Comparethemarket.com, 2009

Voting has now closed you’ll have the chance to decide the ultimate iconic brand via a live vote at our spectacular Diamond Anniversary Dinner in London, 27 November.

As Britain struggled to recover from its near-death banking experience, a hitherto obscure price comparison site – Comparethemarket.com – won the Society’s first ever live vote for Brand of the Year.  We had all been mesmerised by a new brand spokesman: Aleksandr Orlov, the meerkat, and like so many brilliant ideas, afterwards it seemed, well, “Simples!”