Brand Strategy goes Electric

In 1965, Bob Dylan shocked the Newport Folk Festival by plugging in his guitar...

Unleashing a powerful new sound for a new era.

Amid boos from folk purists, Dylan had the courage to embrace transformative technology to amplify his art.

Today, as consumer choice proliferates and markets shift at breakneck speed, brand strategy faces a similar inflection point.

To remain relevant and harness their strength, brands must plug in to the transformative potential of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML).

The power of strong brands is well-established.

The world's 40 strongest brands yielded almost twice the total return to shareholders compared to the MSCI World index over the past two decades.

But in a world of rapid change, even the best brands can't rely solely on past success.

Research shows that brand innovators grow their top-line four percentage points faster than less innovative peers.?

The most successful brands draw their power from three sources:

1. Science (insights & measurement)
2. Art (creativity), and
3. Craft (management and execution)

In short:

• A deep understanding of the market and their audience based on rigorously tested concepts
• A clear purpose, vivified through well-honed creativity, and
• An inspiring brand experience delivered consistently across all touchpoints to drive both brand perception and business performance

Any brand with product-market fit can benefit from new methods and approaches in all three sources of brand power—science, art, and craft.

To thrive in the age of AI, brands must electrify their fundamental sources of strength...

Science: AI Unlocks Unparalleled Insight and Agility

Traditionally, brands relied on retrospective data and time-consuming research to glean customer insights.

Today, AI empowers brands with real-time acumen at unprecedented scale and speed:

• Sentiment analysis decodes unstructured data like social media to gauge brand perceptions with up to 90% accuracy, enabling rapid response.
• Agile, AI-powered research tools provide rich qualitative insights in a fraction of the time of traditional methods. One brand now completes flavor testing in an afternoon that used to take weeks.
• Machine learning micro-targets and personalizes brand interactions with individual consumers, a key growth driver.
• Next-gen MROI and growth mapping optimize brand performance at the most granular touchpoints.

星巴克 has harnessed the power of AI through its "Deep Brew" platform to personalize marketing efforts, customize product recommendations, and optimize the customer journey. This has driven significant growth in its rewards program and customer loyalty.

Deep Brew also helps Starbucks streamline operations, from beverage preparation to inventory management, enhancing efficiency and profitability.

Art: AI Amplifies Creativity and Storytelling?

Compelling brand stories have always required human ingenuity.

But in the era of AI, technology enhances and extends the art of brand building:

• Among highly creative brands measured by Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity , 67% achieve above-average organic growth, 70% beat average TRS and 74% exceed average enterprise value.
• AI tools accelerate the creative process, enabling brands to ideate, generate, and test myriad concepts and content variations rapidly and efficiently.?
• Natural language AI supports the creation of resonant brand messaging across touchpoints while algorithms optimize creative placement and performance.
• AI can help align a brand's creative output with its core identity and purpose, which is increasingly important to consumers, especially Gen Z.

可口可乐公司 has embraced generative AI to revolutionize its advertising, blending human creativity with machine intelligence.

Its AI-generated "Masterpiece" campaign seamlessly integrated AI animation with live action. Coca-Cola also leverages AI to empower independent creators through initiatives like the Real Magic Creative Academy and Coke Studio.

Craft: AI Enables Seamless Delivery and Purposeful Leadership

More than making promises, strong brands keep them consistently across countless interactions.

AI empowers this at scale while helping brands credibly lead with purpose:

• Machine learning orchestrates cohesive brand experiences across complex, multi-touchpoint customer journeys.?
• AI tools govern assets and content across markets to ensure the brand always shows up at its best.
• Purpose-driven brands achieve 2x the brand value growth of purely profit-focused brands, and leading with purpose authentically requires organization-wide activation.
• AI helps translate purpose into clear values, communications, behaviors and decisions. Analytics monitor progress and alignment so the organization walks its purpose talk.

BMW of North America partnered with IBM watsonx to create an AI-driven social media campaign that analyzed vast user data to deliver personalized content and real-time responses.

The campaign achieved a 30% increase in engagement, expanded audience reach, and enhanced customer interaction, ultimately boosting brand loyalty.

Breaking Down Silos to Plug In

To harness AI's brand-building power, organizations must break down silos and collaborate in new ways.

Leading brands are evolving from rigid client-agency hierarchies to more fluid, agile ecosystems of internal and external partners.

As daunting as the AI revolution may seem, strong brands are well-poised to plug-in and up-level their impact.

And you don't have to be Coke or Starbucks to take advantage...

By electrifying your core brand-building competencies with AI and ML—anchored by authentic purpose—any sharp brand can remain vibrant and valuable.

When Dylan went electric, not everyone was ready.

But those who embraced his expanded palette of sonic colors helped reshape music for generations.

Likewise, thoughtful brands who synergize timeless truths with the technologies of tomorrow will define the future...

Because when human creativity meets machine intelligence—that's when brands become enduringly relevant and iconic.

No matter how fast the future arrives.