{"id":1643,"date":"2020-06-11T13:02:21","date_gmt":"2020-06-11T05:02:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.equus-design.com\/blog\/?p=1643"},"modified":"2024-03-18T10:24:22","modified_gmt":"2024-03-18T02:24:22","slug":"what-is-the-future-of-branding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eq-brand.com\/blog\/what-is-the-future-of-branding\/","title":{"rendered":"What is the future of branding?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Once upon a time, branding was a tool for cattle owners to identify their herd. It\u2019s been on an incredible journey since then, moving from labelling products to designing experiences, and from being created by brand owners to being curated by customers. So where is branding going next? In this post, we try to \ufb01gure that out…<\/span><\/p>\n

The only constant about branding is that it is always evolving. Oh, and that it\u2019s always been about ownership and differentiation, but even these are evolving concepts. To answer this question, perhaps we \ufb01rst need to \ufb01gure out what the future is in the \ufb01rst place, and how to think about it. Speculative \ufb01ction author William Gibson once said, \u201cthe future is already here \u2013 just not very evenly distributed\u201d. The quote\u2019s original context alludes to how most of what we consider as being in the future already exists, to some extent, in the now.<\/p>\n

Thinking about Gibson\u2019s quote, the future of branding is just as he put it \u2013 very simply, what we see now already includes a blueprint of what will be in the future, or rather, it\u2019s a blend of the old, the current, and the new. Trends that are being formed today, whether it\u2019s in the adoption of new technologies such as AR, VR, AI, and sonic branding, all seem to point to experience and self-realisation as the locus of branding in the future. Brands are increasingly required to satisfy our needs on several levels, all at once. Firstly the level of the senses \u2013 to hear, to touch, to taste, to see, to smell\u2026 and secondly the level of the heart \u2013 to be loved, to feel secure, to be ful\ufb01lled, to save the world.<\/p>\n

Brands in the past such as Coca-Cola and Nestle placed a huge emphasis on claims about the quality and performance of the product; what it was made from and how good they said it was for you \u2013 with the image of the product front and centre. Whereas with the brands of today like Nike and Airbnb, utmost importance is placed in the arena of knowing and understanding the wants, needs, and desires of their consumers, and connecting that directly to where brand value is created.<\/p>\n

To reference Marty Neumeier in his excellent book \u2018Brand Flip\u2019, the future of branding is seeing a general shift in power from companies to consumers. And consumers are not so much focused on products and their features, but on brand experiences, and how the brand enhances or endorses their sense of identity. Brands are not so much \u2018sold\u2019 by their producers as \u2018bought\u2019 by consumers, because it had already been pre-sold to them by their social media circle, or an encounter they\u2019d had of it. As a result of this power shift toward the consumer, we see \ufb01ve emerging trends that give an idea of what the future of branding looks like:<\/p>\n

1. Customers increasingly shape and \u2018own\u2019 the brand<\/h2>\n

Marty Neumeier famously said, \u201cA brand is not owned by the company, but by the customers who draw meaning from it. Your brand isn\u2019t what YOU say it is. It\u2019s what THEY say it is.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"future<\/p>\n

Empowered by social media, the customer now has more control than ever over the brands they buy. We are now living in a new customer-centric marketplace, whereby customers are the people who essentially shape the success and life of a brand. Rather than asking the question of \u201cwho are we\u201d, brands today should \ufb02ip the script and begin to question \u201cwho they are\u201d instead. In this world, the main bene\ufb01t that a brand can offer customers is a kind of self-realisation, and partnership in the brand building process.<\/p>\n

Bearing in mind one viral video from a customer can either build or undermine your whole brand narrative overnight, brand owners will need to \ufb01gure out ways to partner with customers in the storytelling, and curate that narrative with them, in real time.<\/p>\n

2. Growing cynicism about social media reviews, but long live the tribe<\/h2>\n

Even as social media and online purchasing increasingly dominate the retail space, and the power of social media in\ufb02uencers and online ratings is growing, we can see the limits of this in\ufb02uence as its authenticity and independence is increasingly being called into question. When it becomes clear that online reviewers and in\ufb02uencers are all rewarded in some way by the sellers, how can you trust anything they say?<\/p>\n

Which is why the \u2018tribe\u2019 has become so important \u2013 a smaller circle of in\ufb02uence made out of close friends, families, and kindred spirits. Because we trust our tribes and are loyal to the brands they endorse. So brands that understand this tribal dynamic will inevitably win in this scenario. Since tribes happen organically, they\u2019re perfect for growing a brand. So when a tribe forms, brand owners should recognise it, develop it, and partner with it.<\/p>\n

