As we emerge from the pandemic, what are the choices our industry faces and how shall we approach them when many of the old practices and legacy structures no longer apply?  

One thing that is absolutely clear is that there’s no going back.

We now have the opportunity to renew and re-build better and stronger.

What then will brands be looking for in a post-COVID, platform-driven world? Many would argue creating brand value and delivering personalisation at scale with an agency partner capable of delivering meaningful experiences.

However, the ability to create and deliver these objectives requires different specialist capabilities. The tendency of legacy agency structures to focus on one element only when ‘building the brand’ for example communications for some, digital for others, in-store, ecommerce, experiential is being challenged by client demands that requires an agency to serve as lead strategic brand partner. And, in order to be able to do so, they now need to understand every consumer touch point and most importantly, how those touch points are experienced. 

Experience, once classed as yet another specialist skill is set now to become integral to the core of brand building.

The symbiosis of brand and experience 

In the same way comms strategy or data skill sets have become ‘table stakes’ for creative agencies now looking to engage audiences in a myriad of fragmented media channels, they now need to think beyond media and communications if they are to be true brand partners and that means thinking around the entire brand experience.

Brand and experience should exist and operate together symbiotically, where both inform each other. As I read recently, “brand is experience, experience is brand”.

If brands can be defined by the experiences that they give, and if experiences are the most powerful ways to create brands then it makes sense, operationally and experientially, to align these separate forces for the benefit of all.

Returning to the past is not the answer. So, how to achieve this?

Diversity is integral 

Joining up capabilities and building an environment with diverse leadership, teams, and skillsets, transforms how brand challenges are both perceived and addressed.

Not as separate and distinct brand and experience ‘systems’, but a union of understanding and application, where both are utilised to advantage the other and where outcomes are prioritised.

As we change shape, there has never been a better time to ensure this new talent is diverse. We as an industry have the opportunity and the responsibility to build back better in diversity and inclusion, as well as skillsets.

As a company whose business is identifying talent and transforming leadership teams, diversity of leadership has been crucial to helping our clients unite brand and experience; 81% of the leaders we placed in 2020 were female and 42% were from BAME backgrounds.

Thinking in this way serves as a game-changing moment and crucially allows for diversity to become an integral part of unlocking operational success.

We argue that a diverse, inclusive, and empowered set of people is fundamental to unlocking the forces of brand and experience operating together.