WARC, a leader in recognizing marketing best practices and insights from the world’s most preeminent brands, recently featured a 50,000feet op-ed discussing how digital transformation drives brand transformation—and how brand transformation drives business transformation. Jim Misener, 50,000feet Principal and President, shares his perspective on how marketers can see and stay ahead amid continuous innovation.

WARC serves more than 1,200 companies and 100 markets. Their work has appeared on the BBC, Campaign, CNBC, Forbes and The New York Times.

Read the full article below.

What now, what’s next: Digital brand transformation

This article explains what brand marketers should focus on to keep pace with a digital world.As brands look to the challenges, and the opportunities, of digital transformation, many enterprises are re-prioritising brand initiatives.

Brand transformation is required to enable, activate and drive returns on the investments organizations have made in foundational and fundamental digital transformation efforts.

Brand-centric transformation is key to unlocking growth within technology infrastructure and digital ecosystems, staving off slowing growth and countering recessionary headwinds.

Why it matters

With the acceleration of digital adoption from the world’s largest brands across industries, businesses and consumers have a record-high level of demand for personalized, customized and multi-channel experiences from trusted brands. Now, brands have a massive opportunity to meet the transformation challenge and deliver on these demands – or be disrupted by them.

Takeaways

Brand transformation initiatives simplify the increasingly complex systems of the modern world into beautifully intuitive and seamless experiences.
Those who guide and manage brands must now lead their organizations through brand transformations, which are often tied to the digital transformations which many have undertaken or are underway.
During digital transformation brand marketers should focus on:
Building and strengthening trust among customers and consumers during the rollout of emerging technology, products, services, channels and experiences.
Supplying insight and analytics that measure and then manage the interest, openness and adoption of newer products, services and approaches.
Assuring audiences regarding the safety and security of newly introduced products, as well as larger, categorical changes including cashless economies, cryptocurrencies, healthtech and social communities, including the metaverse.
Linking digital and brand transformation efforts with broader topics including sustainability, ESG and DEI.

The past decade has been transformative for nearly every business, brand and organization around the world. Technological innovation, along with the global pandemic, has helped accelerate the digitization of traditional platforms, channels and media; the innovation of newer modes of business-to-business and consumer experiences, as well as shifts in purchase behavior and demand; the innovation and creation of digital currencies and more integrated and pervasive ways to shop, pay and transact; and the increased distribution – even democratization – of products and services that had previously been difficult to access or even unavailable.

From established Fortune 1000 brands to high-growth startups, digital innovation has translated into a newer generation of products, services, channels and experiences. With it comes more options, access and opportunity for shareholders and stakeholders than ever before.

In this era, many businesses and brands who have led and initiated digital transformation programs have gained significant competitive and operational advantage. And for many, digital transformation has become not only a means of growth and efficiency but also of survival. Today, our markets and means of transaction are digital; our business processes and workplaces are digital; our modes of communicating are digital; and the list goes on, as disruption and the need for digital and brand transformation continue to accelerate.

Strategic brand development for a digitally transforming world

Because a vast majority of businesses have already implemented digital transformation initiatives, their focus is changing. Businesses and brands are shifting to building on this digital infrastructure to deepen their connections with the digitally native cultures and communities they have grown. Now, businesses and brands are leveraging their digital investment to realize even greater returns through strategic brand transformation.

In their report ‘FutureScape: Worldwide Digital Transformation (DX) 2021 Predictions’, market research firm IDC shared their view of the surveyed organizations’ perspectives and priorities:

By 2023, 75% of organizations will have comprehensive digital transformation implementation roadmaps, up from 27% today.
By 2025, driven by volatile global conditions, 75% of business leaders will leverage digital platforms and ecosystem capabilities to adapt their value chains to new markets, industries and ecosystems.

As we look ahead to the challenges – and the opportunities – during 2023 and beyond, many Fortune 1000 companies will re-prioritize brand initiatives to enable, activate and drive returns on the investments that they have made in foundational and fundamental digital transformation efforts.

While many organizations’ strategic roadmaps have been primarily focused on digital transformation for the past decade, brand-centric transformation, and more broadly, creative initiatives, are the key to unlocking – and unleashing – the potential growth and efficiency within digital infrastructure, tech stacks and the broader digital ecosystem. Moreover, these same brand initiatives can help to stave off slowing growth and combat recessionary headwinds in the current economic environment.

What now, what’s next

To support the digital transformation of their organizations, the most successful businesses and brands are leading brand transformations that keep pace with the dynamics of their industries and the expectations, habits and behaviors of their customers and consumers.

