Brand Britain booms in the face of Brexit

With St George’s Day upon us, British brands are still holding their own in the midst of the Brexit battle, a new Brand Finance study reveals

Brand Britain booms in the face of Brexit

Photo credit: Anna Jurkovska/Shutterstock.com

For entrepreneurs up and down the country, overcoming a challenging day at the office is probably comparable to slaying a dragon – a myth that England’s patron saint has been linked to for centuries. Good news then that, on St George’s Day, Monday April 23, it’s been revealed Brexit is presenting quite the business opportunity in the UK.

Brand Finance, the brand valuation consultancy, has conducted its 12th annual survey of the 150 most valuable brands in the UK. Collectively, total value of the businesses ranked hit $337bn in January 2018, which is a 3% year-on-year increase from January 2017 when the total value of these brands stood at $327bn.

The value of brand Britain was helped as various economic factors favoured UK companies, such as the pound-dollar exchange rate reviving itself from an 18% decline following the Brexit vote and unemployment sitting at its lowest rate of 4.3%.

Shell, the British-Dutch fuel firm, came out on top of the 150 brand ranking with a brand value of $39.4bn, doubling second-placed BP’s $19.6bn. Although EY, the professional services company, was named the strongest brand with a 89.7 out of 100 score. Another key performer was Land Rover, which increased its brand value by 61% as it rose to £8.9bn from £5.5bn. It’s particularly encouraging for SMEs too, which were said to be benefitting from their Britishness despite the Brand Finance study only ranking large public corporations

Commenting on the research, David Haigh, CEO of Brand Finance, said: “Project Fear predicted that Brexit would be the end of the world as we know it, with catastrophe for UK businesses and UK brands. It is becoming clear that the UK economy is far more resilient than predicted and that UK brands are responding well to the challenge posed by Brexit.”

Haigh also believes that Brexit will only further increase the demand consumers and businesses at home and abroad have for brand Britain, so it sounds like it’s time for startups to capitalise on the economic uncertainty by showing their patriotic side, perhaps by flying the Saint George’s Cross and the Union Jack from headquarters. 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Zen Terrelonge
Zen Terrelonge
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