The Report of the Leading Brands of Spain Forum’s 10th Anniversary was presented and given out to attendees of the Forum’s 10th Anniversary commemoration event held on 15 December in the conference hall of the Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Commerce. The report lists the activities carried out by the Forum over the last ten years, as well as the main milestones the institution has reached since 1999. Accordingly, the information on these activities is organised into the following chapters, depending on the profile of each project: Ambassador Brands and Image of Spain; Research and Publications; Training and Circulation; and Institutional Co-operation and Communication.

The prologue is by José Luis Bonet, Chairman of the Leading Brands of Spain Forum, and evaluates the Forum’s ten years of existence, during which time Bonet has always been at the helm. Next, Amparo Fernández, Undersecretary to the Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Commerce, and first Deputy Chairman of the Leading Brands of Spain Forum, analyses the importance of ‘The brand as a factor of competitiveness’, which is followed by articles by the Executive Deputy Chairman of ICEX and second Deputy Chairman of the Leading Brands of Spain Forum, Ángel Martín Acebes (‘The Internationalisation of Spanish brands and the new Made in/by Spain’); María Jesús Figa, Undersecretary to the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation and third Deputy Chairman of the Leading Brands of Spain Forum (‘Brands and the foreign service of the State’); Antonio Abril, fourth Deputy Chairman of the Leading Brands of Spain Forum and Member and Secretary of the Board of Directors of Inditex (‘The leading brands of Spain and the construction of the country’s image’); and Miguel Otero, Managing Director of the Leading Brands of Spain Forum, who was given the role of drawing up the Forum’s mission and objectives for the next five years (‘The Horizon of 2015 for the Leading Brands of Spain Forum’).

The report also includes the article ‘Internationalising through brands: a strategic objective for the Spanish economy’, by Guillermo de la Dehesa and Julio Cerviño. De la Dehesa, Chairman of the Centre for Economic Policy Research and a member of the Leading Brands of Spain Association Board of Directors, is the author of the first part of the report (‘Emerge from the recession by internationalising with brands’), which highlights the importance of internationalisation in emerging from the current economic crisis. ‘Now that Spanish domestic demand is falling, it is time to make a bigger effort to turn to, and establish ourselves within, the international markets. It is this effort which will allow us to emerge from the recession earlier and with more success.’ He also emphasises that ‘the most effective way to compete is through quality, technology, design and clearly diverse products. To achieve this, it is essential to create one or more own brands which combine all of these attributes and which are instantly recognisable to international consumers.’ Julio Cerviño, lecturer in Marketing and Market Research at the Universidad Carlos III, is the author of the second part of the report (‘The brand as a driving force for the international competitiveness of companies and countries’), which stresses both the importance of the country’s image as a factor of competitiveness, and the need for a significant number of internationalised Spanish brands acting as ‘driving force brands’ for Spanish business in its process of international expansion.

You can access the report in electronic form or download the whole file in PDF format via the following links.