southparc.

In our opinion, creating a brand remains one of the most important goals for any business to survive on the long term. Why? Because a strong brand is hard to copy (in contrast to products and technologies). And because of their perceived added value, premium brands justify premium pricing. Keeping you out of the capricious price fighting arena.

It’s our job to develop strategic and creative concepts. So, as you will understand, we prefer to work with brand driven organizations. In these organizations, a frequently asked question by management is: “What is the capacity of our brand in terms of generating turnover and profit?” Valid question. But a bit hard to answer these days. Simply because a significant part of (future) brand value is defined ‘outside the company’.

Many books are written on brand building. All with different definitions, theories and approaches. In general, the bottom line is to define a clear and unique positioning (against competition) and dito brand values (dna). Next step is to develop a distinctive communications concept to underline this strategy and start sending the message to all relevant target groups, both internal as well as external. In short, this step is all about the WHAT.

So far, so good. Most brand oriented companies follow these general guidelines to get the basics right. Sending out controlled content to create brand awareness, brand image and, by doing a great job, even brand preference.

But the days of ‘outbound only’ messaging are long gone. An additional world of multi-way communications has emerged and is growing explosively in seize and influence: the internet. With a big impact on the HOW.

The internet has turned our world into one big talking plaza. People share knowledge, experiences and opinions on all possible topics, including brands. And here’s where the biggest challenge lies for future brand building. How to join this ‘uncontrolled’ worldwide area and how to manage and influence your brand position in a positive way?

Ben

Share ownership of the brand. What a great concept. Just let go of control. Open up, be honest and be transparant. Turn communications into conversations. Create unique content and make it available. And last but not least, accept that word of mouth still rules and let the outside world do the talking.

Your reach will grow, your credibility will improve and your brand will prospher.

Simple, isn’t it?

Ben

This is about a dilemma. Implementing 2.0 for large international clients is more or less condemned to a step by step approach. In most cases there are just too many aspects involved to do it in a few big jumps. On the other hand we experience a social media world that is skyrocketing. Mega time.

A gradual (careful) way is at least a positive start in the right direction. But we have to develop new and smart tactics to speed things up. Find a way to create Ninja Turtles. Otherwise we’ll not be able to catch up with the hare this time.

Please share your thoughts!

Ben

And we help our international clients to get the most out of their brands. By developing smart strategic positioning, by producing outstanding creative content and by implementing a fundamental shift in the way they communicate. Moving from monologue to dialogue. Making sure their message is present in the new world and their story is shared in global conversations. So let’s start some conversations and join us!