What's up for Brands in 2016?

Many brands are shedding their old skin like the “Mad Men” era executives used to shed their first wives. The once take it or leave it pre-packaged image is transforming into an interdependent human brand experience. The importance of eye-catching design and premium shelf space allocation at big box retailers is taking a back seat to the imperative of a real voice and authentic Social Media persona. In a World of increasing disengagement (from information overload), time to make an impression is growing ever shorter. There's no dress rehearsal.

Where once brands grew from an ongoing monologue and vending-machine style purchasing process, now, more and more, Brand Ambassadors are engaging in one-on-one conversations with customers. Ever more discriminating and skeptical, people are choosing trustworthy communities that hold similar beliefs and values. Talking to real people builds a higher level of trust than traditional selling methods.

In the same sense, placing authentic consumer content with organically generated relevance on carefully selected platforms creates a more genuine connection than the robotic growth hacking algorithms and reputation management machinations used to gain favorability scores.

In 1996, Bill Gates said, “Content is King.” Twenty years later, content is finally stepping up to take its seat on the throne and data-driven Context is Queen |Chan, N. (2015, May 21)|. Together they are building stronger relationships while developing viable communities through relevance and emotional resonance.

The new engagement is not only making customers a real part of the product and services development process, but it’s also immersing them in an ever-changing personalized virtual experience that gives them the feeling: My brand is custom made for me.

Another trend that has been growing in prominence over the years is co-branding and collaboration. These days, the inherent money savings aspects of cooperative efforts are trumped by the benefits supporting customer causes and enhancing the user experience offer when brands pool capabilities towards innovative solutions that address consumer need.

While this new community-centric brand engagement sounds like it could create the kind of forever relationships we only hear about in fairytales, that’s not all that’s twinkling in the cloud this year. Keep an eye out for the shimmer of 50’s style brand stardom coming back on the scene. There is a major twist to this minor trend, instead of customers buying into the brand's community-think, these ‘celebrity’ brands are giving “exclusivity tests” to evaluate whether the consumer prospect fits their brand.

©2020 Rhonda Geraci Creative Consulting, LLC