Praha 23rd September 2016. Nearly 400 marketers, brand managers and experts in brand development have visited this year's Brand Management. The keynote speaker - Ken Segall introduced the magical concept of simplicity, inspired by more than 10years of his collaboration with Steve Jobs, summarised in his new book, Think Simple (participants received the book as a gift).
The first part of the conference was opened by Petra Průšová, CEO for CEE Kantar Group. She emphasized that a successful brand must be able to not only attract the attention. The essence of success can be summed up in following 10 key points: 1) Be purposeful, 2) Be authentic, 3) Be in the conversation, 4) Grow the triple bottom line, 5) Refine the brand experience, 6) Talk to individuals, not generations, 7) Use data respectfully, 8) Simplify the value exchange, 9) Change the transaction mind set, 10) Widen the competitive set even outside your category.
Rostislav Starý, Partner, PR Konektor and Konektor Social got inspired by Marty Neumeier, an expert on innovation and strategy of building brands: „The brand is not what you say about it, but what others say about it." The Internet has, unlike people bulletproof memory, evaluates the service, behavior to people, level of care. People are on the Internet more critical, they can ruin the reputation of the brand in no time.
Very interesting five-point recommendation came from Tomáš Gregořica, Škoda Auto. According to him, the most important conditions for success of the brand are high creativity of the marketing team, targeting on longterm results and future (strategy for future buyers), the involvement of digital marketing with reservations (it is certainly not a panacea), accent on corporate culture and employee branding, and communication that must stay positive at all times.
Most honest and witty presentation of father and son Jahoda on the subject of brand management in family business received a great response. Zdeněk Jahoda, founder of EMCO and doyen of the Czech business and marketing, summed up the development and story of brand EMCO launched in 1994, its successes and failures. The analysis of own mistakes was appreciated the most, because not everyone of us is strong enough in his position to admit past mistakes and failures in public. The son Martin Jahoda, Marketing Director, EMCO dealt with the differences between a family and a global company: "Family business is characterized by continuity, not only know-how. Family ownership allows you to make quick decisions. We have a family story, with which we can play and give the brand authentic emotions."
Why brands grow and why are they dying? That was explained by Tomáš Mrkvička, Director of Strategic Planning, Y&R Prague, based on his 20 years of experience in life cycle of brands. He used a strategic tool for the evaluation of brands called BAV (brand asset valuator), which is based on the principles of Darwin's theory of evolution. BAV model allows in-depth analysis of behaviour, preferences and knowledge of a wide number of brands. The study brings characteristics of the brand status expressed by its uniqueness, relevance for customer, reputation and knowledge. New feature of the product is the ability to link data from BAV analysis, and the customer data, for example, from loyalty systems of retailers.
The keynote speaker Ken Segall, experienced marketer and author of the brand new book Think simple dominated the second part of the program. The book is based primarily on the experience gained during the 12 years of Ken´s cooperation with Steve Jobs. Ken noticed how Steve considers everything by the prism of simplicity. His obsession was not only characteristic for the Apple products, but reflected also in organization structures, innovations, communication, sales and customer service. The principles of simplicity are in authenticity, which always wins. As an example of a simple brand from our market in this sense, Ken mentioned the story of Kofola and how the company is managed by Jannis Samaras.
Minimizing, simplifying thing to their essence means that the simple things can be better remembered. Simplicity allows the company to bring its culture to a product and to be consistent. "Be simple is not simple," Ken Segall said in his speech. Nevertheless as he pointed to examples, stories, and interviews with leaders of more than 40 companies from around the world, it is still possible.
How to build irresistible brands in Prazdroj was the topic of Grant McKenzie, Marketing Director of CR/SR, Pilsner Urquell presented with a great success. Branding of Prazdroj has a clear policy: To deliver the best. Not to cheat. Not to sell cheaply, because the products have a unique value. Create communication at the highest world level. And support the collaboration of the top creative team.
Industrial lovebrand or how to use a childhood dream to sell utilitarian things, that was the title of the presentation by Margaréta Víghova, Director of corporate communications and member of the Board of Directors at ZETOR TRACTORS. Traditional Czech brand of tractors has been present on the market for 70 years, now is the time to create a new concept and move it into the future.
The final panel discussion how to manage brands in digital times, was moderated by Jan Podzimek, Head of PRIA. The debate covered issues related to digital marketing, brand management for a new generations, customer care in the digital age, how to combine online and offline or how to collaborate with mother companies in the field of digital marketing. Vladimíra Doležalová from Vodafone summed up very clearly: "New brands created by digital are important pioneers. They have transformed not only e-commerce, but have brought a better price and a new customer experience, e.g. example of Amazon. The allowed consumers to enjoy and share the new economic resources."
Media contact:
Lukáš Koutník, Blue Events
tel.: +420 730 804 077, e-mail: lukas.koutnik@blueevents.eu
More information on the conference:
Barbora Krásná
e-mail: Barbora.Krasna@BlueEvents.eu