vodafone remains most valuable UK brand but the innovators are chasing, finds BrandZ

The research found that the top 75 brands were worth a combined £205bn or just over 10% of UK GDP. New entrants this year were Just Eat, Ocado, bet365, Compare the Market, Innocent, Deliveroo and BrewDog, due to the research increasing its search from 50 to 75 brands.

It also noted that the value of the top 50 increased by 5% in the last year, showing that despite Brexit top British brands continue to grow. Prudential was the fastest riser, increasing its brand value 40% in the last year. Dyson followed at (31%), Asos (31%), and Dulux (18%). The research outlined that the fastest growing brands were “innovative and good at communicating”.

David Roth, chief executive EMEA of WPP’s The Store, said: “The nation’s most valuable 75 brands have all risen to the top in a highly competitive, crowded and uncertain environment.

“Consumers value innovation, and it is key to helping UK companies future-proof their brands, deliver sustainable growth and increase in value; ever more vital in a post-Brexit world.”

Jane Bloomfield, head of business development at Kantar UK, said: “Established and new brands can learn a lot from each other. Those older brands that form the bedrock of the UK economy have great staying power, having built salience and meaning. To grow, they need to work on increasing consumer perceptions that they are different, innovative and relevant. The disruptors entering the ranking, meanwhile, need to make their difference meaningful and salient to consumers – if they fail to do so they could have a short lifespan.”

Dyson, Deliveroo, BrewDog and Sky were named as the top innovators in the list. Top performing brands like Johnnie Walker, Castrol, Lipton, Dove, Standard Chartered, KitKat and Vodafone generated most of their business and value in foreign markets, showing the danger of any post-Brexit trade tariffs to the value of UK brands.

Within the list, food and drink was seen as the most innovated sector, Deliveroo, Just Eat and BrewDog largely drove this trend, according to the research.

The list ranks the opinions of 120,000 UK consumers, and measured it against financial data from Bloomberg to create a picture of UK brand performance across 24 categories.

Read the full report here. Last year, the research posited that those atop the list will be vulnerable to disruption, it is telling that the likes of JustEat and Deliveroo have made inroads up the rankings in the following months.