No-one wants to pay ‘just for the name’ yet branding power means we often do. One of those intangible but valuable things, branding influences the decisions of customers, financial institutions, potential buyers of the business and more. And some brands are worth a lot.

Yet not all measures are monetary and there are many different approaches and methods used around the world, which makes true comparisons and benchmarking somewhat tricky.

ISO 20671, Brand evaluation – Principles and fundamentals, aims to standardize the technical requirements and evaluation methods involved in brand valuation. It complements ISO 10668, Brand valuation – Requirements for monetary brand valuation, which focuses primarily on the financial aspects.

ISO 20671 was inspired by the Austrian standard, ONR 16800 Method for the evaluation of the intangible asset brand, published in 2006. It was the first ever standard on brand evaluation, and was developed by Austrian Standards, ISO’s member for Austria.

Dr. Gerhard Hrebicek, who was chair of the committee that developed ONR 16800 and played a role in the development of ISO 20671 said the standard starts a new era for brands.

“ISO 20671 is aimed at businesses of all kinds wishing to increase their brand value and provides a starting point for high-level planning and governance, including best practices for brand management and brand reporting. It provides a more holistic view, covering non-financial as well as financial measures, and forms the basis for other, more specific standards to be developed.”

Dr. Bobby Calder, chair of the ISO technical committee that developed ISO 20671 added: “ISO 20671 covers all the factors that influence the success of a brand, such as innovation, tangible resources, service and quality, as well as brand strength and performance. All of which can have an impact on the monetary value, and thus, by measuring them, businesses can more easily identify areas for improvement or investment.”

ISO 20671 was developed by ISO/TC 289, Brand evaluation, the secretariat of which is held by SAC, ISO’s member for China. It can be purchased from your national ISO member or the ISO Store.

Learn more about ISO 20671 from ISO/TC 289 chair, Gerhard Hrebicek in this informative video.

Pure air is a rare phenomenon. With 91 % of the world’s population in places where the air quality doesn’t meet World Health Organization (WHO) limits, and millions of deaths every year¹⁾, cleaning up our air is a major issue.

Air pollution, therefore, is the theme of this year’s World Environment Day. Held on 5 June, it is the United Nation’s day for encouraging worldwide awareness and action to protect our environment. This year it draws attention to the concern of air pollution, whether it be inside or out, in cities or in the countryside.

ISO has many international standards that contribute to cleaner air and reducing pollution. ISO’s technical committee ISO/TC 146, Air quality²⁾ , has over 170 published standards and 37 in development that cover a range of areas such as the measurement of air pollutants and emissions, workspace air and indoor air.

Secretary of the committee, Dr. Rolf Kordecki said consistent measurement of toxic substances in the air is essential in order to be able to limit them.

“Air pollutants can be very harmful, corrosive, carcinogenic, mutagenic, teratogenic or pathogenic. Standardization of measurement methods is necessary to obtain comparable results and to ensure a consistent assessment of air quality across the world,” he said.

“What’s more, new developments in toxicology can influence what are deemed to be safe levels of air quality, as well as identify new kinds of pollutants, so we are constantly reviewing the need for new standards.”.

Another example is the range of standards from ISO technical committee ISO/TC 285, Clean cookstoves and clean cooking solutions, which aim to help drive the market for safe and efficient cooking solutions and to reduce the number of deaths and illnesses caused by polluting stoves.

ISO also has many standards either published or in development aimed at supporting new technologies that clean up our air, such as those for electric, hybrid and fuel-cell road vehicles. These include ISO 20762, Electrically propelled road vehicles – Determination of power for propulsion of hybrid electric vehicle and ISO 23274, Hybrid-electric road vehicles – Exhaust emissions and fuel consumption measurements.

In addition, we also have standards at a more holistic level aimed at improving our environment and the world we live in such as ISO 14001, Environment management systems; ISO 37101, Sustainable development in communities – Management system for sustainable development; and the ISO 14064 series on the quantification and reporting of greenhouse gases.

All of which contributes to several of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including SDG 13 Climate Action and SDG 15 Life on Land.

For further details and to purchase ISO standards, contact your local ISO member or the ISO Store.

1) WHO – Air pollution 

2) The secretariat of ISO/TC 146 Air quality is held by DIN, ISO’s member for Germany