A view of brand trends as published in the 2010 Brands & Branding book

1. xxxxx Dr Thomas Oosthuizen
The brave new brand world: Are we ready?
4. Brand ‘talkability’ seems to
transcend traditional attribute
association or differentiation.
5. If you can, be the first-mover
brand within any new market you
enter.
The nature of media has changed
forever.
3. Brand integrity is central to the
The importance of the relationship future of brands.
of brands with society has increased
dramatically. The importance of the
environment, of caring about people
Dr Thomas Oosthuizen is a and communities, of putting staff
brand and communications on the same level as shareholders is
strategist at The Brand Wealth crucial.
Organisation, who has offices in
Johannesburg and Dubai. The
company works for companies
like Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank,
AngloGold Ashanti, Media 24, 6. Change happens fast! This will
MTN and Bidvest in South Africa, also make brands more volatile.
Africa and The Middle East.
Brand differentiation is low. It is also
unlikely to ever become significant
again, except for first mover brands.
2. We are moving from (largely
visual) brand representation to
brand engagement.
Consumers, even in emerging
economies, are gaining wide media
access.
Let us review some of these changes:
How do we deal with these changes?
Emerging economies have now
overtaken developed economies 1. The context within which brands
in GDP. The centre of gravity for are managed is changing from high
brands has shifted. Consumers are more informed about control to low control (some may say
brands than ever before, making “no control”).
them more critical and quality
conscious.
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