After more than 10 years in which I launched, grew and cared for brands, without having access behind the scenes of their creation or transformation, many of them having an international presence and a long history behind them, the last 4 years in branding put me in a completely new position, that of contributing to the re/birth of local brands for Romanian entrepreneurial businesses. And that meant, first of all, changing the perspective on the brand from a rather tactical, operational, to a strategic one.
Unfortunately, not all marketers have the chance to be involved in creating the brand they work with, and often they do not even end up spending enough time to get to know it in depth, to feel it, to understand and to capitalize on its uniqueness. If I were to analyze with my mind the marketing campaigns and actions that I have thought and implemented as a brand manager, there are some things that I would probably do differently out of the desire to find the perfect balance between maintaining the strategic direction of the brand and achieving business goals. I believe that this is the main and most difficult task of a marketer, to put into action the strategy and identity of a brand, as they were thought out and substantiated in the branding process, so that the brand is not just a marketing tool, but the engine of the business itself.
At the same time, the world of branding has made me realize how important it is for a brand to have a vision, a cause and values well articulated and shared by all those who represent it through their actions, above impressive budgets and creative ideas for promotion, whether we are talking about multinational companies with thousands of employees or a startup in the beginning, corporate brands or brands of the product. I have seen from my own experience how difficult it is for these vital elements to propagate and be assimilated at all levels as the business and organization develops, but now it is clearer than ever that this can make the difference between a valuable brand, capable of evolving and lasting over time, and ephemeral initiatives.
As for how the verbal and visual expression of a brand should be thought out and developed, here I think I have had the most to learn in these last 4 years at Brandfusion. In my work as a brand manager, I always respected and applied the directions and rules in the brand manuals that I browsed with so much admiration, even if there was often the temptation to do something new, different, better adapted to a given context. But only now can I say that I have begun to master the complexity and dynamics of brand design, the invisible but so strong links between how a brand speaks, how it looks and how it behaves. Fortunately, we have had and have real experts, people passionate about branding and design, who make all these things meaningful, easy to understand and put into practice for those who continue to work with the brand.
During these 4 years, I often thought that the change in my professional life was somehow against the current, that it would have been more natural and beneficial for the transition to happen the other way around, from branding to brand management, as these stages also follow in the relationship with the brand. In other words, I believe that the branding experience is the best way to understand what a brand means, how it is built and manifested, this being the basis without which the work of a brand manager risks becoming empirical, irrelevant and coherent. On the other hand, the role of a brand manager is essential in cultivating the spirit and authenticity of the brand, without which the branding work would remain only at the concept stage. Therefore, I can only be glad that I had the chance to discover both perspectives, because now I can say that I have the complete vision of a brand.