From Mass Brand to Personal Brand
“An absolute ‘must’ for anybody who wants to know how advances in IT will change the brand scape” – Rik Riezebos
The world around us is changing rapidly. It is not as evident in the external world – skyscrapers, airplanes, highways: haven’t they always been there? The real revolution is taking place beneath the surface. It is taking place in the media and the virtual world: an extra world which is experienced from a distance. An interactive world which increasingly makes us feel like we are really there. A world accessible through screens and displays, spreading rapidly over the earth.
Brands, however, grew up in the era of mass communication, in an era of sending information in one direction, in a limited time and space. As the media context changes, brands are changing, too. After hundreds of years of professionalizing sending, brands now need to also learn how to effectively listen to the individual consumer. Brands will start dialogues with consumers through brand agents: virtual characters with whom consumers can start an interactive dialogue through multiple platforms. These brand agents will be the most important points of contact for brands in 2015.
With the evolution of the economy into a digital marketplace, brands must take into account this new dimension. After products and services, a new economic value of coaching brands emerges. These brands target specific areas such as home, vacation, or career. They provide the individual consumer with highly customized information, products and services. The consumer saves a lot of time and only has to respond. The coaching brand agents, the virtual characters, become valuable resources who are always available, all over the world. In this fully-developed media context consumers develop very close relationships with brands.
In this new situation, the traditional boundary between consumer and provider will completely disappear. The changing media context forces brands to work together with consumers who in turn feel involved. These new-style brands unite people instead of products. The brand culture is tangible in three-dimensional worlds full of symbols and sounds. This is an inviting world that visitors will recommend to their friends, and where brands are customized like never before.
We have a vision of new-style brands in 2015. But what does this vision mean for today’s business? Changes seldom occur through revolution, they always start with small steps. We can take those small steps today. How can a brand manager adapt today’s strategy to tomorrow’s developments? What should a marketer do? What opportunities do the broadcasting networks have? And media, design, or advertising agencies? Or publishers? This book contains extensive practical tips for professionals in all different roles, giving direction for tomorrow.
With a preface from respected Dutch marketing gurus Giep Franzen and Rik Riezebos, this was the first book in the Netherlands with an accompanying web log. Almost instantly after publication, the book was nominated for the marketing literature award of the year.
(translated by Winning Letters ).