Were living in the transparent century where all information ia accessible only a keystroke away. Somewhere in the world someone is working right now on project ment to disrupt your brand and your products. We all fight hard to get our 15 minutes of fame. How can we get people to talk about our brand, our products and services?
What sticks? That is the question?
Well then, let’s talk about what sticks and what ingredients you need to get hold off in order to cook that sauce that makes people dance and smile when the talk about your brand.
Three ingredients. That’s all you need in your magical brand soup. The thing is that these three ingredients aren’t that easy to find. And if you find them chances are that you’ll loose one them one you’ve mixed them successfully for the first time. In order to prepare your brand for the future you need an ultimate mix of authenticity, innovation and design. Only when these three components are mixed together perfectly you have a chance at global domination.
Here are the three components of future branding
Authenticity – Keep it real!
At the core of any great brand. Sometimes I talk to brand managers who tell me “We to tell a story”. My instant reaction is that you never need a story. But you always need a true story.
Were living in the age of ‘I’ll find out everything about you’ and let me tell you, your potential customers will. When we tell other people about brands it’s not because it benefits the brands, it’s because it benefits us. And spreading lies benefits no one. Spreading the truth and exiting truths on the other hand, this is something were always willing to do.
Authenticity is about truths. It’s about giving me the ammunition I need to convince both myself as well as other people that associating myself with your brand will benefit me personally.
Innovation – We will always follow innovators!
What value do you ad to this world that no other brand does? This is also the age of responsibility. Were entering a future where people will be more savvy than ever about buying things that benefits them and the world. I’m prepared to try anything new that innovates an existing industry. I wont touch anything that does nothing but ad more waste to the global waste reserve. Innovation is about simplifying peoples lives, being responsible, taking care of mother earth, making things more effective and ultimately motivating new products. If you’re a true innovative brand your constantly pursuing perfection and therefor the respect of the masses.
We will always follow innovators and we’ll always tell other people about them.
Design – Apple fucked it up!
Finally design. The third and equally important component of a future brand. In a way you could say that Apple fucked it up. After all, before Apple people actually bought ugly stuff. Now, we all expect excellence from any brand out there and if you haven’t got it you better get it. Apple has inspired a whole generation of designers. When apple launched the first iMac and the operative system OSX they pushed the concept of design not one step but a tons of steps forward. From that moment on we all expect more from brands.
Building a next generation brand is hard work but can definitely be done if you focus on the right things. People keep asking me about Facebook, Twitter and what they should do within the digital field. I keep answering. Digital is not necessarily about digital. Digital is about the business rules it creates and the behavioural changes. Digital is about making sure your brand stands the test of transparency, globalisation and digitalisation. That’s what digital is all about. If you focus on your product – digital will follow.
It’s an exiting future and I hope you’ll be a part of it!