The core topics for efficient brand management.

To function well, the brand must be part of the corporate strategy and not just lip service. To achieve this, a number of prerequisites must be met to ensure a clear target orientation and effective organization of the brand. Brand orientation" refers to the alignment of a company's entire organization with the requirements of a corporate brand. As the brand has developed into the decisive value driver of the company, such a construction is obvious.

The term "brand orientation" was born in the 1990s. Johan Gromark and Frans Melin, who had been working on the "brand orientation" model for over 20 years and had pointed out early on that a brand-oriented company can generate much higher profits than a conventionally organized company, described "brand orientation" in 2011 with the following words:

"Brand orientation is a deliberate approach to brand building where brand equity is created through interaction between internal and external stakeholders. This approach is characterized by brands being the hub around which the organization's processes revolve, an approach in which brand management is perceived as a core competence and where brand building is intimately associated with business development and financial performance."

The roots of good brand performance lie in the company organization. Its most important starting point is the minds of the employees, who need to be involved in all activities as brand ambassadors. Brand performance cannot be delegated. Not to department X or Y. Not to agencies or any other external service providers. And not to IT solutions either - they are indispensable tools, but not the strategic goal.

Brand performance - the effectiveness and efficiency of the brand and its processes - is the central challenge facing brand management. In this respect, marketing, creativity and all the buzzwords that keep the industry on its toes from morning to night, whether they make sense or not, are certainly not unimportant. However, other topics and activities are crucial to success.

Most companies are not really set up to ensure efficient brand management and thus brand performance. Employees are not empowered to perform the necessary roles. And the structural deficits in the brand organizations prevent effective, consistent and, in particular, efficient brand implementation due to uncoordinated responsibilities and areas of responsibility. This is mainly due to the fact that the "silos of responsibility" within the corporate organization, which date back to historical developments and no longer meet today's requirements, do not allow for comprehensive, state-of-the-art brand management. It is therefore hardly surprising that "Managing & Controlling Brand Identity" has continued to be seen as the major problem for brand managers since 2001.

Today's changed socio-structural and technological conditions make it necessary for brand communication to fulfill the brand promise at all relevant touchpoints. And, if necessary, worldwide and taking into account the fact that the classic sender/receiver model no longer exists. In the age of digitalization, a consistent brand experience must be guaranteed despite the continuous need for innovation:

1. Organize the Organization: Define Responsibility, Optimize Processes.

The historically evolved tasks in the areas of brand management and brand leadership have outlived their usefulness. One example of this is marketing, which has lost its original dominant role. Due to the changed framework conditions, brand management has become an extremely complex challenge that entails completely new structures with new roles, processes and tools. The demands for optimum brand performance also make it necessary - as never before - to adopt approaches that are best guided by management veteran Peter F. Drucker: "Doing the right things - Effectiveness. Doing things right - efficiency." His recommendation from over 50 years ago is more relevant today than ever.

2. orchestrate the content and delivery to each touchpoint.

At first glance, the term "brand-driven communication" may seem surprising. After all, brand is communication - corporate, financial, marketing and product communication. What else is it? And there are advertising/communication agencies, special agencies for content marketing (whatever that may mean), online agencies, PR agencies etc. pp. Brand-driven communication is a special form of communication that basically acts in accordance with the brand strategy and brand promise - regardless of different departmental interests - is orchestrated accordingly and makes content available globally from a central location for all relevant touchpoints. Such a communication strategy and the associated responsibility cannot be delegated, as was common practice in the past. Instead, it requires an internal organizational structure that is capable of this task.

3. drive innovation and secure consistent brand experience.

Mats Urde, the father of the "Brand Orientation" model, would certainly never have dreamed of this in 1994: Increasing digitalization has completely turned the role of the customer on its head. Innovation has become a decisive value driver. Seen in this light, innovation is becoming an integrative discipline. And the brand takes on a connecting and controlling function between innovation, design and communication according to the mottos "Brand can drive innovation", "Innovation has to fulfill the brand promise", "Design thinking helps brands to generate meaningful innovations" or "Design has to orchestrate touch points". Easy to say, but how to implement? In any case, brand management has taken on a new role that needs to be organized.