Effectively leveraging the ongoing changes brought about by digitalization remains a significant challenge for most companies. While most engage with the topic from various perspectives, they often lack the fundamentals. One thing is particularly striking: the necessary structure and brand integration are typically entirely absent from this long-term process.
Study reveals lack of vision, strategy and structure
Last year, my team manager and I surveyed companies about their digital and brand maturity. While almost everyone agreed they were affected by digital transformation, only about a third considered their own digital maturity level to be sufficient.
Key findings include the recognition of branding as a competitive asset and the view of digital technology as an enabler – however, vision, strategy, and structure are often lacking. The ability to transform, seen as the key to success, hinges on the appropriate commitment from top management and a corresponding corporate culture. The surveyed managers revealed existing shortcomings with surprising clarity, but also highlighted very positive examples – particularly in the case of courageous management teams or innovation-driven owners within their companies.
The core conclusion of this qualitative study is that brand management and transformation must be embraced by top management and implemented down to the individual employee. Only then can the brand unleash its full potential.
For those who find all this too theoretical, observation usually provides a good understanding of how it can work. In a Marconomy article (https://www.marconomy.de/ueberlegen-in-die-zukunft-a-1067576/The article vividly describes, for example, how a fictional heat pump brand can uniquely position itself through an installation assistance app and additional services offered by installers. This is presented against the backdrop of most B2B companies falling far short of realizing the potential of digital transformation. This can be achieved through a differentiating brand idea that is holistically linked to the company's overall strategy.
Our qualitative study also confirmed how important it is to break down processes and approaches to the individual level, and that granularity in this context can develop power for the brand.
Understanding and correctly using forms of digitalization
The challenge for digitalization in companies lies particularly in utilizing the various levels of digitalization effectively: at the foundation, it's simply about making data available in the first place – data aggregation ("digitization") forms the basis for any further steps to leverage digital potential. The second stage involves data analysis ("digitalization"), the area where behavioral patterns can be identified, brand experiences analyzed, and improvements derived. Only in the final stage, digital transformation, does what is naturally the goal in the C-suite take place: the monetization of the entire "digital" complex.
From this perspective, it seems clear that this monetization cannot function properly if the preceding steps have not been completed or have only been incomplete. And along this path, important points of intersection with the brand repeatedly arise, for which digitization projects and teams are often not adequately prepared.
All in all, transformation primarily requires the right mindset and strategy.
As long as there isn't a sufficient understanding of digitalization and branding at the top management level, the appropriate guidelines and necessary support for anchoring lasting change within the organization will be lacking. When digital technology increasingly becomes a prerequisite for competitive success and the brand is increasingly seen as an indispensable competitive asset, it becomes clear: transformation doesn't happen in any department or project team, but must be embedded as part of the corporate culture and embraced by everyone in the organization.
At our Brand Forum at the end of June in Brand (Brandtnertal, Vorarlberg), we will address precisely those transformational questions for the brand that ultimately make a difference, during an exclusive meeting. Further information about the event can be found here.
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