Consumer trends
06/ Digital transformation

If you want to build future-proof brands, digital transformation will undoubtedly play an important role. But we're no longer talking about just a digital update or optimisation at this point. New technologies such as AI, 5G, blockchain and others will disrupt and redesign the entire market. Time to step up your digital game!

Building smart brands requires different kinds of expertise: strategic, verbal, visual, spatial, digital, etc. Brands need all these identities to create a uniform and familiar experience across all channels. Technology plays an important role. We had a look into long-term branding opportunities within the next generation of digital transformation: how will technologies like Artificial Intelligence, 5G, Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality and blockchain help shape the future of branding? We would like to take you deeper into three aspects.


SPACE/PLACE REDEFINED

Thanks to the pandemic, we've been looking at spaces, physical presence and their digital alternatives in a whole new way. Just think of those endless Zoom calls, digital appointments with, for example, your bank employee or therapist, the many digital event experiments, virtual museum visits, etc.
Although a lot of us hope this will soon be a thing of the past, nothing could be further from the truth. These digital changes will stay an integral part of our lives in the future. All the more reason to monitor your brand story and experience across all channels and dimensions. A challenging task for brands in the future. In spatial design, we must therefore embrace and integrate technologies such as AR, VR and 3D as a part of the design process.

ALL THINGS CONNECTED

Can't keep up with the number of touchpoints your brand needs to take part in? In the future, it'll get even more complex! With the arrival of 5G and everything 'the Internet of Things' has to offer, you should take into account that almost every object will be able to connect to the internet. Brands that are already developing their services and communication models with 5G in mind will have an advantage over the others. 'The Internet of Things' will also revolve even more around data. It will offer brands the unique opportunity to bring personally relevant and valuable content and services to their customers in an ethically responsible way. Creating added value in the lives of your customers on a deeply personal level will be the challenge of the future for brands.


BRAND INTELLIGENCE

What does it mean when we talk about Artificial Intelligence or AI? AI consists of computers that can perform typically human tasks such as visual recognition and interpretation, speech recognition, decision-making, translation, writing texts, etc. Behind each of those tasks lies impressive development work with its own challenges.

In the long term, this will result in Brand Intelligence. Brands will understand their customers on an unprecedented level. They will no longer communicate in prefab storylines, but brands will be able to engage in true conversations with their customers in an interactive way. They will immerse themselves in the habits and the lives of customers and be able to offer them solutions to make their lives better. Just think about the new generation of 'Alexas', chatbots and many others.

In this future scenario, technology will play an important role within the branding process. These technologies will have to be combined for the perfect experience. This will only increase the demand for technical profiles within the branding world: developers, creative coders, experience architects, data experts… these are just a few examples of the jobs of the future.

Trends like 'digital transformation' already reshape the branding landscape. But what influence will they have in the long run? Go ahead and download your crystal ball: the “Superhuman” report that contains six scenarios on the future of brands and branding.