# Consultant questions valuation of charity brands

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2007/01/31/consultant-questions-valuation-charity-brands/
- Published: 2007-01-31T00:00:00+00:00
- Author: Howard Lake

Advertising and marketing consultant Andrew Papworth has cast doubt on the recent
publication of ‘The UK’s Most Valuable Brands 2006’ by consultancy Intangible Business.
Writing in the latest edition of his occasional free newsletter ‘Harvest’, he argues
that the same methodology for evaluating high street brands can not be applied to
the diverse organisations that make up the charity sector.
Intangible Business evaluated
and ranked 100 UK charities and claimed that Cancer Research UK had the most valuable
charity brand worth £209.2 million, a rise of 3% on the previous year, ahead of 
the National Trust and Oxfam.

Papworth argues that the same methodology can not be used to evaluate organisations
as disparate as the Wellcome Trust, the Arts Council, the British Council, the British
Library and the Church Commissioners on the one hand, and Oxfam, the RSPCA, the 
RNLI and Barnardo’s on the other.

He also questions whether the concept of brand equity has much validity in the voluntary
sector. “It smacks rather of figuring for the sake of figuring”, he argues, “without
much appreciation of where brands fit in the charity world.”

## Advertisement

He believes that branding is much less central to charity marketing. “Very, very
few charities have anything like the brand clout that major FMCG brands have,” he
said. Perhaps Oxfam and Greenpeace are at that level but not many others.

This is due to a focus in charities on investing in direct response campaigns and
not brand-building advertising. In addition, he argues convincingly that “people
approach giving to charities in a different way from the way to buying baked beans.”

He reasons that “if Heinz beans are not available they are likely to choose an alternative
to baked beans NOT an alternative brand OF baked beans. In contrast they are much
more likely to want to help a cause, say children, than a particular charity and
will do so through whichever brand happens to hit them with a persuasive message
at the right time.”

Andrew Papworth mails his ‘Harvest’ newsletter at no charge on request to charity
marketers. For many years he ran the Charity Monitor on behalf of the RNLI and syndicated
its findings to several other major charities.

 * **[Royal Mail to raise prices from April](https://fundraising.co.uk/2007/02/04/royal-mail-raise-prices-april/)**(
   4 February 2007)
 * **[RSPCA increases telephone donor acquisition budget by 50%](https://fundraising.co.uk/2007/02/05/rspca-increases-telephone-donor-acquisition-budget-50/)**(
   5 February 2007)
 * **[Venue for 21 February Perfect Pitch confirmed](https://fundraising.co.uk/2007/02/05/venue-21-february-perfect-pitch-confirmed/)**(
   5 February 2007)