What does the brand management of the future need to consider?

If you want to look into the future, you should take a brief look back at the last 20 years. From 2004, Web 2.0 marked the transition from a static information network to an interactive, participatory Internet in which users could create content themselves and help shape brands. With the iPhone (2007) and the App Store (2008), this development went mobile - social networks and brand communication suddenly took place in real time and made digital visibility a key success factor. In the brand world, this was a revolution that forced a rethink.

Almost 20 years later, brand management is once again under pressure: Global crises, digital transformation, platform monopolies and artificial intelligence (AI) are changing how brands are created, perceived and managed. This year alone, there are numerous examples of the increasing pressure. The US restaurant chain Cracker Barrel[1], for example, changed its logo and removed an iconic figurative mark - the move provoked a massive backlash on social media and the share price plummeted. Meta Platforms[2] also caused uncertainty with a new content moderation policy: advertisers questioned their campaigns because brand safety on the platforms no longer seemed guaranteed. There have long been examples of Web 2.0 topics in Europe that have suddenly been drawn into a zeitgeist vortex. One of the best known is the case of Dolce & Gabbana[3] from 2018. The luxury label was massively criticized by a culturally insensitive Instagram campaign in China, lost market share and faced a boycott. However, the environment has become significantly more complex. In April of this year, for example, Marks & Spencer[4] showed how it is not communication errors, but unmanageable and strong technological dependencies that can endanger brands - a cyber attack paralyzed online orders and payment transactions and is still leaving its mark today. These cases make it clear: Top brands today are under pressure not only in terms of communication, but also in terms of technology and reputation. Resilience is therefore becoming the central skill of modern brand management. What used to be considered a stable factor is now constantly being renegotiated. We are driven by breaking news on a daily basis. The world has become more volatile, and this also applies to brand identities. In this dynamic, one characteristic is vital for survival: digital resilience.

Brand and brand management in transition

A brand is much more than a logo or a product. It is the sum of all perceptions, emotions and experiences that people associate with a company. Brand management, in turn, is the strategic and operational management of these perceptions. In the digital age, this task has multiplied: brand management now takes place in networks, on platforms and in real time. This means that traditional models that rely on control and consistency are reaching their limits. Resilient brand management needs new principles - flexibility, adaptivity and the ability to engage in dialog.

Brand resilience describes the ability of a brand to react to external shocks and internal challenges in a stable and credible manner. It is the emotional and structural resilience of a brand - in other words, its ability to cope with change without losing its integrity. In the digital space, this means being able to react quickly to crises, deal with shitstorms or misinformation, or be visible on AI platforms such as ChatGPT and Google Gemini and anticipate algorithmic changes.

What the brand management of the future needs to consider

1. technological independence and data sovereignty

Brands are increasingly operating on platforms that do not belong to them - Google, Meta, X or Amazon. This dependency harbors risks: an algorithm update can change visibility and reach from one day to the next. The brand management of the future must therefore build technological resilience - through its own data infrastructures, owned media channels and transparent use of AI. Who exactly owns images and videos created with AI? Few brand managers are likely to have read the small print of the platform carefully. The bottom line remains: The internet is not a public good! Everything has its price.

2. platform and channel resilience

Classic 'one-voice' communication is a thing of the past. Today, brands thrive on polyphony, on dialog across different platforms. Resilient brands are present where their target groups are - without diluting their identity. Channel diversity, social listening and crisis protocols help to remain capable of acting in the digital noise.

3. credibility and purpose as an anchor of stability

In the digital space, authenticity has become the currency - brands that work with false promises or greenwashing lose trust and therefore relevance. Resilient brands are based on clear values and a consistent attitude, because purpose is not a marketing tool, but orientation in a world that seems morally and communicatively overwhelmed.

Google has also redefined the rules of the game in the digital ranking game with its E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness) concept. Brands must now not only be visible through useful content, but above all trustworthy for users and machines[5]. Demonstrable expertise, authentic user and viewing experiences and a recognizable authority are essential criteria for brands that want to survive in the digital space in the long term. According to Google, trust is the foundation - without it, expertise or authority will not work[6].

