We caught up with Nick Cooper, Global VP, Strategy & Innovation, Landor before CHARGE North America on May 29th.
- Nick, as Global VP of Strategy & Innovation at Landor, what’s currently exciting you most about brand strategy in an evolving marketplace?
The most exciting aspect of brand strategy right now is the complexity of client challenges. As markets, customers and communications all move faster and faster, the objective of defining a truly relevant and differentiated brand becomes harder and harder. Yet many clients are still prepared to have that struggle in order to deliver winning strategies and winning brands.
2. What are some common misconceptions brands have when it comes to building long-term relevance in industries undergoing transformation, like energy?
Energy is one of those sectors that is undergoing true transformation – in other words, almost everything it believed to be true has been partly or largely upended in recent years. A key element of this is that energy companies are realising that, far from being a “nice to have”, strong brands are actually a key asset in terms of successfully navigating the transformation.
We are also seeing more and more evidence that, just because a sector or category has traditionally not had strong brands, doesn’t mean that brands don’t apply – it just means that they haven’t been tried properly before.
Above all, we are seeing greater evidence of how brand helps accelerate business growth in the short term, as well as providing the consistent platform for long term growth.
3. In your experience working with global brands, how do you strike a balance between brand consistency and the need for localization and cultural nuance?
For a brand to be successful, it has to be consistent. However, in order to optimise its impact, it needs to flex and modulate its communications across different audiences, and across different cultures. It’s very rare to find that a product or service from one country works in exactly the same way in another country.
This strongly suggests that every successful international brand has a consistency at its core, and both the ability and the confidence to flex its communications across audiences and geographies.
4. Can you share a recent example of an energy brand that’s successfully redefined itself through innovative strategy — what do you think enables a brand to act in an innovative way?
We are finally seeing some energy companies emerging from the shadows and flexing their muscles in terms of the strength and appeal of their brands. This is an achievement is a sector dominated by engineering minds! An obvious example is Octopus in the UK that is not innovative but has also gained scale to become market leader.
However, replicating this success isn’t a given. We believe that the key to more innovative branding is having the confidence to take greater risks and act more boldly in terms of creative outcomes and executions. And for us, the key to doing this is to underpin brand and creative decisions with data. In our experience, the more certainty you can give behind a potential route forward, then the more likely it will be that non-marketing stakeholders will want to act more daringly with their brands.
5. Finally — without giving too much away, what can the CHARGE audience look forward to from your talk this month? Any teasers you can share?
We’re very excited about the opportunity to participate in Charge for the first time, and we’re looking forward to sharing and debating our point of view around brands. Let’s just say that the greatest moments happen when data and creativity collide!
