Branding: where should we go?

One of these days, we were fighting with colleagues around a table at an IAB event (discussing media and creativity), guessing the real numbers of advertising investments in different media channels in 2021. In general, for some of us – especially people working at media agencies – the figures were quite clear and harmonized. The only skepticism we clearly expressed was in connection with digital investments. Almost 40% share of all investments seemed to be too big. And yes, we found the catch. Digital OOH fit into out-of-home channel budgeting – and classified ads do not fit into our understanding of advertising. Still, in Slovenia, more than 32% of all advertising budgets is assigned to digital channels.

It is true that digital advertising still is not larger than TV (as is in many countries). Still, digital investments grew the most (+16%) last year. And yes, we fit into the mainstream worldwide trend. Being part of a trend, even if you are working in one of the smallest markets in the world, is quite a refreshing feeling, is it not? I believe that digital and communications trends are the most powerful things that we – marketing, branding and media experts – should be aware of.

Two things are important for all of us: to know exactly what happened yesterday (using the right information, data and analysis of the history of the brand, the competitors and our target groups) and to know what will happen tomorrow (forecasted by trend studies). Everything we do, may it be creative or media work, depends on how we define the history of our brands, and what we want to do with them in the future.

Talking about trends, I strongly believe that almost all current ones are applicable in all our markets. (Yes, dear friends and colleagues, it is quite difficult to decide which one of the several hundred current trends is the right one for our brand and our focused target group; but there are useful methodologies to make this decision). You are probably aware of how NFT is confidently taking off and how the first innovators have started to follow the trend. (By the way, I love communication theorist Everett Rogers’ concept of diffusion of innovations and his segmentation of adopters to innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority, and laggards.) On the other hand, all impressive and extremely creative VR, AR and MR solutions stayed far away from Central and Eastern Europe, where we actually live and work. I am quite sure that this field will stay in the hands of the biggest and richest markets and worldwide brands. It is a pity, but the production of great virtual / augmented reality is (still) very expensive.

However, we could and can be strong leaders in the trend of authenticity. Honesty in telling brand stories about real social responsibility, the real social, economic, environmental, procedural and personal sustainability and dedication, is the way of being efficient and effective in the branding business.

Putting people instead of profit first is the way to bring brands into the next decade. I cordially recommend Thomas Kolster’s book ‘The Hero Trap’. In order to change behaviors at scale and unlock sustainable growth that benefits all, he says that the only question brands need to ask and act on is “who can you help people become?”

Further talking about trends, I have to expose another important fact: the crucial change within the population. All data analysis show that youngsters are becoming strong opinion leaders. In my opinion, the reason is that Gen Z is more capable to cope with the given information overload than other generations. 

Our brain is not able to process the quantity of data running around the globe today. I call this the “five exabytes phenomenon”. What does that mean? In 2020, former Google-CEO Eric Schmidt said at a conference that the world had produced five exabytes of information from the beginning of all civilization till 2003. In 2003, the same quantity of data travelled around the world in only two days. OMG! And now, add all the brand messages to this overload – in many cases changing all the time. Who will get them? Who will remember them in such a noisy environment? Bearing in mind that brand messages are not at all top priority among all the information. 

So what will be the solution for branding in the next decade?

1. Strict and long-term brand story, with focus on content, connected with authenticity.
2. Strict focus on intangible brand elements, values and personality when building the brand story.
3. Strict targeting based on exact lifestyle segmentation only. The main task is still to build a strong relationship between the brand and customer.
4. Do not forget the role of Rogers’ segmentation and the power of innovators and early adopters, and do not forget the growing decision-making power of Gen Z. 
5. Digital communications in general (which does not only mean digital advertising!) have the biggest influence on purchasing decisions. Almost 60% of people (according to TGI’s research data in Slovenia) told that digital is the channel with the biggest influence on their buying actions. Among the innovators’ and early adopters’ segment, this number is almost 80%!

And don’t forget that brand engagement and brand identification are the leading concepts of brand communication strategies nowadays.

The article is based on the author’s essay he wrote about the future of brands and was published by Media-Marketing, the main industry-news website of the Adriatic region.