MARKA 2000 |
The significance of building powerful brands is making itself felt increasingly more in the competitive environment of the present business world. While brand strength and permanence becomes a multi-stage, multi-faceted problem, brand management becomes more complicated for marketing experts and managers. Companies that operate in Turkey within the context of these dynamics have to plan not only for today, but imagine and plan for tomorrow in their efforts to reflect marketing rules that are constantly updated and change, on their brands strategies and brand communication.
How was the MARKA 2000 CONFERENCE born?When we decided to organize the Marka 2000 Conference, we began by ascertaining the problems brands would be encountering in the near future so that the conference would make a real contribution to the field of marketing in Turkey. Strong brands no longer have only a single, simple meaning. Consumers not only find single-faceted, colorful, and multi-dimensional brand identities more attractive, they want to know and understand the identity of the organization behind the brand better, as well. In other words, including many identities within a single brand and ensuring the brand develops without pushing the limits of values held by the consumer while not conflicting with the identity of either the brand itself, or the identity of the organization behind it, becomes a primary concern for the brand manager. In order to grow while maintaining their inherent strength, brands will only be able to advance by being flexible and adaptable, a requisite to be able to address more varied audiences. People today are not satisfied with established borders and live with the vision of being a global citizen; consequently, it appears that brands such people will prefer have to advance along similar lines and make this vision a part of their identity. In the future, the advancement of a brand will depend on the establishment of a one-on-one relationship between customer and brand. Attempts to influence the customer by bombarding them with messages about the brand will soon be a thing of the past. Customized relationships and bonds between brand and consumer will be formed through use of new means and techniques. This trend, which traditional advertising will not be able to keep up with, is about to become an indispensable and natural part of communication. The establishment of stronger bonds between consumer and brand is to a large extent thought to result from customers’ changing expectations from the companies that produce the brands. The customers of tomorrow will prefer brands and companies that represent their views on life in their values, vision, and undertakings. Organizations that protect the environment, uphold the ethical values of the business world, and sincerely work to make the world a better place, will be the organizations whose brands customers will prefer. These were the four ideas around which we constructed the MARKA 2000 CONFERENCE, which was held on 11-12 May. Topics were ascertained with great care, taking into consideration the issues managers would concern themselves within building a brand today and tomorrow. We aimed to ensure the conference included powerful content and inspiring points of view. Based on these objectives, the two-day MARKA 2000 CONFERENCE brought together notable leaders in from the field of advertising and marketing in Turkey and across the world, and became a rich platform for learning. Cem Boyner Administrative Board Member / Vice Chairman & CEO Brands: Stories of Success and FailureCem Boyner was very forthcoming in his vivid delivery of the successes and failures in relation to brands in the past and present of Boyner Holding. Touching upon current and striking international examples of branding trends in his presentation, Boyner also shared his views on how business values and business ethics merge with brand identity with the participants of the MARKA 2001 CONFERENCE. Hans Nilsson Business Development, Europe Division, CANADA The Power of Store Branding in RetailRetail is undergoing a revolution. The strategies department stores employ to strengthen their brands, is becoming one of the most effective methods in conquering the hearts and wallets of customers in the global market. WATT provides consulting services to leading organizations on brand strategy, image, and design, in the US, Canada, Europe, and the Far East, and explained, through examples such as Wal-Mart, Safeway, and Loblaws, how department stores can overcome brand problems they encounter in the process of becoming powerful brands. Virginia Valentine Managing Director, Semiotic Solutions, UK The body language of brands…Based on the cultural factors that unite brand with customer, how can semiotics, the science of generating solutions based on cultural methods to marketing issues and brand strategies, be used in brand communication? Valentine explained the issue with numerous examples from the European culture… BJ Cunningham Presenter Sima Gandur Speaker / Kemer Golf & Country Club Murat Beyazıt Toys R’ US Express Presentations...Marketing managers