SUSTAINABILITY
WE LIVE IN a changing marketplace . Although all of the traditional staples of customer service are still welcome , they are becoming less important to a new generation that had grown up with the ubiquity of online shopping platforms and a plethora of choices like never before . More and more highstreet retailers are suffering at the hands of the growth of at-home pointand-click shopping , and it seems that the power of a strong brand identity is greater than ever before .
With this in mind , Business Chief spoke to branding expert Allen Adamson , author of various books esteemed at universities globally on the topic , including his latest title ‘ Shift Ahead : The Best Companies Stay Relevant in a Fast Changing World ’. He spoke to us about how the power of brands is changing in the modern world , and the challenges of diversifying in a changing landscape . “ In my world a brand is what your story is ,” he says . “ One of the challenges that many marketers face is ‘ what is their story ? What do they stand for ?’ Once you figure out your story , your
brand , what has become increasingly difficult is ‘ how do you get that story out there ?’ Like many things , a theory in marketing and branding is pretty easy , but execution is really hard . What I mean by that is people only recommend extraordinarily good things or talk about extraordinarily bad things . They don ’ t recommend or talk about things that are just ‘ okay ’.”
Consumer habits are no doubt changing too . In fact , a recent study by EFG Companies looking at digital
66 May 2018