Representatives from the Leading Brands of Spain Forum and several of its members participated in the conference “Brands and Products: Their commercial and institutional value” that was jointly organised by El Nuevo Lunes and Altadis in Madrid on 12 November.

After a brief opening by José Francisco Mateo, from Altadis, and José Garcia Abad and Rosa del Río, from El Nuevo Lunes, the General Manager of the Leading Brands Forum, Miguel Otero, opened the day’s round of talks with a conference entitled "Brand as a means of business internationalisation". Mr Otero’s presentation emphasised the importance of promoting Spain’s image abroad to further the internationalisation of Spanish companies and spoke of the role of the Leading Brands Forum in this process. Isabel Moneu, General Manager of INTERES, closed the first of three themed sections with a speech on the importance of the nation brand in investment.

It was then the turn of the companies. A first round-table discussion was held on the topic of brands in institutions. Participants included representatives from Altadis, Marqués de Griñón and our associate, Leche Pascual and the discussion was chaired by the Director of the ESADE Brand Centre, Beatriz Soler.

The conference ended with a third round table discussion, chaired by Julio Cerviñom a professor from the Carlos III University of Madrid and collaborator of the Leading Brands of Spain Forum. This round-table discussion, with representatives from two Forum companies – Telefonica and Santander – and from Amadeus, analysed the brand from an institutional perspective.