What does the future hold?
No one really knows.
Trends can be predicted, data can be extrapolated, and five-year plans can be made. But all you have true control over is how ready for the future your brand is.
Strong brand foundations
A future-ready company appreciates and invests in the value of its brand.
When factors internal and external to your organisation are subject to change, you need a strong brand story and set of design principles to act as your north star.
- Brand values will steer you right in an ever-changing landscape, helping you answer “What’s the appropriate action for us?” and maintaining your relevance
- Brand story forges a strong, emotional connection with your audience, allowing you to take consumers on the journey when you pivot, refresh, or extend your product range
- Brand story and design also create protectable distinctiveness and difference against your competition. And “a company can outperform rivals only if it can establish a difference that it can preserve.” (Harvard Business Review)
- Focusing on your brand story avoids the trap of ‘being trendy’. Brands must evolve and respond to consumers’ changing needs and interests, but having a clear, consistent brand message is far more valuable than jumping on cultural bandwagons.
Design for a sustainable future
Sustainability is a value most organisations hold today. It’s an appropriate, responsible way of doing business — and many consumers demand ethical practices from the brands they purchase.
Companies using sustainability as a unique selling point today could be at risk, though. We must design for a sustainable future; for a competitive landscape where corporate social responsibility is the rule, not the goal.
Look for ways to connect with your customers beyond the sustainable credentials you have or could have in the coming years. What is your protectable point of difference?
We work with brands on sustainable storytelling that’s free from purpose-washing, creating narratives that align with the core and meaningful brand story. Sustainability is a critical element of how you do business and the promise you make to consumers, but alone it won’t be enough to future-proof your brand. Where sustainability meets — and builds — your authentic brand story is the place to focus.
Technology with meaning
The same can be said for technology. Brands get the best ROI from technology where it’s applied in a meaningful, strategic way.
This could mean using AI for market research and finding your white space opportunity area, or offering your audience improved ways of connecting with each other, new experiences, and your brand.
‘Improved’ is the key word here. Pure novelty isn’t future-ready. Everything new eventually gets old, becoming a poor investment at best. At worst, it positions your brand as an “us too” — grabbing at bad-fit technologies in a bid to create engagement.
Return to your brand story again. What’s your brand purpose and what value do you deliver to customers? Now how can emerging technology help you do more of both?
Building future-ready brands
The Unknown Creative has been building future-ready brands for 15 years. We’ve seen ‘the future’ materialise over and over again in that time, and we’ve distilled the future-proofed principles above based on our experience.
If you want help preparing your brand for the future, get in touch today: design@theunknowncreative.com