4. agility and innovative ability

The speed of digital change is forcing brands to constantly adapt. Resilience is created where agility is part of the brand strategy. A culture of experimentation, real-time monitoring and adaptive content strategies help to respond flexibly to change. Patagonia[7], for example, shows how attitude becomes resilience - through consistently practiced values and credibility. IKEA demonstrates adaptability through digital innovation without losing its brand identity. And Deutsche Bahn is currently focusing on self-critical but transparent communication in order to maintain trust despite criticism.

5. protection and reconstruction of brand reputation

Crises in the digital space are unavoidable - the question is how brands react to them. Resilient brands have structures, processes and routines in place to protect their reputation and quickly rebuild trust in the event of a crisis. Speed, transparency and a sense of responsibility are key factors here. Professional social listening forms the eyes and ears of the ecosystem. So-called dark sites, which are kept in the background and can be quickly switched live in the event of a hacker attack, are the backbone of the digital crisis strategy.[8]

6. machines as a target group: legibility instead of volume

In an increasingly networked world, brands are no longer just visible to people - they are also visible to machines: algorithms, AI systems, bots, digital assistants. When search engines, voice assistants or data analysis tools process brand and product information, it is no longer the emotional appeal alone that is decisive, but structure, semantics and technical accessibility.

• Brands need to prepare their data and content in such a way that machines can understand and categorize it correctly: Metadata, structured data, clear taxonomies.
• Instead of shouting brand messages louder, it is important to make relevant information readable and machine-friendly: e.g. clear product and service descriptions, consistent terminology, Schema.org labeling[9].
• When brands are perceived and recommended by machines (e.g. through voice search, search algorithms, IoT), legibility becomes a prerequisite for visibility and relevance - and therefore for brand resilience. Digital accessibility[10] becomes the measure of all things technical.

Brands must learn not only to exist

Intelligence is required! Today, digital resilience no longer just means surviving crises, but learning from them in order to adapt quickly. Brands that want to remain relevant in the digital space must constantly evolve - technologically, communicatively and culturally. The time of static identities is over: brand management is not a closed process, but a learning system. And structures must be created as quickly as possible to close a gap that will become the biggest management challenge of the next few years. technological possibilities are developing exponentially and at breakneck speed. Organizations initially struggle to keep up with technology. Eventually, however, they get tired and develop more slowly, or logarithmically.

A resilient brand not only reacts to changes, it understands why they occur - and adapts its behavior accordingly. Data becomes the raw material for insight, not just performance. In future, brand management will mean reading emotions from data, deriving decisions from behavior and dynamically adapting experiences.

Those who understand brand management as a learning process create the basis for long-term strength. After all, resilience does not come from volume, but from legibility, adaptability and reflection - brands must learn to think in order to survive in the digital space.

[1] https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/cracker-barrel-sticks-old-logo-after-social-media-backlash-2025-08-26/

[2]https://www.businessinsider.com/meta-content-moderation-update-impact-ad-business-brand-safety-2025-1

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolce_%26_Gabbana

[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marks_%26_Spencer

[5] Search Quality Rater Guidelines - December 2022 update (Google) - Official guidelines in which "E-E-A-T" is explicitly mentioned as an evaluation framework. Search Engine Land+1

[6] Trusting the Search: Unraveling Human Trust in Health Information from Google and ChatGPT, Sun et al. (2024) - Study on trust building in search results, with reference to trust / authority in the use of search and AI systems. arxiv.org

[7] Schatz, C. & Pfoertsch, W. (2023). Case Study: Patagonia - A Human-Centered Approach to Marketing. In: H2H Marketing (Springer Business Cases), pp. 195-213. link.springer.com

[8] Design and Construction of a Dark Site with Air Gap: A Prototype for Improved Business Continuity & Resiliency - James J. Cusick (2022). This study describes the construction of a "dark site" prototype with air gap solution that serves as an independent web presence for crisis situations and critical content is kept available. ResearchGate

[9] Edgar, M. (2023). Schema and Structured Data Markup. In: Tech SEO Guide (Ch. 4, pp. 67-78). Springer. link.springer.com

[10] Bertelsmann Stiftung (ed.): Digital accessibility: A guide to more accessible digital services. 2021. available at: https://www.bertelsmann-stiftung.de/fileadmin/files/user_upload/Digitale_Barrierefreiheit_-_Ein_Leitfaden_fuer_zugaenglichere_digitale_Angebote.pdf