Don't shout, talk to people about your brands

Nicholas Runnalls, senior manager clients & markets at Deloitte, says that brand strategists need to open channels of dialogue with the people they serve: "We should move away from our present 'broadcast style' of marketing and brand-building.

"The brand that wins will not be the one that overcomes the noise clutter by shouting the loudest or the most. Branding needs to be less about broadcasting and more about conversation. The winners will be the brands that hold conversations with their consumers (read 'people'), that allow these people to define the brands relevant to them, and that allow the values of the people these brands serve to define them.

"The brands that will succeed will also be the brands that are integrally part of the communities in which they exist - not markets, but communities - brands that care about the issues of these communities truthfully and sincerely. These brands will seek alliances with other brands in the community to serve the community better. They will encourage dialogue, feedback and two-way communication."

He challenges marketers to do away with the concept of the customer, the target market and the segment and create an honest, open dialogue with the people served: "Don't invest all your time and money building award-winning campaigns; invest your passion and energy in your brand's personality and make sure your brand gets out to people in the community and talks to them."

Runnalls draws from a paper, 'U-Commerce: Expanding the Universe of Marketing' by Richard Watson, Leyland Pitt, Pierre Berthon and George Zinkhan.

The authors identify a new type of economy, the "Über"-commerce, based on the "four U's" of next-generation commerce: ubiquity, universality, uniqueness and unison. The Brands & Branding article also examines the concept of the "four U's", explaining the meaning of each "u" in a branding context.

Out of these "four U's", the four leading marketing academics speak of U-Space or the connection economy, arguing that the consumer age is over.

Brands & Branding 2005 reflects the latest trends in branding theory, while nearly 100 brand profiles and case studies provide valuable insights into the practical ways in which South Africa's top marketers build equity for their brands.

The publication also features the results of this year's Markinor-Sunday Times Top Brands Survey and will be launched on Wednesday, 21 September at the Markinor-Sunday Times Top Brands Survey awards evening in Johannesburg.

For more information on this year's edition contact Ken Preston on +27 11 442 2366 or email him at .