‘Brands in 2023’

At Royal Docks School of Business and Law , University of East London, USS Campus

Panel discussion and Q&A with staff students, and other panel members, covering topic areas such as:

What do brands mean to consumers in 2023? Do they use and value them in the same ways they did in the mid-20th century and 1980s?

Stephen King of JWT said in the 1960s that advertising built brands. Is this still true and what do we mean by ‘advertising’ now and how is the change in media consumption altering the consumer’s use and beliefs in brands and how they use marketing communications?

How much has e-commerce altered how consumers assess how they select brands?

Do other factors such as customer service, at the point of purchase and afterward, no matter how consumers perceive brand value?

How much do consumers care about a brand's CSR and environmental stance, when selecting a brand? 

Do we have the right tools to measure brand marketing, both in the long and short term?

Are agencies brave enough when talking to clients about what they can do for a brand and if the brand has what it takes to be a ‘21st-century brand’?

The best definition of brand I ever heard began with the best definition of marketing I ever heard… “marketing is selling my company when I’m not there…”

People tend to have a very mediocre definition of brand which tends to make any conversation null before it’s even been had. They think it’s stuff, not material. In this world, it’s pretty much everything isn’t it… after brand, there are only processes and systems, increasingly being delivered by technology

If I had 10 Questions these would be them

1. How intimately do they know the audiences? (Insights, feelings, personas, behaviours etc.)

2. How well can they define the persona/segment?

3. What does the brand represent - or evoke?

4. What distinguishes the brand the audience would identify with?

5. What do we do that nobody else can do? (The Superpower) Is there a clear vision?

6. Is there a transformative purpose?

7. How digitally savvy/curious are the decision makers?

8. Does the world need what we do? (Why?)

9. Do we have the capability/capacity to stay objective enough to build a brand?

10. What is the KPI for brand success?

If I had one question it would be this.

1. Why will anyone care about us?

Guest Panellists

Chris Twinning, Global Innovation and Media Director Dentsu

Olly Higgs, Audience and Data Director Nike

Suraj Mashru,  Senior Manager PR& Communications DLA Piper

Hernan Bassi, Director Kantar

Mike Yershon - Chairman Media Assessment Ltd

Nicole Yershon - Founder The NY Collective

Chair

Vic Davies