He was a one-man moral revolution - although the right-wing American pedagogue Allan Bloom may have been over-egging the pudding when he singled out Jagger as being personally responsible for the decline of Western cultural values, an accolade that Jagger would surely cherish, if only for its absurdity.He sashayed out of the Ad Lib and the Revolution, into the drawing-rooms of the Gettys, the Guinnesses and the Ormsby-Gores. The late Labour MP Tom Driberg, perhaps enamoured as much of Jagger's lean and hungry physique as his mercurial intelligence, tried to lure him into politics, but Jagger was much too nimble for that.How did the exemplar of what the viperish Albert Goldman once called "sado-homosexual-junkie-diabolic-nigger-evil" (now there's a compliment) turn into such a pillar of society, cultivating his art collection and his garden, interrupting the European leg of the tour to fly back to Britain to catch the last day of the England v West Indies Test match at Lords? It is easy to forget the figure of outrage - and influence - which Jagger cut in the Sixties, vilified by the Establishment, hounded by the press as a symbol of degeneracy. beautiful and ugly, feminine and masculine; a rare phenomenon". William Rees-Mogg, as editor of the Times in 1967, defended Jagger, arrested for possession of cannabis, with the famous "Who breaks a butterfly on a wheel" editorial; Cecil Beaton rhapsodised over his "in-born elegance ... "We're not doing this for the Times," he said on one occasion I interviewed him, "so I can tell the truth." You wanted to believe it, but then again ...AT FIRST there was nothing to distinguish Jagger from a thousand likely lads of his generation. The son of a PE instructor; LSE student; blues enthusiast blowing harmonica in a pub band.

But Mick Jagger was always a quick learner, able to spot an opportunity and exploit it. From Andrew Loog Oldham - the Stones's first manager and British rock's first authentic Machiavelli - he learnt hype and hustle. Tony Calder, Loog Oldham's partner then and now, remembers the two forever "conspiring in corners. The ambition and the ruthlessness was so strong - y'know, how do we see off the Dave Clarke Five?" Eventually, says Calder, Jagger "just sucked Andrew dry.

Every piece of flair and imagination that Andrew had, Mick took it and used it up".He learnt from the soul singer James Brown, an early idol, whose moves he would study from the wings of the Apollo, and who uttered the words that would ring for decades in Jagger's memory: "I'm a businessman ..."He learnt the powers of charm Jagger, it seemed, could captivate anybody. Jagger has always been the most astute manipulator of the media, all things to all people, a whiff of scandal for the tabloids; something portentous for the heavies - leaving journalists believing they have been gifted with a particular intimacy. Cod- aristo, diamond geezer, committed artist, serious businessman - the accent warping effortlessly across continents and social classes - "a nice bunch of blokes", as Bill Wyman once had it Nice, at least, when it suited him. "There is now a closer link than ever between legal and marketing departments to protect the value of brand assets - how they are positioned and how they can be protected," he says.It is an approach that will become increasingly important if Accounting Standards Board proposals issued in June are accepted. The ASB has published a discussion paper that suggests the redefinition of "goodwill" assets on a company's balance sheet. Eighty-nine per cent of cola buyers claimed they would not purchase own-label cola; 30 per cent bought Coca-Cola most often, compared with only 3 per cent for Virgin Cola.In contrast, the ice-cream sector emerged as the weakest for branding: only 61 per cent claimed they bought branded rather than own-label most often.

Of those regularly buying ice-cream, 33 per cent bought own label most often; 26 per cent said they bought Wall's products.The most successful "superbrands" are backed by companies prepared to give them long-term support, Mr Factor says. "Research shows that only one in four new brands launched is successful, which places a premium on considered brand investment and cultivation."This view is endorsed by Michael Peters, chairman of design consultancy Identica. "More than three quarters of shoppers surveyed said they were more likely to buy branded goods than own-label in a supermarket and would even pay a premium to do so - of up to 32 per cent," he says. Brand loyalty varied across the six commonly purchased product categories in the survey. But growing competition and the prospect that the value of brands may soon be listed on company balance sheets means manufacturers must invest more heavily in cultivating and maintaining "superbrands" if they are to survive in the longer term. Stephen Factor, chief executive of Infratest Burke, believes brands are more alive than ever, despite periodic panic among brand owners that they are dead. BRANDS remain a potent force in spite of the rise of supermarkets' own-label products and the development of tertiary brands, according to a new survey conducted by research company Infratest Burke.