For many brands, digital transformation has presented unique and complex challenges, changing their focus as well as broadening their mandate. Today, brand marketers are focused on:

Building and strengthening trust among customers and consumers during the rollout of emerging technology, products, services, channels and experiences.
Providing education on why and how to choose from unprecedented options and how to navigate the number of channels through which to explore, shop, transact and engage.
Supplying insight and analytics that measure and then manage the interest, openness and adoption of newer products, services and approaches.
Supporting and addressing the challenges that have accompanied the transition from physical to digital
sales and service models and humanizing these high-tech, high-touch customer experiences.
Assuring audiences of the safety and security of newly introduced products, as well as larger, categorical changes including cashless economies, cryptocurrencies, healthtech and social communities, including the metaverse.
Imbuing experiences with a deeper sense of purpose, meaning and engagement for audiences of every type.
Linking digital transformation efforts with broader topics including sustainability, ESG and DEI.

Perhaps at its best, brand transformation initiatives help to transform the increasingly complex systems of the modern world into beautifully intuitive and seamless experiences. Brands help to integrate functional and emotional benefits, satisfying customers and consumers through experiences that help them to think and solve as much as create and feel.

To achieve this, brand marketers and their partners must take a multidisciplinary approach built on industry acumen, audience insight, strategic perspective and creative excellence. Those who guide and manage brands must help their organizations through brand transformations similar to the digital transformations which many have undertaken or are in the process of implementing.

Ultimately, change brought about by these brand development efforts will help to transform products, services, organizations and entire markets into more efficient, interdependent and friendlier ecosystems.

The brands who continue to succeed and lead recognize that digital transformation drives brand transformation, and that brand transformation drives business transformation.

Differentiation, diversity, depth and dimension

When technology empowers every firm equally, when capital is freely available and when business processes are standardized, what will differentiate your company, your products and your brand to fuel your growth?

Many of the most visible and respected brands educate their audiences and demonstrate unique insights to impact shareholders and stakeholders in positive, powerful ways. These brands are taking on topics concerning their purpose and the contributions they make beyond delivering a return on investment. They are helping address greater diversity, equity and inclusion within their organizations and the industry as a whole. And they are highlighting the critical role that environmental sustainability has in the health of our economy, our financial wellbeing and our lives.

More and more, leading brands are facilitating important conversations, becoming bellwethers for brands in other industries that are making positive changes within their respective markets and communities.

Brand transformation and the coming revolution

In the wake of the pandemic and the acceleration of digital adoption from the world’s largest brands across industries, businesses and consumers have a record-high level of demand for personalized, customized and multi-channel experiences from trusted brands.

At a time when many businesses and brands have focused on digital transformation strategies to help lead or keep pace with the accelerating pace of our technology, economic and social landscape, brand development has a critical and increasingly important role to play.

Brands have a massive opportunity to deliver on these demands. To do that, brands will need to envision, create and deploy experiences for both their customers and consumers that tie into digital transformation efforts, going further to transform their brand. By leveraging the power of technological investments, brands are able to create personal experiences that drive engagement through meaningful connections.

In the digital environment, brand impression and qualification with customers and consumers begins long before the first contact or sale is made, especially in distribution-led ecosystems and highly regulated markets. In this world, brand awareness and driving interest is done at a distance to earn the leads that lead to business. Innovation and expertise in brand strategy and go-to-market approach are needed to overcome these challenges and succeed today.

Great brands forge and strengthen connections with their intended audience through emotional bond and rational appeal. For a brand to succeed, audiences need to understand, believe and feel its message; they need to become inspired to act through stories told on both an epic scale and during individual moments. The most successful businesses and brands recognize that creativity can empower them to execute their strategies, gain competitive advantage and grow. The most valuable partners will enable organizations to transform their brands and businesses for realignment with a rapidly changing digital world.

By their nature, brands are fundamentally built on integration, connection, innovation and imagination. At its most conceptual, a brand helps to bridge opportunity and possibility, helping to envision and express a great idea as an experience, product or service with which we can interact.

Driving change to deliver return

The most successful brands will bring the benefits of design thinking to a wide range of initiatives to develop and deliver significant business value through integrated, disruptive and creative change. Winners will work across a continuum, from developing business models, frameworks and propositions for new products and services, and changing perceptions, beliefs, attitudes and behaviors among audiences both internal and external to organizations, to creating omnichannel experiences that follow a seamless customer journey spanning B2B, B2C and B2B2C across every industry.

The work of brands has quickly come to encompass helping to introduce, activate and enliven ecosystems made possible by digital transformation. Ultimately, the work today is to define and design paradigms and behavior-changing product and service propositions for better customer experiences.

Brands have the power to build community, bridge gaps, break barriers, inspire action and evoke emotions. They help forge connections, support newfound understanding, build community, drive commerce and imagine endless opportunities for all of us.

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