Purpose-Driven Brand Building at the ANA Masters of Marketing Conference

I recently attended the 2010 ANA Annual Conference - The Masters of Marketing in Orlando, the largest marketing conference on the calendar with over 1,600 enthusiastic delegates in attendance.

All the presentations were recorded on video and the ANA has a content center that you can access them here. 

What is the Brand Purpose?

A key theme discussed by many of the speakers was how marketers are moving to "purpose-driven" branding.

Strong proponents of this approach were Marc Pritchard (Global Marketing & Brand Building Officer of P&G), Joseph V. Tripodi (Coca-Cola's Chief Marketing and Commercial Officer), Dell's Former & Current Chief Marketing Officers, Erin Nelson & Karen Quintos who all spoke to this theme.

The core of this philosophy is to uncover the key service that the brand provides to the consumer and to promote the benefits that purpose, and then to ensure that all elements of the organization (product, marketing, sales, packaging etc) all work together to deliver on the promise.

It's a social world today

The speakers also all pointed to the fact that in this era of Facebook, Twitter and mobile everything, there are constant conversations going on about brands and the company can no longer directly control these. So it is vital that the companies behind the brands are perceived as socially aware and helpers in the community - in effect the rise of social media is re-emphasising the importance of clear messages and Public Relations as a discipline.

The role of agencies, and agency management

Of course, agencies are the engine that drive brands and it's essential that agencies work collaboratively with marketers to identify and prosecute the purpose driven branding strategies that will engage and motivate consumers.

Author: Richard Benyon (Decideware)