Brands 2030: Ten Forecasts on the Future of Brands and Branding
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FORESIGHT BRANDS 2030: TEN FORECASTS ON THE FUTURE ALLIANCE OF BRANDS AND BRANDING Foresight Alliance 2014 | All Rights Reserved See What’s Possible Forecasts in Brands 2030 include: 1. The AI Brand. Intelligent, customizable brands seek out consumers. 2. Ultragamified. Brands and Brands 2030 consumers play well together. 3. Self-Generating Brands. Brands that create themselves … brands Brands create themselves based on automated analysis of that know what you want before you consumer demand. need it … brands that respond to 4. Brands Are Fluid. Though we consumer aspirations … Welcome to think of brands as fairly consistent over time, in 2030 brands and branding in 2030! “always changing” might be the new brand image. Brands 2030 is ten forecasts that provide a provocative look 5. Actualizing Brands. By 2030, at ideas and trends that could shape the future of brands brand evolution is driven and their interactions with consumers over the next 15 bottom-up by consumer years. This report from Foresight Alliance looks at aspirations. everything from “DRM houses”—homes that accept only certain branded products—to a gamified consumer 6. Ethical Spending in Emerging Markets. Personal values steer environment that offers near-continuous brand a rising percentage of consumer touchpoints. In exploring the possible futures of brands and spending in emerging markets. branding our goal is to educate our clients on the opportunities—and risks—that will emerge. 7. Crowd-Defined Brands. In 2030, crowds define brands. Careful readers will note that some of these forecasts and 8. Brand Relationships Won’t ideas are contradictory. The report offers a range of brand Matter. In 2030, brand futures, some positive, some negative, but all possible. awareness, salience, and We would be remiss not to offer a word of thanks to our presence are still what drive friends at Brandimation, a leading design-based brand sales. innovation firm serving consumer packaged goods 9. Post-Retail Brands. The era companies. Brands 2030 grows out of research we of automated logistics changes conducted jointly with Brandimation for a presentation to branding. the BRANDPACKAGING Conference. 10. Brand Ecosystems. In 2030, If you’d like to learn more about this report, or any of our exclusive ecosystems may be ongoing projects, visit www.foresightalliance.com or email delivering benefits to users and us at [email protected] to See What’s Possible. premiums to producers. See What’s Possible What this means for companies… Who knows, wins. Analysis of Brands 2030 data around consumer mood, behavior, brand interactions, etc., will require increasingly 1. The AI Brand sophisticated programs to accurately identify user needs. Intelligent, customizable brands seek out Just as delivery companies were consumers. the unsexy backbone of online retail, data analysts will function in With the influx of data analytics about consumer the same way for AI brands. needs, sentiment, and lifestyle choices, by 2030 Whither marketers? As brands brands are seeking out users, rather than users become smarter and seeking brands. Consumers no longer pay attention independently active, traditional to brands because AI brands now know what marketing departments will need consumers need, and present them with to transform or perish. appropriate, individualized choices at the right time, The end of traditional retail. in their preferred way. As a result, brands are able Subscription services and home to reach niche audiences and individuals even as delivery will be boosted by use of media continues to fragment and more information AI brands, resulting in a decline in is delivered on individual devices. traditional retail sales. With brands already knowing what you What’s driving this forecast… need and when you need it, going to a store becomes superfluous. Branding through interaction, not advertising. By 2020 advertising will no longer be the primary tool for Busted! As brands learn more branding, but instead will be a channel for driving about users and respond transactions with consumers. appropriately, users will face The always‐on brand. With the transparency created increased risk of their secrets by social media, the Internet, and mobile, brands are being accidentally revealed by a always‐on—not just tied to one product. brand to their friends or family Consumer/brand interactions are digital. against their wishes. Increasingly, consumer interactions with brands are digital first; human/personal only second. See What’s Possible What this means for companies… Gameplay brand manager. Brand managers will need to expand their skillsets to Brands 2030 encompass expertise in game design and game 2. Ultragamified experiences that enhance brand identity. Brands and consumers play well together. Branding the world. Smartphones and Fostered by Millennial interests, in 2030 game- augmented reality enable playing is the leading form of entertainment among brand content to be digitally crucial consumer demographics. Brand managers overlaid on any real-world respond by embedding their brands into gaming environment. Any location or experience can be used as a experiences that mix the virtual with the real. platform for brand Ubiquitous adoption of augmented reality has made development. brand-oriented gaming as common as playing Angry From consumer to player. Birds was in 2013. Consumers engage in branded Gamification offers brands scavenger hunts, for instance, competing and the opportunity to turn cooperating with friends and family. Branded games consumers into teammates. have opened up new avenues for consumer-brand Purchase behavior could be influenced by a team interaction, trading entertainment and competition mentality and the for special discounts, promotions, and elite service. competitive urge to win. What’s driving this forecast… Entertainment and beyond. Gamification already goes . Brands are Augmented reality and brands well beyond entertainment. exploring innovative uses of augmented reality to Companies can use game develop new consumer touchpoints. formats to deliver new Brands in gaming. Gaming is an increasingly dominant experiences, new learning, media form, and offers opportunities for in-game and new opportunities for branding and product promotion. socialization that are relevant to brand identity. See What’s Possible What this means for companies… Responsiveness. This approach could allow rapid response to changing market Brands 2030 conditions. Anticipatory brands. By 3. Self-Generating Brands looking outside the immediate product space, Brands create themselves based on new brand ideas could be anticipated, filling a void that analysis of consumer demand. consumers haven’t even By or before 2030, consumer data is so rich and recognized yet. deep that brands essentially create themselves Speed. Self-generating based on detected patterns of consumer need, brands may appear rapidly to rapidly filling an identified brand niche. Systems fill a temporary need, with detect gaps in brands through methods such as many having a relatively social media monitoring, click-through rates, or A/B short shelf-life. A small percentage will have long- testing. They also look outside the immediate term staying power. product space for changes in the broader environment and use this to anticipate need. Complements crowdsourced branding. Self-creating What’s driving this forecast… brands complement approaches that let Big data on consumers. Massive amounts of data are consumers contribute to becoming available on what and how consumers buy, brand creation. Some of the and how they live minute to minute. techniques will overlap. Predictive computing. Improving AI combined with big data is allowing algorithmic prediction of more Monitoring for downsides. aspects of business and consumer life. Algorithmic creation will From passive to active brands. Consumer–brand need to be kept in check to engagement is shifting from passive exposure to brand see that it does not deviate messages to active interaction. too far from core brands, Consumer co-creation. Marketing firms are working company values, or public directly with consumers to build products and brands. standards of taste. See What’s Possible What this means for companies… Becoming brand-nimble. If brands change more quickly, brand management decisions that were once earth-shaking will become more routine, Brands 2030 and management processes will need to change to 4. Brands Are Fluid provide greater flexibility at lower management levels. Though we think of brands as fairly From brand-as-asset to…? consistent over time, in 2030 “always Brands have been core changing” might be the new brand image. company assets, often stable for decades. As brands By the end of the next decade, as the pace of become more fluid, companies will need to find consumer change accelerates and social media other ways to measure (and matures, a stronger, deeper linkage between account for) their intangible consumers and brands has driven brands to change assets. more quickly too. For example, brands have shifted Pop-up brands. A “pop-up their messaging or morphed key attributes to brand” could use customized compete effectively in a world of viral memes. Some advertising and finely honed new brands grow über-fast but are ultra-short-lived. social media techniques to go viral with its target audiences. What’s driving this forecast… Dynamic competition. Fluid Brand interactions are conversations. Brand individual brands will create a interaction is