The evolution of brands during social revolution was discussed during a recent Future of Media digitized event, in collaboration with Vodacom, EziAds, Everlytic, Proudly SA, The MediaShop and WAN-Ifra, and hosted by Refilwe Maluleke, Managing Director of Yellowwood.<\/p>\n
Maluleke started the conversation, by stating that \u201cit\u2019s never felt like a more important time to be looking at the evolution of brands and the values they reflect about modern society, and the volatile, uncertain times we find ourselves living in. Around the world, businesses have to evolve and adapt at lightning speed. Ultimately these tensions exist between the world we want to have and the world we currently live in.\u201d<\/p>\n
One of the first touch points of the discussion started with social media and social movements.<\/p>\n
Michael Perman, former Senior Director of Marketing at Levi Strauss & Company and Innovation Futurist and CEO of C\u2019est What?, explained the difference. He elaborated by saying that \u201cpeople are seeking meaning right now, it\u2019s hard to understand what truth means. Sense making is an important path that leads to a narrative. The movements that we have seen have core parts of the narrative. They have a creation story, they have a creed, and there are rituals that take place. There is a difference between a fad and a trend. A movement has an ongoing story that is told. It provides the content to respond to the context.\u201d<\/p>\n
Patrick Hanlon, Founder and CEO at primalbranding.co, and considered the \u2018Charles Darwin\u2019 of branding, added that \u201cPrimal Code is the root code for building seriously authentic brands. It is nontraditional and uncovers the building blocks that attract people and bring them together. It\u2019s used to deconstruct brands and bring them back together.\u201d<\/p>\n
He carried on saying that primal branding has always been important. \u201cIt\u2019s the reason we believe in people, places and things, for example #BlackLivesMatter and Covid. Some believe and some don\u2019t. In the case of Covid among other things, people need to have the message confirmed at least a few times before they actually believe it and for it to make sense to them. A message needs to be clear and resonate. Remember, when marketing a product, the confused do not buy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Maluleke added that in the context of confusion, very little decision making happens in the face of fear, asking Joseph Perello what he thinks the role of brands are in this current environment.<\/p>\n
Perello, Founder and CEO of content company PROPS spoke about a drive towards authenticity that marketers sought to embrace but are still implementing their own strategy and tactics through the lenses of advertising. \u201cAll the creative systems are still trained to make ads and those are not really authentic- they are created to be manipulating. If you really try deconstructing an advert, it\u2019s a disrespectful communication to a person, because it only cares about itself and not the person who\u2019s looking at it.\u201d Perello continued to say that today, the very reason for advertising is being questioned, it can\u2019t be so one sided anymore and that this is a time of creative destruction. \u201cExceptional brands are embracing cultural motions and others are just riding the wave on political matters. Then there are brands that are embracing content \u2013 not branded content \u2013 I mean the way that brands are telling real stories. They are being authentic because they are not selling something; they are appealing to the masses for a greater cause,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Maluleke summed his comment up by saying, \u201cit\u2019s not about \u2018do goodery\u2019 and to be authentic, brands themselves need to be unapologetically.\u201d She then asked, what is the role of \u2018people\u2019 brands here?<\/p>\n
Daouda Leonard, Founder and CEO of CREATESAFE, and music producer for Lady Gaga, Grimes, amongst others answered that \u201cmost artists are using their natural talents to provide some sort of healing to the community but he has also seen some artists that are confused about what they should be doing. Making art is an expressive way to live your life. Some artists are using social channels really well, whereas some artists are still figuring out how to reach audiences though TikTok, for example. It\u2019s a challenging time for a lot of artists but when communicated correctly, I have seen artists provide empowering messages to those in the front line of crises.\u201d<\/p>\n
Leonard agrees that artists are very good at remaining culturally relevant. When asked how one navigates all the latest cultural shifts, he answered by saying \u201cit comes from a place of mindfulness right now. In order to swap out the things you need to swap out, you need to have practice in place to do this.\u201d He used Kendrick Lamar as an example, saying that he has a team around him to synthesize and create beautiful stories that relate to audiences. It\u2019s a moment where people catch up to what you\u2019re doing, where iconic moments are created and real stories are told. \u201cIn today\u2019s age, it\u2019s easier to say I love these things I\u2019ve built, or on the other hand owning up to the mistakes made or even pivoting to a more authentic way of doing something from what they previously stated or portrayed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hanlon agreed that just like an artist, a purpose driven brand has a purpose, meaning and a destiny that they are moving toward; they not just producing product and that they have a larger mission that they are working towards.<\/p>\n
From purpose to premium, Perman gave us insights as to what\u2019s happening to premium brands during the latest pandemic. \u201cAll around the world there are cultural and economic divides. There is definitely an economic impact that will affect the premium brands, but there is now a redefinition of what premium means, it doesn\u2019t necessarily mean luxury. Premium is about substance, providing value, showing authenticity and whether that brand is doing something good for the world. Once redefined, a customer and brand will value THAT sense of premium.\u201d<\/p>\n
Perman also added that two of the major trends he\u2019s seen, is novel forms of empathy and sense making. \u201cOn the sense making point, brands could be deploying AI and Blockchain to understand accuracy and truth. On the novel forms of empathy point, we have a global deficit of oxytocin- lack of touch and communication. Now we need new forms of human connection. Media companies and brands have a role to play in this regard because they have to tell the right stories, exhibit the right rituals, and say the right words to transcend the limitations of current virtual situations.\u201d<\/p>\n
In closing, Maluleke asked what the opportunities for brands are in today\u2019s context especially in a time of social change.<\/p>\n
Hanlon put it simply, \u201cpeople are looking for change, if you are thinking of changing then now is the time to do so.\u201d<\/p>\n
Perello added, \u201cwe have access to all the people, what we need are great creators, good content and the courage to publish it and drive people there. That\u2019s when brands will succeed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Perman concluded by saying, \u201cembrace a new form of singularity which is the intersection between understanding trends and creating the future. Instead of waiting for an answer and asking about the trends, it\u2019s about doing the work to create what\u2019s next. Those are the brands that will win in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n
The next digitized event,\u00a0\u2018A momentary glimpse into what\u2019s \u2018REAL\u2019 and the state of media\u2019<\/strong>, will be taking place on 04 August at 10h00. For more information, or to register,\u00a0click here.\u00a0<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n The big take-out:<\/strong>\u00a0It\u2019s not about \u2018do goodery\u2019, brands need to be unapologetically authentic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The evolution of brands during social revolution was discussed during […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arenaevents.africa\/events\/future-of-media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arenaevents.africa\/events\/future-of-media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arenaevents.africa\/events\/future-of-media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arenaevents.africa\/events\/future-of-media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arenaevents.africa\/events\/future-of-media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=472"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/arenaevents.africa\/events\/future-of-media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":473,"href":"https:\/\/arenaevents.africa\/events\/future-of-media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472\/revisions\/473"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arenaevents.africa\/events\/future-of-media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=472"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arenaevents.africa\/events\/future-of-media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=472"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arenaevents.africa\/events\/future-of-media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=472"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}