Nowadays the value of the brands lies in their intangible qualities: in their values, their talent and their lifestyle spread throughout the world.
21st Century brands are more than the product or the service they sell, even more, than the logo they show; well, if not, they should pretend that if they want to survive in a saturated and competitive market.
These transparent brands, honest with their users, conscious about the planet and the context they live with are the ones considered smart brands, also because they advocate for generating value and self-knowledge.
It is in this case that the term smart goes beyond its technological nature. Goes beyond including connectivity and optimization tools into the business ecosystem; in fact, this is out of date because technology is already at the service of human relationships. And the concept of smart brands takes on its full meaning with human relationships.
The thing is that brands deal with relationships.
Relationships between users and content and the time they spend interacting with the brand, also how deeply identified they feel with it. And that is why brands must be built up of values being aware of the context and knowing their purpose in this world.
A world that is constantly changing and evolving, by the way, the one we must be able to adapt to. The idea of the big fish eat little fish it is now being replaced by the fast fish eat the slow one, because now in terms of financial strength the difference between the two lies on the adaptive capacity and time.
We are established in the Knowledge Age where the linear evolution concept is out of date, and it’s crucial we understand that the cyclical mindset of feedback is key to find any knowledge to face new challenges.
It is the same in the evolution of any brand. New emerging concepts serve as evidence of this, for instance, the cradle to cradle concept that arises in contrast to the cradle to grave methodology as a life cycle design and management tool not only of biological products but also technological to ensure a high-quality resources flow that feeds future product and services.
