Integrating Finance and Marketing: Economic Use Method

The purely market research and financially focused methods deliver unsatisfactory results for assessing the economic value of brands because they are either weak on the marketing or financial understanding. As a result, new valuation approaches emerged that integrate financial and marketing analyses into one valuation approach. This is referred to as the “economic use” method. This method values the brand as an integral part of a company and focuses on the added value the brand provides to the underlying business. This approach emerged due to a need to go beyond the mechanics of calculating a financial value to understand and manage the value creation of brands. This requires a detailed understanding and valuation of the specific value creation of a brand. There are several consulting firms that have developed their version of the economic use approach including Interbrand, Brand Finance, and Millward Brown.