A panel of 2,000 UK respondents took part in this year’s celebrity and brand research (Cebra) study, which previously asked them about their personal affinity and feelings to brands and figures such as David Beckham, Cheryl Cole and Lewis Hamilton.

However, this year the firm added a “marketability measure” – a combination of a celebrity’s role model and talent status – to the existing familiarity, affinity, media attention and buzz scores to “make it easier for marketers to find positive and relevant associations for their brands”.

Millward Brown said that the addition of the new metric in this year’s study “enables a better measure of the potential positivity of a celebrity-brand partnership”.

The celebrity that received the highest marketability score was actress Judi Dench, followed by Helen Mirren and Joanna Lumley in second and third place respectively.

Footballer David Beckham topped the list of the most powerful celebrities – which takes all metrics into account – and Millward Brown was quick to suggest potential marketing tie-ups for the former England captain.

Media development director Mark Husak said: “Beckham’s outgoing, calm, straightforward and sensible personality combined with the polished image that broke many of the stereotypes about male sophistication and grooming would make him a good match for brands such as Avon, Nivea and Starbucks.”

Other famous figures in the list of most powerful celebrities included Gary Lineker, Jamie Oliver, Will Smith and Jenson Button. Away from the celebrity side of the research, Millward Brown found that the brands generating the most buzz among respondents were Apple, Google, Facebook, X-Factor and Wii.