The Future of Branding

The Future of Brand Management: My Prognostications:

•    Building emotional connection will be key
•    Brands will focus more on creating/engineering the total customer experience
•    Customer-relevant innovation will be a key success factor
•    Outstanding customer service will also be a key success factor
•    Hiring the right employees and creating the appropriate culture will be essential
•    More and more, brands will co-create the customer experience with the customer
•    More and more, brands will need to "stand for something" to survive
•    Strong brands will not only "stand for something," they will also provide forums for people who believe in what the brands stand for
•    Organizations whose employees become consultants to and friends and partners with their customers will be the most successful
•    One-on-one marketing will become more and more important
•    The Internet will also become increasingly important as a brand building vehicle
•    For larger organizations, customer relationship management (CRM) will become a critical success factor
•    Fast, flexible and agile organizations will increasingly "win" in the digital age

•    With the explosion of virtual and morphing organizations and ever-changing business alliances, the brand essence and promise and the organizational culture may increasingly be the only elements that create a sense of "entity" for organizations
•    The viral spread of information will increasingly expose organizations for what they really are - integrity and consistency will be key
•    Managing "buzz" will be an important brand management activity
•    CEOs will become increasingly involved in brand strategy formulation
•    Organization mission, vision and core values will increasingly be formulated along with brand essence, promise and personality (for organization brands)
•    An increasing number of organizations that have grown through mergers and acquisitions will significantly simplify their brand architectures and reduce the number of brands in their portfolios
•    More and more people will come to understand what brands are, what they can do and what they can't do.
•    Fewer people will have a blind faith that strong brands can solve all organizational problems

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Comments

[Mike Mirkil]

Nice summary. Couldn't agree more on your thinking as it relates to brands needing to stand for something. Consumers today are seeking brands they believe in and actively want to be a part of -- very similar to the way cultural anthropologists have defined a culture. The first challenge in creating a sustainable brand culture is to put a stake in the ground and determine exactly what your brand stands for (and what it doesn’t). Then, equally important, you must ensure that everyone both within the organization as well as those partners and consumers on the outside also understand what the brand stands for and are engaged and enrolled in the brand culture as active participants. Easier said than done, but highly successful and profitable when done right!