What makes brands successful in the digital transformation

BRANDING Serviceplan Suisse, Plan.Net Suisse, Mediaschneider and GfK hosted the 7th Brand Roadshow at the Hotel Widder on Tuesday, April 5. Under the event title "The neglected potential of networked digital brand management", prominent speakers explored the question of what makes brands successful in the digital transformation.

Christian Bärtschi (Serviceplan Group) and Manfred Strobl (Mediaschneider) (from left).The importance of a holistically networked strategy for the digital transformation of a brand was demonstrated to around 200 guests at this year's brand roadshow. After a brief welcome by Christian Baertschi (Managing Director Serviceplan Group Switzerland) and an introduction by Manfred Strobl (CEO Mediaschneider), the speakers Dr. Peter Haller (Managing Director Serviceplan Group), Dr. Wolfgang Adlwarth (Insights Director Strategic Marketing GfK Panels), Stefanie Jermann (Key Account Manager GfK Consumer Experiences) Barbara Evans (Managing Director Facit Media Efficiency) and Dominik Terruhn (Managing Director Plan.Net Media) addressed the topic and presented practical concepts and tools for implementing a holistic networking strategy.90 percent not satisfied with digital brand managementAccording to a study conducted in 2015 on behalf of the German Brands Association, 90% of the companies surveyed are not satisfied with their digital brand management. They stated that there was a lack of networking between digital and analog tools. Dr. Peter Haller attributes the reason for this to the pace of innovation in IT technology and the resulting applications, which overwhelm the brand management practices of most companies. How this can be counteracted and the untapped potential of an overall online and offline networked strategy can be exploited was explained to the expert audience using successful concepts for the five levels of "target group", "touchpoints and media", "content", "sales" and "real-time data".Success concepts on five levelsThe success concept for the "target group" level distinguishes between three target group types (non-users, standard users, mobile digital users) and equates a focus on the growing group of mobile digital users with brand success. At the "touchpoints and media" level, the concept for success includes, on the one hand, the company knowing the needs and media behavior of its target persons and, on the other hand, analog and digital media being coordinated and used sensibly. The concept for success at the "Content" level describes the importance of networking the content presentation: the aim is to define a value profile that is relevant to the target group and is authentically lived by the brand. At the "Sales" level, the success concept includes the development of an omnichannel concept and the transfer of digital tools to the PoS. The success concept at the fifth level, "Real-time data", highlights the importance of business intelligence in dealing with big data: Marketing and sales data should be processed promptly in an automated process and used in this way.About the brand roadshowThe Brand Roadshow (formerly Marketing Meeting) has been organized by the Serviceplan Group Switzerland, Mediaschneider and GfK in Zurich for seven years. Here, the latest research results are presented to an audience consisting largely of marketing managers and/or practical concepts and tools based on them are introduced.