We all know that the most significant part of a company's assets is often contained in the intangible value of its brand(s).

IPO and M&A activity show how the perceptions people have of a product, service or corporation can price a company at several times its tangible assets. We have also all seen what happens to the share value of a company when perceptions dramatically shift against it.

In 2009, Brand Finance assessed the combined value of the world's top ten brands to be US$287.5 billion, Interbrand's figure was US$423 billion and Millward Brown's valuation was highest at US$664.5 billion.

Even if you take the most prudent figure, that's US$ billions for things that people cannot see, touch or taste, just what they perceive.