The 4ourth Era of Branding

The first era extends from the past to 2004, which can be considered the inflection point of the beginning of social media. Why? Because in 2004, Facebook gained its first million subscribers (even though MySpace was ahead at that time, it is no longer relevant). In the first era, brands communicated with their stakeholders, with very little opportunity for the stakeholders to communicate back. Did you know, for example, that the 1984 TVC for Apple did not show the product but started the sale of one million Macintoshes?

The second era refers to the years between 2004 and 2020 when Covid struck. The second era interpolated peer groups and influencers between key stakeholders and brands. This changed the way brands communicated with consumers, customers, investors, current and prospective employees… the monologue of the first era changed to a multilogue. For example, when GAP changed its logo in 2010, its loyal customers reacted so violently on social media that GAP went back to their old 1990 logo in less than a week!

The third era emerged after Covid. Covid achieved two things. One was to make most of humanity experience that nations are conceptual divisions, the Earth is one shared ecosystem. Second, that it is everyone’s responsibility to care for it. Stakeholders started demanding that brands contribute to the Earth’s long-term wellness and sustainability beyond the functional benefits of their products or services. They celebrated Adidas over Nike because Adidas partnered with Allbirds to achieve the impossible together: to create a performance running shoe with the lowest-ever carbon footprint.

The fourth era will emerge in 2029. Why? “2029 is the consistent date I have predicted for when an AI will pass a valid Turing test and therefore achieve human levels of intelligence,” says technology predictor Ray Kurzweil (he has been right 86% of the time). This will dramatically alter the relationship between brand and stakeholder, probably making products and services more important than brand.

Enjoy the book. It’s free!