3. Telling the brand story matters more than ever<\/h2>\n

With the social media revolution pushed into overdrive by the Covid crisis, many companies are being panicked into short term \ufb01xes like social media marketing, rather than longterm investment in building their brand. In an economic crisis the \ufb01rst thing that usually gets cut is the marketing spend, particularly on brand building. But you can\u2019t attract new customers and expect them to become loyal to your brand, if all that you\u2019re doing is hyper-targeted social media messaging, highlighting things like discounts.<\/p>\n

If the customer doesn\u2019t know and trust your brand already, they won\u2019t stick with you when the crisis is over. It\u2019s only brands that are able to build a long-lasting emotional connection with their customers that will succeed in the long run, because they reward these brands with their loyalty. This only comes about by steady, long term brand building. So even in a time of crisis, telling your brand story consistently in a way that connects with your target audience, matters more than ever.<\/p>\n

4. Values, health and authenticity will increasingly drive brand loyalty<\/h2>\n

One unique effect of the social media revolution is in driving awareness of three related things \u2013 authenticity, health and values. These are the main concerns driving generations Y and Z \u2013 because they are the children of this revolution. They want brands to be authentic \u2013 which means not only that they must be true to who they are and deliver on what they promise, but also it\u2019s about origins. They want to know not only what a product does, but also how and where it was made. They want to know about the safety and quality of the \u2018ingredients\u2019, as well as the traditions and techniques of its production. And increasingly, they also want to know about the values of the company that produced it, to see if they align with their own values.<\/p>\n

The brands that future generations reward will be those that look beyond just delivering a product or service for pro\ufb01t, to be more socially and environmentally responsible. Brands that are driven by a sense of a higher purpose they can identify with, and are working towards a better future for the current generation, and the generations to come.<\/p>\n

5. The human experience is making a comeback<\/h2>\n

\"future<\/p>\n

Burberry Regent Street moves beyond purely retail to offer an immersive experience where walking through the doors is like walking into their website. They call it \u2018Burberry World Live\u2019.<\/p>\n

\"future<\/p>\n

Adidas \ufb02agship store in New York offers a 360 degree VR experience. The main objective is to enhance the retail brand by delivering unique customer experiences relevant to the brand story.<\/p>\n

Branding of the future will see the triumph of the \u2018phygital\u2019, where online and of\ufb02ine customer experience fuses into one integrated whole. In the last ten years we\u2019ve seen the decline of the \u2018bricks and mortar\u2019 retail experience, in favour of e-commerce, in\ufb02uencer marketing and online reviews. But now we\u2019re seeing a resurgence of the physical space as as an \u2018experience\u2019 centre which becomes an integral part of the buying process. And this trend will only increase. Because you can\u2019t tell the full story about your brand online, neither can people truly understand what it is like, unless they know how it feels, smells, tastes and looks. Only a physical environment can offer this, which is why \u2018bricks and mortar\u2019 and the human experience aren\u2019t dead.<\/p>\n

So where your brand lives physically and how it is delivered in the human experience makes all the difference. In a future where the customer will increasingly in\ufb02uence the brand narrative, human engagement with the brand in a physical environment will be key to brand success. Inviting your customers on an experiential journey curated for them from start to \ufb01nish, will be what takes your brand from a purely digitalised interaction, to becoming liked and trusted.<\/p>\n

What is the Future of Branding<\/h2>\n

In summary, as we move into a world where more and more of our interactions are becoming digital and online, and where consumers are growing increasingly sceptical of product claims and deliberate misinformation, brand owners will need to refocus on being authentic and human as the key to how they work \u2013 receptive to the evolving desires, wants, and needs of the next generation of consumers, and driven by building relationships of trust with them, based on the truth.<\/p>\n

So brands nowadays need to build relationships with their customers in part by becoming masters of multiple communications channels, so they not so much control the narrative as become co-creators of it, with their customers. And the most successful brands today will be those who are the most \ufb02uid and responsive to change.<\/p>\n

More importantly, we believe it\u2019s important to think about the future of branding as one that is holistic, in the sense that it will not only be more of an integrated experience with no separation between \u201cphysical\u201d and \u201cdigital\u201d, but also that brands will be more relational and engaged with their customers, in multi-dimensional ways. Or as William Gibson would say, more \u201cevenly distributed\u201d compared to the uneven experience we see in the world today.<\/p>\n

EQUUS DESIGN has been recognized as one of the Top Small Business Branding Agencies by DesignRush<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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