This Halloween, ghost and ghouls inspire us to rethink how we do our daily marketing.
We examine three iconic "ghost brands" synonymous with popular culture that have affected the lives of most people to bring you a quick summary of tips and inspire you as you create your 2018 digital marketing goals.
What is a brand?
In our words, a brand represents a product or service that is synonymous with either or both tangible and intangible perceived benefits by a consumer.
An excellent brand would be able to provide both perceived tangible and intangible benefits with its product and/or service offerings.
Throughout the decades, the core marketing terminology of branding itself has not changed. However, the method of going about doing branding has evolved with the times.
What is branding in the digital age?
In the age of apps and rapid technological advances where the world appears to be a smaller place with increased accessibility and a myriad of possibilities.
Here are three tips, inspired by one of Halloween's most endearing and favourite ghostly icon on how your company's branding can stay relevant in the digital age.
1) Staying relevant (Snapchat)
Snapchat has faced immense pressure from social media competitor Instagram since Stories was released in August 2016. The number of monthly active users on Instagram since its new feature release soared to 250 million just after one year since its release.
Snapchat has significantly lesser monthly active users than Facebook's Instagram. However, it still manages to retain its core target audience and retain its niche market position by building on its originality as a face warping app and expanding its strategic partnerships.
2) Adaptability (Pacman)
The Pacman evolution
Adapting to market needs including working with partners who help the brand stay relevant and current, puts Pacman at an advantage and will ensure that this cult classic game will continue way into it's upcoming 40 year milestone.
3) Creativity (Gucci Ghost concept)
GucciGhost is a fine example of how going against the grain, being bold and daring could turn out to be a remarkable transformation approach for the nearly centennial-age brand that resulted in huge publicity and profits to boot.
Gucci's strategic tie-ups with street artists and illustrators relevant to their new target audience has paid off.
Ever since creative director Alessandro Michele took over the reigns of Italian luxury fashion brand Gucci in 2015, the brand has radically changed into something totally unexpected and different.
Warming up after the first few collections for Gucci, Alessandro's eclectic and experimental style started to shine through in his Pre-Fall 2016 collection in December 2015.
With plenty of backing from the company, Alessandro was set for success as he eventually started weaning even naysayers to his side.
In a turbulent economic time when fashion is shaped more polished and discreet, Alessandro has managed to radically change the headwinds of Gucci not just creatively but with quarter after quarter of surging profits, buoying the revenue of parent company Kering Group with his ability to dare to stand out from the crowd with an artistic creativity unsurpassed by the rest of its high-end luxury goods competitors.
To be able to color outside the lines, one does not need to follow rulebooks and guidelines all the time.
From how Gucci was able to reinvent itself from falling revenues to how Snapchat remains a viable tool to reach out to teenagers, constant change for the better and creativity is needed for a company to survive for a long time.
As the year draws to an end, the need for a brand new sales and marketing strategy for 2019 is impending. For digital marketing consultancy and services for the new year, contact us.