OnBrand’18: this is what we’ve learnt

Europe’s number one branding conference – naturally, we were there. Steven, director of Traffic Today , and Koen, marketing manager at 4-Suites, attended together and gained new insights.

Why OnBrand?

No award shows. No sales pitches. No nonsense. OnBrand is a gathering of all the brightest minds in marketing, advertising, technology and design. Every year, CMOs, brand directors and creative leaders gather in Europe’s international creative hub to discuss the trends shaping the future of marketing.

Which visionary industry leaders spoke at the event?

From digitally-minded CMOs to award-winning creative work, OnBrand opens its doors every year to a host of leading marketing executives who are on a mission to transform the industry and change the world. If you’re curious about what the future holds in the fields of marketing, creativity, tech and design, then this event is definitely one to look out for next year. Emanuele Madeddu from National Geographic, Jons Janssens from Ace & Tate, Eva Zahrawi Ruiz from bol.com and Patrick Stal from Uber are just a few of the speakers at OnBrand.

What did we learn at OnBrand ’18?

As a long-time glasses wearer, you naturally pop into Ace & Tate to see how they’ve approached their branding. It’s brilliant to see how they’ve deliberately given their online shop and high-street stores a different look. They’ve moved away from the stereotypical ‘dentist’s or doctor’s surgery’ vibe that an optician’s usually has, and instead created a cool, trendy shop focused on fashion! Glasses have become a fashion item, and if you happen to have slightly impaired vision, that’s just a minor medical issue. Of course, we also saw the difficulties they’d encountered when investing in their online shop, but they’re very happy with the current one, which perfectly reflects what they want. They’ve deliberately established their brand, know exactly what image they want to project, and have adapted all their sales channels accordingly.

Furthermore, branding naturally always starts with a good story. This is something National Geographic understands perfectly, and it has thus grown to become the largest Instagram account in the world. In recent years, they have grown significantly by inviting ‘wannabe photographers’ to submit photos, selecting the best ones and posting them on Instagram. As a result, the Instagram account has taken on a diverse character, featuring a range of fascinating stories from world travellers, which are brought together in part by the account itself.

Our identity and image

We also took a critical look at our own brand during a workshop. Why do you run a business, how do you go about it, and what do you have to offer your clients? By taking a critical look at who we are, we’re trying to better convey what our identity and image are – and ultimately should be. Why do clients actually choose us? As the workshop really got us thinking, you’ll hear more about this later.