Capability Blog

Before the Revolution

There are few occasions in the business calendar that can genuinely claim to have become institutions. Yet for more than two decades, the British Brands Group’s Annual Brands Lecture has continued to bring together many of the sharpest minds in branding.

On 8 September, the Lecture reaches its 23rd edition. Over the years it has become an important fixture and a historical record of how the discipline of branding has evolved. Every year has captured a different moment in the development of marketing thought, from the early debates about what brands actually are, through corporate reputation and behavioural science, to today’s evidence-led marketing revolution. And many of these lectures have stood the test of time.

Since securing the role of Chief Executive of the British Brands Group in March last year, I have worked my way through the entire collection of lectures in sequence. It has been a fascinating experience. You see ideas emerge, mature and, in some cases, start to disappear again (read loyalty and purpose). You also develop a renewed appreciation for those principles that have endured because they were fundamentally right.

The very first Brands Lecture, delivered by Professor Tim Ambler of London Business School, set an appropriately ambitious tone with the deceptively simple question: Are Brands Good for Britain? It reflected a period when brands were still frequently caricatured as expensive labels or clever advertising rather than productive economic assets. The lecture argued that brands deserved to be understood as engines of innovation, competition and consumer confidence. This is a theme that continues to underpin much of the British Brands Group’s work today.

If the inaugural lecture established the economic case for brands, the second lecture became the series’ defining classic. Jeremy Bullmore’s Posh Spice and Persil has achieved almost legendary status. More than twenty years later, it is still quoted widely. Bullmore’s genius was to explain an extraordinarily complicated subject with simplicity.

Drawing inspiration from Victoria Beckham’s famous childhood ambition to become “more famous than Persil”, Bullmore dismantled many of marketing’s most persistent myths. His most enduring insight was that a brand does not belong to the company that owns the trade mark. Instead, it exists inside the minds of everyone who knows it. Each individual builds their own version of a brand from memories, advertising, conversations, news stories, personal experience and countless other fragments of information. Companies influence that process, but they do not control it.

That idea feels almost obvious today, but in 2001 it helped redefine how many marketers thought about branding. It also established a characteristic that has remained true throughout the Lecture’s history. Rather than focusing solely on advertising campaigns or creative execution, the Brands Lecture has consistently tackled the fundamental questions that shape the profession.

As the years progressed, the stage attracted an extraordinary succession of thinkers who have each influenced modern marketing in their own way. Rita Clifton explored the relationship between brands, capital and corporate resilience, highlighting that reputation is one of an organisation’s most valuable commercial assets. David Aaker examined how innovation and brand architecture could coexist. Patrick Barwise considered the relationship between brands and chief executives, reminding audiences that great brands require great organisational leadership alongside great marketing.

Other speakers reflected the changing commercial landscape. Simon Anholt broadened the conversation beyond products to place branding and national reputation. Kevin Roberts championed his concept of Lovemarks. Peter Vicary-Smith examined the growing importance of trust from the consumer perspective, while Alan Giles anticipated many of today’s debates about personalisation and retail transformation long before they became mainstream.

The Lecture has also welcomed many of the business leaders responsible for building some of the world’s most recognisable brands. Rob Malcolm brought the perspective of global FMCG leadership from Diageo. Fiona Dawson reflected on innovation through her experience at Mars. Martin Glenn drew on his leadership of Birds Eye before later becoming Chief Executive of The FA. Lord Bilimoria offered the perspective of an entrepreneur who built Cobra Beer from scratch into an internationally recognised brand, reminding the audience that trust remains the essential currency of every successful business. More recently, in last year’s lecture and my first in the audience, Grant Reid, former Chief Executive of Mars, reflected on building blockbuster brands, offering practical insights drawn from decades leading one of the world’s great brand-owning companies.

Alongside these business leaders, the Lecture has repeatedly showcased the industry’s great communicators. Adam Morgan challenged conventional strategic thinking by encouraging marketers to “make this more interesting”, reflecting the challenger mindset that has influenced countless brand strategies. Rory Sutherland reminded audiences that human behaviour is rarely rational, demonstrating why behavioural science has become indispensable to effective marketing. Evan Davis provocatively questioned whether brands are “corporate bullsh*t”, stimulating one of the most lively debates in the Lecture’s history. Peter Field reinforced the long-term evidence for brand building at a time when many organisations were becoming dangerously obsessed with short-term activation.

Then came Mark Ritson. His lecture, The History and Future of Brand Management in Under Sixty Minutes, rapidly became one of the most downloaded and discussed in the series. Characteristically entertaining, provocative and meticulously researched, Ritson guided the audience through the evolution of marketing thinking, celebrating those ideas that had endured while gleefully dismantling those that had not. He also placed marketing science firmly back at the centre of the discussion, highlighting the growing influence of the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute and acknowledging the significance of Byron Sharp’s work in reshaping contemporary marketing practice.

Looking back across twenty-three years, what is striking is not simply the calibre of the speakers but the continuity of the conversation.

Each lecture has built upon those that came before. Bullmore explained what brands are. Clifton examined why they matter financially. Sutherland explored how people really make decisions. Morgan challenged conventional strategy. Ritson re-examined the history of the discipline. Reid demonstrated what these ideas look like inside one of the world’s largest brand businesses. Together they form an extraordinary intellectual archive.

On 8 September, Professor Byron Sharp will deliver the 23rd Annual Brands Lecture. His lecture title is “Where were you in the revolution?” And could hardly be more appropriate.

Since the turn of the century, the Brands Lecture has captured the moments when marketing thinking changed direction. If previous lectures have helped explain how brands work, Sharp’s promises to examine how evidence should shape the next generation of brand building. History suggests that those in the room on 8 September will witness another significant chapter in one of British marketing’s most distinguished traditions.