<b><font color="#FF0033">AAAI Symposium</font></b>: Brand immortality seems to be a myth

Vahid Mehrinfar, executive principal and chief brand futurist, Vahid Associates, and executive principal, idea, Lowe Contexture, Bahrain, stressed his belief that the statement ‘brands were immortal’ was, in fact, a myth. He was talking at the Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) diamond jubilee symposium, which had as its central theme ‘The Future of Advertising’.

Mehrinfar began, “Being able to articulate one’s idea is what advertising is all about. In true terms, ‘futurity’ means figuring out how to create the future for something, or how to pre-pone the future. For this to apply in advertising, one needs to dispel the myth that brands are immortal.”

Mehrinfar pointed out three facts about brand building. “First, an advertiser/marketer must accept the morbid truth that brands are mortal. This is the stepping stone for finding the best branding strategy. Secondly, brands are in a state of prolonged death. It is the job of the advertiser to make sure that he can prolong the death of the brand for as long as possible. Lastly, brands face a constant quest for longevity. This is a fight for survival, a fight for the future.”

According to him, dealing with consumer satisfaction is passé. One must deal with consumer expectations. “Expectations are what the marketing dilemma is all about. And these expectations are not always visible. Sometimes, they are hidden. An advertiser must intuitively know what the consumer will expect from his brand.”

“The consumer will always say, ‘Surprise me’. What separates a good agency from a great agency is which one can inject the futuristic factor of a brand over and over. This can be done through preemption techniques. By raising the stakes, a brand can become unique,” he added.

Mehrinfar also stressed the fact that today’s consumer wants to be led by the advertiser and his brand. “One brand’s story must be better than the story of other brands. After all, brand building is all about effective storytelling.”

Mehrinfar drew an interesting parallel between a brand’s storytelling, and optical science. He said, “A consumer is like the object that one views through a lens, which I’ll say represents the brand story. The distance between the two is the marketing spend. Just the way it is with optical science, when I bring the brand lens closer to my object (the consumers), the gap between the two is reduced, and hence marketing spends are, in turn, reduced, leading to a higher market share. In order to close this gap, the brand story has to engage the consumer. A fine case in point is that of Coca Cola.”

Mehrinfar said that shortening this distance is where futurity will play a key role. “The past is based on research. The present is based on the environment that exists. But the future is based on possibilities. The same applies to the future of brands. We must do away with jargon such as ‘mission statement’ and ‘vision statement’. Those must be replaced by intent and purpose, as they are extremely important behind brand storytelling.”

Mehrinfar concluded by saying that brand aura is very important, as it is the essence of what the brand stands for. Once this aura stage is achieved, the brand is in a more comfortable position. Also, the brands that win are the ones that dare to do what others don’t dare to.”

© 2005 agencyfaqs!