determined from among the participants of the MARKA 2000 Conference interested in sharing their experiences delivered five-minute presentations. The purpose of this session was to uncover the know-how in the audience, and enabled us to meet with living examples from various sectors and product groups. Pascal Piedfort Commercial Director, LANDOR Associates Branding Consultants and Designers Worldwide İdil Yiğitbaşı Vice President, Food and Beverage Group – Marketing, Pinar Milk Administrative Board Member, Yasar Holding A repositioning story from TurkeyLandor is a world-renowned company on brand and design consultancy, and does successful work with many global brands on building, strengthening, and renewing brands. They shared with the audience the interesting story of the repositioning work and the results they obtained to ensure the Pinar brand in Turkey would be successful against global food brands entering the Turkish market. Bo Albertson Marketing Director, Ericsson Mobile Communications In the process of creating a special and powerful brand, Ericsson experienced a rapid and successful transformation story both internally, and in brand communications that reach the customer, which they shared with the audience. As the first day of the Marka 2000 Conference drew to an end, we scheduled a topic that would make people smile and think at the same time: Using humor in brand communication. Ayşe Sözeri Cemal President, Advertising Group, Executive Board Member, Hurriyet What role will the press play in the future of brand communication?In this session, views on the advances in brand communication from the perspective of the media were aired. The meaning and significance of the press for brands in the future was discussed by using the Hurriyet Human Resources example as a focal point. Dr. Ayşe Başar Bener Faculty Member, Bogazici University Branding in banking, e-brandingThe repercussions of technological advances and the rapid changes in customer expectations on the branding process in the financial sector and banking were examined. Bener, who worked in top level positions at Citibank London for the last five years of her over 12 years of banking experience, shared with the audience the know-how she accumulated in international markets, and her views on how trends in Turkey will impact brand formation. Many examples pertaining to the repositioning of brands on the Internet during the process of the jump from traditional banking to electronic banking were also discussed. Silvia N. Bonaccorso, M.D. Vice President Marketing & Medical Services; Merck & Co., Inc. Faik Somer Managing Director; Merck Sharp & Dohme TURKEY Local applications of global brand strategiesWhen an industry spills out of typical marketing dynamics, what happens to the branding process? First, Bonaccorso shared with us the most recent examples of branding efforts based on global strategies in the pharmaceutical industry, after which Mr. Faik Somer discussed the use of such strategies in Turkey. BJ Cunningham Speaker and Presenter: Interactive Mini-SessionDuring the conference and in line suggestions from the participants, conference director BJ Cunningham took opinions to various extremes in his colorful and distinct style, generating an intense discussion session. Mine Alpar Marketing Director, Turkcell Infratest Burke, Yorum Publicis Advertising Agency Temel Aksoy Chairman of the Board, Infratest Burke Faika Ergüder Customer Relations General Coordinator, Yorum Publicis Advertising Agency Turkcell, the pioneer brand in telecommunications in Turkey, delivered a presentation during this session together with the organizations that provided the firm support in research and promotion activities during its branding work, and shared with the audience the story of the branding process in terms of its positioning, development, objectives, and interesting anecdotes. Serdar Erener Agency President, Chief Executive Officer, Young & Rubicam Istanbul Brand Power Born From the Unification of Strategic Thinking and Creativity: ADVERTISINGErener illustrated, with examples, how two fundamental factors came together in advertising, one of the most effective tools in marketing: transforming brand strategies into not only CORRECT but also GOOD communication practices and in the process, adding value to the brand through CREATIVITY… BJ Cunningham Chief Executive Officer Enlightened Tobacco Company PLC; Managing Partner, Kunde & Co. (London) Thoughts Spilling Outside the BoxThe most controversial brand in Britain: Death Cigarettes. After establishing the Enlightened Tobacco Company PLC, BJ Cunningham built brand based on the concept of CIGARETTES THAT TELL THE TRUTH. While this daring position made the DEATH brand preferred by the customer and quickly gained a market share, reactions against it also formed just as rapidly. A short time later, Cunningham had to explain himself not only to European Union Member States representatives at the European Court of Justice, but other representatives of the cigarette industry as well. The creator of this campaign narrated all its details, in a highly entertaining style. |