BRAND COUNCIL SA United voice required
Branding isn’t just for branding agencies. It’s the responsibility of everyone in the communications and marketing industries, says Brand Council SA chairman Ivan Moroke.
That’s why the council will spend 2014 spreading its message to agencies and individuals in advertising, digital, public relations, market research, activation and other disciplines.
“Branding includes everything across the brand experience,” says Moroke, who is also group CEO of TBWA\Hunt\Lascaris.
Council agencies have traditionally come from the design sector. But in order to spread the branding message, Moroke is seeking members “across the brand marketing is not taken seriously in many boardrooms.
Moroke says the council has set itself four goals in 2014. The first is to connect with other communications bodies. “There are too many associations,” he says. “We are too fragmented. We must send a unified message that branding must be put at the centre of marketing.”
The second goal is education, to fill the growing skills gap. “The industry is not attracting the right people,” says Moroke. “Experienced, consummate professionals are leaving but not being replaced.”
Part of the challenge is that many companies do not consider brand marketing a specialist skill. History shows that some business leaders, such as Steve Jobs and Richard Branson, are instinctive marketers but that doesn’t mean everyone is. “You rarely see unqualified CEOs trying to run their companies’ legal or accounting activities but they think marketing is fair game,” says Moroke.
Getting marketing taken seriously leads to the third goal: value. The industry must prove that branding provides a return on investment. Measurement tools are available but often misunderstood. Companies talk blithely of brand equity but many don’t understand how to generate or protect it.
The council’s fourth goal is inspiration, through thought leadership and by highlighting trends. SA brand marketing lacks leaders who promote their profession and stand up for it.
David Furlonger furlongerd@fm.co.za@fm.co.za
@DavidFurlonger1