When Business Superbrands revealed their top 500 Superbrands for 2009, Investors in People put in a top performance rising an incredible 185 places to sit at 210.  A Business Superbrand is defined as one which has established the finest reputation in its field. It offers customers significant emotional and/or tangible advantages over its competitors, which customers want and recognise. Investors in People has consistently enjoyed high levels of consumer recognition and its listing as one of the top Business Superbrands is testament to its reputation as the UK’s leading tool for business improvement through people.

Simon Jones, Chief Executive of Investors in People UK said “We are delighted to see that the Investors in People brand has gone from strength to strength. We have worked hard to ensure Investors in People is at the forefront of business improvement and this achievement shows that we represent quality products and services to our customers. It also highlights that Investors in People is a trusted brand that customers feel they can turn to in the current economic climate.”

Stephen Cheliotis, Chief Executive for The Centre for Brand Analysis, the company that carried out the research and administered the selection process said “The Business Superbrands were identified from thousands of brands operating across over 55 sectors of industry. As always the competition to achieve Superbrand status is fierce and numerous high profile names failed to make the grade, including many FTSE100 companies. With competition so high being seen as a Business Superbrand in consecutive years is a fantastic achievement. Investors in People were the highest Business Superbrands riser, jumping an incredible 185 places in the rankings, outperforming all other brands in the top 500. This is testament to the momentum the brand is enjoying, its enhancing reputation and a growing recognition by both experts and business professionals alike that Investors in People plays a vital role in helping UK companies improve their people and their business performance“

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Notes to editor:
About Investors in People:
• The Investors in People Standard provides a practical framework for improving business performance and competitiveness through good practice in people management.
• An organisation that has achieved the Standard has been successful in adopting and maintaining its three fundamental principles: Plan - developing strategies to improve the performance of the organisation, from business goals to leadership strategies; Do - implementing those strategies, taking action to improve the performance of the organisation; Review - evaluating and adjusting those strategies, measuring their impact on the performance of the organisation.
• The Investors in People framework is promoted, developed and delivered by Investors in People UK – an organisation whose main stakeholder is the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills.
• The Investors in People framework is delivered by a partner network:
1. In England, the network of Investors in People Centres.
2. In Scotland, Scottish Enterprise (SE) or Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE).
3. In Wales, the Business Skills Delivery Team at the Department for Education, Lifelong Learning and Skills, Welsh Assembly Government.
4. In Northern Ireland, the Department for Employment of Learning.
About the Business Superbrands Selection Process
The entire selection process is administered by The Centre for Brand Analysis (TCBA). The key stages of the selection process are as follows:
• TCBA researchers compile a list of the UK’s leading business to business brands, drawing on a wide range of sources from sector reports to blogs. From the thousands of brands initially considered, a list of just over 1,100 brands is created.
• These brands are scored by the independent and voluntary Expert Council, which is assembled and chaired by TCBA’s chief executive. Bearing in mind the given definition of a Business Superbrand (see below), the council members individually award each brand a rating from 1-10. Council members are not allowed to score brands with which they have a direct association or are in competition to. The lowest scoring brands (approximately 40 per cent) are eliminated at this stage.
• The remaining brands are voted on by more than 1,500 individual business professionals – defined as those who have either purchasing or managerial responsibilities. These individuals are accessed via a YouGov panel.
• Taking the views of the experts and the business professionals into equal account, a combined score is produced for each brand. This score determines its position in the official league table; only the top 500 brands in that table are deemed to be Business Superbrands.