Future branding

Future branding

How many important and familiar things come up with science fiction writers! Mobile phone, artificial intelligence, helicopter, robots ... It is difficult to overestimate the role of fiction in the development of technological progress. Whole groups of scientists, called futurists or futurologists, study the future, make predictions and fantastic assumptions. And the real sector of the economy listens to them.

But if scholars and science fiction writers of the past put forward their ingenious hypotheses in the light of kerosene lamps and the only miracles familiar to them were the radio and the cumbersome television, then we are a completely different generation. We are surrounded by hints and tips. Science walks by leaps and bounds. High technologies available to ordinary consumers are becoming more incredible every day. However, we manage to ignore this, weaving a strong thread of archaic into the canvas of the future, which comes before our eyes.


Risks and restrictions
In the near future, the world will noticeably approach the concept of the information society. The infrastructure of online commerce and delivery to order. Everything will always be available, and the mass consumer goods segment will become harder to compete at the level of representation.
In the atmosphere of universal accessibility of information, products and services, only two sales tactics will work: no-alternative imposition of the product in exchange for service or branding with narrow segmentation of target audiences and the subsequent “point-like” competition within the segments. Such narrowly focused brands will become a business working tool.
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Key branding tools for the future

Of course, the "revolution" in branding does not expect us. Sprouts and the first successful applications of the described tools are observed in world practice today. I am sure that in the foreseeable future they will become key.
Branding, as a science, will rapidly become an integral discipline, covering all aspects of an individual’s social life and social groups. I expect that in the near future, branding will occupy a dominant place at the top of marketing disciplines.

Brand everywhere will be the main asset of any company. Corporatization and consolidation of businesses is inevitable, but it is precisely the lack of an alternative supplier and manufacturer that will cool consumer interest that will lead manufacturers to the need to create different brands to increase total sales. And since, in fact, there will be no competition between them, because these are brands of one company, the market will gradually come to a situation where the consumer will buy the brand, not the product itself. And the value of the brand in the value of the company and the product will grow rapidly.
Brand materialization

At the next stage of development of society, branding, as an activity, evolves into the process of creating a product or service directly. The term “brand” will be inextricably linked to a specific unique product or service.
Lifestyle branding
The shortage of natural raw materials in the world, which is already beginning to be observed today, will change the consumer society. The prevailing products will be frank surrogates, which may be promoted only with the tools of lifestyle branding and branded culture .

For many industries, the main task of branding will be the creation and cultivation of a lifestyle based on a service / product (lifestyle branding) among the target audience.
Branded demands
In high-tech markets, as well as in the field of cosmetics, pharmaceuticals and perfumes, the next stage in the development of applied branding tools will be the cultivation of needs. The main task of branding in these industries will be the invention and implementation of new needs in society , the answer to which will be given only by the promoted product.

Brand socialization
Megabrends and their closest followers will face the need for socialization of brands. Their resources will become “public domain”, brands “part of folklore”. The first, spontaneous, self-initiated wave of such processes (the beginning of which can already be observed) will lead branding specialists to the possibility of conscious “socialization” of brands, i.e. introducing the brand as an aspect of the socio-cultural life of society .

Branded culture
Branding will become more actively viewed as an aspect of cultural evolution. Brands will gradually become producers of subcultures, which, over time, will merge into the "mainstream" culture, creating the basis for a branded culture of future generations.

Future identification

What is an information society? This is not at all what Hollywood action films scare us. First of all, this is the next stage in the development of the Internet. Global network that includes relevant information on any topic. Exhaustively complete and accessible in all parts of the planet using handheld, wall-mounted and desktop devices. Information, whether it is paid or free, will be provided on first request. This applies to both video, music, cinematographic products, as well as live broadcasting of anything, including any commercial and reference data in any webcam of the planet, ordering and delivering anything anywhere.

Why do we talk about this? Because the approach of this era is already changing the world. Availability of information will be the basis of the life of every normal person. To survive and succeed in such conditions, brands need to learn to seamlessly integrate into the requested content, and most importantly, to be welcome guests.

Global media change
Television in the form of an unmanaged flat picture on the screen, magazines with paper pages filled with still images, newspapers with once and for all printed texts, paper posters measuring 3 × 6 m are the traditional mediums of information dissemination for 2009. After 15 years, they will remain only in the memories. What will replace them will fundamentally change the approach to identifying brands.

Almost a year ago an event occurred that will definitely be remembered as historical. In September 2008, Esquire magazine came out with an electronic paper cover. For the first time in the world, the image on the cover of a magazine from static has become dynamic. For me, this is a sign of the beginning of a new era.

Brand Interface
Information society is not just a beautiful term. If a society lives in constant interaction with information, if the whole environment becomes informational, what does this mean for a marketer? How do we access information? Through visual interfaces. This means that they will surround the person. If today your laptop and mobile phone have an interface, then tomorrow it will be with everything. A simple conclusion follows from this: in the future, the interface in one form or another will become the main carrier of visual identification or, if you will, the brand identity of the brand.


Any interface is dynamic. From the point of view of the designer, a good global interface interacts with the user, responds to his every movement. Visual identification of the brand should describe not only the appearance of the interface, but also the characteristic dynamic states. For the first time, this was demonstrated by Apple designers. Before them, we didn’t know what would happen if we stretched a photo with two fingers on the phone’s screen. The tactile interface of the iPhone is the first sign of what awaits branding specialists in the future.





What is the logo behind?
Almost a year ago, a historic event occurred. In September 2008, Esquire magazine came out with an electronic paper cover. For the first time in the world, the image on the cover of a magazine has turned from static to dynamic. This is a sign of the beginning of a new era. In the near future, we expect three processes that will turn the concept of design and visual branding.

Firstly, all images that are now static and passive will become dynamic and interactive. The development of e-paper technology and multitouch will change newspapers, magazines, books and posters. Present your advertisement in the glossy magazine of the future. It is full-color and dynamic (it can play videos, change, connect to the Global Network), and most importantly, it reacts to pressing and movement. It can not just flicker or show the video - consumers quickly get tired of it. It means that it must react to touch, interact with the reader. Is your brand ready for such opportunities of advertising media? Do you know how your brand looks in dynamics?

Illustration by Franz Steiner. www.blutsbrueder-design.com

Secondly, everything that used to be flat, dynamic and, possibly, reacted to pressing, will become pseudo-three-dimensional and responsive to movement. Televisions, monitors, outdoor advertising and handheld devices - everything starts to show a three-dimensional image. It can be bypassed from behind, rotated to the desired angle, zoom in and out. You can even enter this picture. Imagine a three-dimensional billboard that you can go around. Are you already interested in the question, what does your logo look like from behind?

Illustration by Franz Steiner. www.blutsbrueder-design.com

Thirdly, in the above-described conditions, even a voluminous commercial will quickly become commonplace. Traditional visual identification, as well as stylization of dynamic environments and states (interfaces and reactions to actions and movements), which will be key in the first decade after the appearance of the described technologies in the mass market, will not be able to answer the question of what should replace the advertising video. Looking back at the latest achievements of progress, we can assume that the next stage of branding will be the widespread introduction of sound and tactile identification , as well as identification by smell .


At this point I finish my prediction. You are warned.

Yaroslav Trofimov, director of the agency " inspire Ukraine ", creative@inspire.com.ua

PS: “The moped is not mine”, asked to publish a man who, unfortunately, does not have an account on Habré. Therefore, the request - if you find the article interesting and useful - give the person a habrainwhite, and he will write a lot of interesting things here :) Here is his mail: creative@inspire.com.ua