N O.
01
BRAND NEW FUTURE ESSENZ - A Theme Poster by WOLF
NEW THINKING FOR STRONG BRANDS! What can we expect from a brand in the second decade of the 21st century? Yes, it should inspire people, tell stories and create meaning. But what impact do these demands have on brand development? And how should brand developers work with them? A plea for more ease, community, intuition and fun will drastically affect the future of branding.
PLAYFUL BRANDING ENJOY PLAYING! Marketing and branding are finally being taken seriously. But due to this self-trained seriousness marketing and branding have become dusty and strategies have degenerated into empty catchphrases. Developments such as co-creation and the rejection of the superiority of quantitative market research push branding forward. For us, playing is extremely valuable for brand development. Because we should play, experiment and, above all, have fun with the brand. From the methods used in brand development, to brand experiments that are initially beyond imagination. Our approach: Everyone is creative – if provided the right tools.
CO-CREATIVE BRANDING BUILD THE BRAND TOGETHER!
LIQUID BRANDING LIVE YOUR BRAND ZEITGEISTY! Brand values are the foundation of every good brand strategy, they are irrefutable. Nevertheless they should not fuse into rigidity nor foster more and more new brand elements out of boredom or because the old appears to be old. Instead branding must deal with how to keep values up to date and influential in the company’s development. Of course, the core brand of BMW has been “joy” for more than 30 years. But “joy” in 1985 differs from “joy” in 2012. Again and again, it is adapted to the core brand and conveys the importance of the joy, not just of driving, but for society itself. This requires an open mindset, liquid thinking and the will to constantly reinvent.
Whether globally with My Starbucks Idea (http://mystarbucksidea.force.com) or nationally with Tchibo Ideas (www.tchibo-ideas.de), co-creation – the involvement of clients in the product development process – is known to most companies and marketers. Co-creation implies ideas exemplified by the Internet. It enables participation, the free expression of opinions and the use of the collective intelligence. If this profitable form of brand enthusiasm is used in the brand development process, it becomes a new form of branding: Co-Creative Branding. In the future, companies will not be able to simply develop brand strategies on a CEO-level and present them to employees in road shows. If so, the brand will sooner or later be ignored, boycotted, or in the worst case destroyed. Both within companies and in the outside world, different people with various skills and perspectives come together. Co-Creative Branding means involving employees and making them creatives and value creators of the brand. The idea is to draw from the creativity and enthusiasm of individuals.
INTUITIVE BRANDING
e f Li is ch t i P www.wolf-corporate.de
GOOD-BYE NUMBERS, HELLO FEELING! Purely quantitative research is so yesterday. The value of qualitative approaches increases in strategy development. This makes sense, as past-oriented plans for the future and following the safe path block opportunities. For the brand a quantity-oriented approach means that its core is interchangeable because it was influenced too much by a homogenous mass. Today it is about making the effort to explore the brand and eventually trust instinct as a social proof instead of relying solely on numbers. This is not so easy in a number-driven world in which we have lost the link between perception and experience and lack the courage to allow interpretation. So, brave the gap! Because this unusual and courageous perspective has two key advantages. We can respond more flexibly to an unknown future. We create space for exceptional ideas, because it is the only way inflexible thought patterns built on theory and calculus can be overcome.