Glossary

Technology Brands

The term technology brand describes brands from the technology environment, usually engineering-driven, and its definition includes industry, B2C, and B2B brands of different sectors.

As a co-founder of the Expert Panel for Technology Brands, brand expert Jürgen Gietl and council members Prof. Dr. Carsten Baumgarth, Prof. Dr. Karsten Kilian, and Prof. Dr. Holger Schmidt define technology brands as follows:

"A technology brand arises in the minds of relevant stakeholders through consistent brand management by companies offering technological products and/or services and generating a major portion of their revenue with their own key technologies, so the company also has a large R&D budget."

Examples of technology brands are Apple, IBM, Tesla, Bosch, Zeiss, BMW, Nikon, or GoPro. The German technology sector includes countless innovative companies that develop, manufacture, and sell outstanding products. However, most of these companies are unable to turn these superior performances into real value, which would allow them to assert profitable prices and achieve increased sales through the brand. This shortcoming is observable across the industry, because technology companies lack the compression of performances and particularities into brands that let their technologies generate strong attraction.

Our recommendation:

Study: How resilient are German technology brands?

Tourism Brands

The term tourism encompasses the whole of all occurrences and relationships connected with leaving one's center of life and staying at another destination. It is usually used synonymously with terms like "touristry" and "travel".

Tourism brands are not fundamentally different from other brands. Most of the performances provided by tourism enterprises are services. Unlike product brands, brands in the tourism sector therefore have the special features of a service brand. In addition, there is complementarity among individual touristic performances: Generally, touristic demand does is not generated by one isolated performance, but a number of different performances.

The basic product of tourism is travel. No matter whether a tourism brand represents a destination, a carrier, an infrastructure, or an online travel portal, the association with the topic "travel" links them all. The individual features and corresponding strategy, however, can be different in each case. For instance, in the case of the carrier brand Ryan Air, the association with "travel" refers to how cheaply you can fly from point A to point B within Europe, whereas the destination brand Las Vegas stands for "gambling".

Our recommendation:

Book: Destination Branding - von der Geographie zur Bedeutung 

Study: The most desirable winter sports destinations in the Alps: Why they are successful

Transformation through Brand / Transformational Branding

A transformation is a major, strategically comprehensive realignment that a company carries out in an extreme phase.

What happens during a transformation?

A transformation occurs, for example, when a company shifts its business from a highly competitive market with declining margins ("red ocean") to a growth market with high margins. If such a transformation is successful, the company can benefit from new success factors ("blue ocean").

A reactive transformation is when restructuring is unavoidable in order to ensure the turnaround of a company - for example, after a phase of stagnation that has lasted too long. This requires rapid, radical measures.

What is the difference between change and transformation?

Both terms describe change processes in an organization. However, there is a clear difference between them: we understand change to mean optimization through gentle, continuous adjustments. In a transformation, on the other hand, the scope of action is much larger: completely new processes are established and new business areas are conquered - right up to the realignment of a company.

What impact does a transformation have on the brand?

A transformation is a major challenge for brands. Companies often have to break with structures that were previously important for the brand in order to undergo such a change. This is why it is crucial to involve brand management in transformation projects. It must prepare the brand for the new circumstances and adapt it without damaging the brand core. Only then will the brand capital and brand trust built up so far not be lost.

What role does the brand play during the transformation?

The second reason why brand management must be involved: The brand is an indispensable, powerful pillar for transformational processes because it provides stability and clarity. It prevents you from losing your bearings. The enormous potential for success that the brand can contribute is often underestimated or overlooked in practice.

What needs to be done to ensure that the brand contributes to the success of a transformation?

The following must be ensured for the transformation to be successful: The new direction must be understood as a position of strength by everyone involved, both internally and externally. The mobilizing power of the brand is ideally suited to this task.

These are the necessary foundations: the brand strategy is well anchored in the company. Employees and managers know the brand values, the positioning and its limits. If this is ensured, nothing stands in the way of brand-compliant, almost intuitive action during a transformation.

What are the advantages of such a brand-centered transformation? Just two examples:

• Employees are then able to emphasize the brand promise efficiently at all brand touchpoints.
• Customers continue to trust the brand, despite major changes taking place in the background. For example, customers buy a Mercedes again and again without hesitation because they trust the brand - while the automotive industry is struggling with dramatic upheavals such as the switch to electromobility. 

BrandTrust supports CEOs, brand leaders and entrepreneurs in change processes based on the brand. Find out more about our expertise in change and transformation.

Trends

A trend is the descriptive observation of social processes - not as a static snapshot, but as a dynamic-adaptive image of our world. It gives indications of potential paths, opportunities and risks for brand development.

How important are trends for brand development?

Trends come from the five areas of ecology, economy, politics, technology and society. The more long-term a trend is, the more difficult it can be to identify - but the more profound its impact can be on the success or failure of a brand.

Megatrends such as globalisation, digitalisation and individualisation are such long-term trends that impact all industries, sometimes to a greater or lesser extent. From a brand perspective, it is important to examine the potential impact of these trends and incorporate them into business considerations.

The concrete perspectives should serve as a source of inspiration for the development of a brand. However, it is important not to run after every trend, but to use only those trends that fit one's own brand.

If a trend fits credibly to your own brand and your value system, it is the best base for a successful brand development.