A look at how brand strategy needs to evolve to embrace digital technology, due to the massive disruption digital is causing companies and how it impacts their brand - digital transformation should begin with the brand

1. Brand Strategy and Digital

2. Obsolescence is the stark
reality for brands that fail
to recognize and negotiate
this transitional moment
The Brand Strategy needs
to make the company
more competitive,
relevant and future-proof
Branding and Technology
Technology is about to have a massive impact on Companies – and hence Brand Strategy

3. Fortune 500 Firms in 1955 vs. 2011: 87% Are Gone.
Group A. American Motors, Studebaker, Detroit Steel, Maytag and
National Sugar Refining
Group B. Boeing, Campbell Soup, Deere, IBM and Whirlpool.
Group C. Cisco, eBay, McDonald’s, Microsoft and Yahoo.
• All the companies in Group A were in the Fortune 500 in 1955, but not in 2011.
• All the companies in Group B were in the Fortune 500 in both 1955 and 2011.
• All the companies in Group C were in the Fortune 500 in 2011, but not 1955.
What do the companies in these
three groups have in common?

4. Accelerating Pace of Change

5. Accelerating Pace of Change
Computing power predicted to match
the human brain by 2025

6. The Future is Now
• By the 2020s self-driving cars will take over the roads,
and people won’t be allowed to drive on highways
• By the 2030s, virtual reality will begin to feel 100% real.
We will be able to upload our mind/consciousness by the
end of the decade.
• By the 2040s, non-biological intelligence will be a billion
times more capable than biological intelligence (a.k.a. us).
• By 2045, we will multiply our intelligence a billionfold by
linking wirelessly from our neocortex to a synthetic
neocortex in the cloud.
Big tech trends
• AI & Advanced Machine Learning
• Digital Twin – merging physical & digital
• Intelligent Apps / Intelligent Things
• Virtual & Augmented Reality
• Blockchain
• Conversational Systems
• Mesh App and Service Architecture
• Digital Technology Platforms
• Adaptive Security Architecture
• 3D Printing
Digital Radically Changing Lives
• Open Learning and free online college courses
• Digital HR: cloud based systems for perf. & talent management,
online learning, empl engagement etc
• Learn every language on Earth
• Unlimited access to a mega-library of documentaries
• Photo editing software using AI
• Fintech – innovative tech in financial services & products
• Buy and sell shares – and other Fintech services
• Chat bots
• On Demand Economy (Uber, AirBnB etc)
Digital Revolution Impacting Business

7. The theme of the World Economic
Forum 2016 Annual Meeting in
Davos, was “The Fourth Industrial
Revolution”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khjY5LWF3tg
“…the Fourth Industrial Revolution
has the potential to raise global
income levels and improve the
quality of life for populations around
the world”

8. Technology Empowers Consumers
Manufacturer Distributer Retailer Consumer
$50.00
Manufacturer Retailer Consumer
Manufacturer ConsumerThe Web
$46.25
$38.00
Cost/unit
Business model disruption: audience can disintermediate companies and governments to get
what they want, when they want (Uber/AirBnB)
For the consumer, Technology challenges the relevance of companies and brands

9. Industries being disrupted
Industries that are moving fast
in face of digital disruption
• Entertainment & Leisure
• Legal
• Construction
• Automotive
• Travel & Hospitality
• Logistics & Distribution
• Utility Services (other than
Telecom)
• Food & Beverage
• Pharma
• Oil & Gas
• Agriculture

10. Q. What does it take for a brand to WIN?
A. Embracing and engaging the empowered
customer
Digital strategy goes beyond
channels of communication – its
about using technology to create
value for people that aligns to the
brand promise and purpose
Forrester Calls This the “Age of the Customer”

11. Digital, Physical Fusion
Bain’s assessment of digical transformation for 20 industries.IBM CMO Council, Connected Interaction to Power Brand Attraction
Digital, Physical Fusion: “Digical”
The gold standard of integration is
to have pricing, messaging,
delivery, returns, and all other
aspects of the customer
experience united across physical
and digital properties.

12. Macro Forces of Digital Disruption
• Digital Disruption is the “lens”
for developing Brand Strategy
• Need to answer the clients
question:
“How can we leverage digital
innovation to better engage
our customers faster and
more effectively than our
competitors?”
Technology is increasingly blending Online and Offline

13. Brand Strategy
(Identity)
Experience
(Credibility - Enhanced &
augmented by ambient digital
technology)
Communications
(Visibility - Amplified &
accelerated by digital
channels)
Digital Should be a Natural Evolution of the Brand Strategy
Inherently blended online with offline

14. The End