Creating Loyal Brands : Themes Of The Week

So much content, so little time...

A weekly round-up of the themes and posts I found particularly interesting or useful.

This week served as a reminder that we're moving into a very different environment, with themes exploring the implications for the way we do business, for how we build brands, and for retailing.

Move fast and break things...

Several posts examined the implications of doing business in today's fast-changing environment.

Reinventing Strategy for the Social Era argued that we've moved into a new "social era", where size alone no longer brings competitive advantage.

Conscious Capitalism: Can Empathy Change The World? looked at the rising tide of businesses that have aligned their social and profit missions.

While The Truth About Being "Done" Versus Being "Perfect" made the case that businesses today need to believe in their ideas, move fast and be prepared break things, if they are to survive.

Branding's new era...

Several posts also examined the implications for branding in this new environment.

The Next Generation Brand showed how brands today can re-energize themselves, by adopting the look and values of a next generation brand, challenging the relevance of the past to the new environment that's emerging.

The Smallest Nonprofits Should Have The Most Powerful Brands argued that grassroots organizations need to build strong brands to promote collaboration, and that they have the authentic relationships, stories, and characters with which to build them - something all marketeers should take note of, in today's connected world.

While Brand Storytelling: Why Your Employees Should Tell Your Story reminded us that in our ever more social world, engaging customers successfully means first engaging your employees in the story.

Retail's next generation...

Finally, the fascination with the changing nature of retail in today's environment showed no signs of abating.

How America's Upstart Burger Chains Will Help McDonald's featured the new wave of higher quality burger chains, led by Five Guys, that have been built primarily through word of mouth, rather than traditional advertising.

The New Era Of Retail Branding highlighted how the model for successful bricks and mortar retailing is changing, rather than dying, in this digital age.

While Goodbye, Supercenters, Retail Will Get Focused, Adaptable underlined the need for retailers to adapt to the changing environment.

On which note, if you have any suggestions on how this post could be improved, let me know...