How brand building can help the financial wellbeing of Irish companies as they look to the future was the core theme of this year’s IAPI and IoD Ireland’s annual thought leadership seminar, which took place on Thursday, August 26th.
It was the third year of IAPI and IoD Ireland's successful partnership, supported by The Irish Times. Broadcast live by Catapult, the event was attended by over 400 CEOs, CFOs, CMOs and agency leaders.
Branding: Vital for Ireland’s Economic Recovery 2021 was the theme of this year’s seminar, which featured a stellar line-up of speakers who included Fiona Dawson, former global president, Mars Inc and non-executive director of both The Lego Group and Marks and Spencer; Gordon Lawlor, managing director, Circle K Ireland; Shenda Loughnane, group managing director, dentsu and president of IAPI as well as JP Scally, chief executive officer, Lidl Ireland.
IAPI's core purpose is to promote our industry as a vital part of Ireland's growth engine
Moderated by Charley Stoney, CEO of IAPI, the welcome address was given by Thora Mackey, COO of The Institute of Directors in Ireland. Key themes across the seminar included those of keeping and maintaining pace, how CEOs and the C Suite are getting to grips with their role in terms of strategic communication for their business and the wide-ranging theme of sustainability.
“IAPI’s core purpose is to promote our industry as a vital part of Ireland’s growth engine which is why this particular event is so important to us. It supports our fervent belief in the value of long-term brand building for the bottom line of organisations and especially now as we seek to recover from the economic impact of the past 18 months. More importantly, our members’ and our client marketers’ understanding of brand goes way beyond customer communications as it permeates every aspect of an organisation including staff culture, customer services, logistics and operations,” says Charley Stoney, CEO, IAPI.
“This is why engaging with the boardroom on this subject is so crucial, not just for our industry sector but for the very survival of Irish businesses and brands as we emerge from the pandemic.”
During the seminar, speakers shared insights and case studies to underscore the value of brand building. Gordon Lawlor of Circle K and J.P. Scally of Lidl Ireland, in their presentations, established how the synergy between the business objectives and the brand objectives provides a seamless value chain for customers and brands.
Lidl Ireland’s sponsorship of the Ladies’ Gaelic Football Association (LGFA), highlighted by the current “Level the Playing Field” campaign, demonstrates a superb case study in terms of meeting community engagement goals. In addition, Lidl’s “ending Period poverty” initiative shows a huge leap of faith by the executive team which was paid back in spades in terms of customer trust and more importantly, spend.
Circle K’s brand extension into own label convenience products and its strategic move from “fuel” to “mobility” also demonstrates a highly customer-focused and future-thinking business strategy aligned with brand communications.
Shenda Loughnane of dentsu shared case studies from Aer Lingus and Ikea, demonstrating the digital expertise and media content innovation now prevalent in Irish agencies.
[To watch this year's seminar, Branding: Vital for Ireland's Economic Recovery 2021, visit iapi.ie]
The key take aways
Commenting on how CEOs and the C-Suite need to retrain their brains and stop seeing brand as the domain of marketers, Fiona Dawson says it is vital that strategic communications are leveraged fully by businesses, and having the CEO level understand and lead it makes a huge difference.
“If you look at the companies I’ve worked with, whether it is Mars or Lego or M&S, all are brands that have been around for a very long time. They do this by positioning themselves for the consumers of tomorrow, not just today,” says Fiona Dawson. “That’s precisely what brands need to do coming out of this pandemic. Unfortunately, too many people outside of corporate life – and indeed some inside it – still see branding as a subject for marketeers only.”
Seen through the lens of events over the past year, another key out-take focused on businesses and leaders keeping up with and maintaining the pace of change, particularly now while both industry leaders and consumers are in a change mindset. All the seminar’s speakers urged their peers to keep the momentum up with innovation, re-invention and brand stretch but, with the caveat, that everything the brand touches needs to be done in an authentic and transparent way – trust and authenticity were consistent themes.
CEOs and the C-Suite need to retrain their brains and stop seeing brand as the domain of marketers
A third theme was sustainability and the numerous touchpoints this has across organisations and the need to communicate business objectives in this area was a strong theme across discussions. It is clear that sustainability actions will also need to become front-and-centre of growth strategies for businesses looking to continue their engagement with consumers, in order to maintain their trust.
There is a clear opportunity for businesses to rethink their relationship with agencies, and if they’ve not already embedded their creative, digital, media and PR partners into their core business strategy, they should be doing so.
IAPI members in Ireland are made up of world class specialists in strategic planning, consumer insight, media trends and creative communications that enable brands to establish that unique bond with their customers and workforce alike. IAPI members have been expanding their offering over the past decade, however, the pandemic has seen these additional services such as product development, customer experience, data analytics and operational consultancy become even more vital to their clients.
To watch this year’s seminar, Branding: Vital for Ireland’s Economic Recovery 2021, visit iapi.ie