Blockchain: What does the brave new world mean for brands?

An investment and start-up community is currently forming around blockchain technology and philosophy in Zug's Crypto Valley, promising wealth and entrepreneurial success through ICOs (Initial Coin Offerings) that go beyond established regulations and central institutions. Essentially, blockchain is a public, global database that permanently records digital transactions and stores them unalterably. Using blockchain technology, people can autonomously execute any type of transaction or store data - securely and self-managing. The blockchain community propagates a free, democratic way of doing business that connects everything with everything else - an economy by everyone for everyone.Trust and stability as success factors"The crucial question for the success of the blockchain community and its market participants is how trust and stability can be established in such decentralized systems," said Tanja Schug, representative of Brandtrust in Switzerland and moderator of the evening. The answer was provided by her two panel guests Arie Levy-Cohen, founder of Blockhaus Investment AG, and Achim Feige, financial market expert and partner at Brandtrust. "Blockchain means freedom, independence and transparency. Anyone can participate by making themselves, their service or their product directly and globally tradable with the help of blockchain, without any middleman," said Arie Levy-Cohen, once an investment banker and now a thought leader in the blockchain industry, adding: "With recognized standards, we define how we want to trade with each other and create trust and credibility."The power of the brand in the new economyAchim Feige explained what blockchain means for brands and their management. People are moving to the center. Without a middleman, they alone are responsible for their product, their performance. "In order to create trust in this system, people themselves must become the brand. Because brand is trust. Only brands give value to interchangeable services. Only when the service is charged with trust, differentiation and significance will it be appreciated and bought at a value," explained Feige. The new, decentralized economy needs nothing more urgently than trust. This is where established brands can help to build it.Brand creates trust, added value and differentiationIn addition, brands help to differentiate themselves from others. This value differentiation ultimately makes the economic difference, said Feige: "I only pay for what has value and meaning for me. Analog and digital. The brand functions here as a consolidation system with a trust, added value and differentiation function."Promises must also be kept virtuallyThe quintessence of the evening: decentralized, transparent and community-oriented blockchain technology enables an economy by everyone for everyone - perhaps based on new Swiss global standards. "In this system, everyone is dependent on developing a strong brand that can be trusted. A brand that stands out, that keeps its promises and inspires the community with an authentic, exciting story," summarized Schug: "As in the real economy, it's not just about making promises, but above all about keeping them."More information:What brand principles apply to the blockchain community and its market participants? The same as in the traditional world, only tougher, clearer, faster, more digital, more unforgiving.       The brand principles of the blockchain economy