An audience of one...

Communication technologies are evolving faster than most people can turn a computer on and this, in combination with rapidly changing consumer behaviour, is forcing brands to become much more flexible and much more responsive towards customer needs. Sustainable growth will only be possible if brands are fast-acting, agile and most importantly, willing and ready to respond to stimuli from their audiences.

Gone are the days of unyielding brand manuals, fixed templates and updates being scheduled when a new marketing manager wants to mark his territory. Brands simply can't afford to be lethargic. Information gets around too quickly and it's a case of survival of the fleetest. However, we are seeing some evidence of increased brand mobility with an emerging trend for brand updates to be done much more frequently than they've been done in the past.

Markets becoming more diverse

The brands that are pushing the communication envelope are those that are developing sensory, tactile, intuitive relationships with their audiences, adapting to context and adjusting to markets. And those markets are becoming more diverse with the digital world presenting growing opportunities for brands to respond instantaneously to information and structure responses to meet individual needs.

This is relevant for all brands but is more visible in youth-orientated brands and in those which are more closely aligned to digital media. The shift in the way brands are interacting and responding to their audience is being driven by data and the way in which information is shared.

Social media such as Twitter and Facebook are leading the way as their audience shapes their brand interaction based on usage and personal information. iPhone users define their individual experiences of the brand by creating personal profiles. It's about customizing responses in real-time. Brands will process information and respond to their market's preferences - right down to an audience of one.

Use information to contextualise your offering, make it relevant and make it meaningful

Stadium billboards are another example. A few years ago, these were static images. Today, technology enables a range of movement, messages, colours and impact, depending on the audience. Perhaps in the future, someone watching sport on television will be able to use remote technology from the comfort of their armchair to access the stadium advertiser's online store and make a purchase. Is it that far-fetched?

While it's obviously easier for brands in the digital and technology fields to respond in this way, more mainstream brands can't stagnate under cover of tradition. For all brands, response time to the market place is critical. Information is traded so fast and consumers have less patience. They're more demanding and they're more discerning. Transparency and verification are fundamental. They'll check things out, verify and filter, so brands have to use information to contextualise their offering, make it relevant and make it meaningful.

With search engine analytics, brands are able to gauge consumers and react to their needs. Real-time facts and figures display consumer behaviour as it happens and brands are able to respond to this information immediately. In essence, brands are becoming commercial social commentary.

Adapting to change

The world's most valuable brand, Coca-Cola, is a good example of how a mega brand is adapting. Historically, Coke owned mind-share through its distinctive red and white livery but has changed this approach in recent times with differing packaging for different regions. While the design consistency is maintained globally, local teams are given some latitude for customising standards for regional needs. For example, consumers in Europe would have experienced Coca-Cola's Olympics packaging (for its sponsorship of the 2008 Beijing Olympics) differently from another region because the local design partners modified the designs to be relevant for local markets. Despite this latitude, brand equity is not diluted because the brand's core values remain intact.

And that's an important aspect to understand. Brands can adjust to their audiences, but will maintain brand consistency by being anchored in their own value set. Making sure that this happens, and that brands adjust consistently, requires a much closer relationship between the client and the brand custodian. It's all very well to say that successful brands will have to be nimble, flexible and emotionally intelligent, but that's only possible if all partners are intimately involved with the brand. All brands need to manage their reputation - and it's even more critical in the rapidly evolving brandscape to have a triangle of intimacy between end user, brand custodian and client.

This shift in understanding and relationships shouldn't cost more. But it does mean that we have to consider the channels of communication better. Think about a company's logo. Historically, a logo was untouchable, defined by the brand manual and totally unyielding. Today, there are logos that transform depending on circumstance, at no cost to the brand or image. On the contrary, the upside may be vast because the audience (of many and of one) appreciates the closeness and the intimacy of personal context.

Our success as humans depends on our ability to adjust to circumstance and on our level of emotional intelligence. Brand success is no different.