Is brand building high on your list of priorities? Fundamental brandinf principles are timeless but paradigms and mediums change. Over two days, L21 Annual Branding Summit 2005 brings together elite presenters who lead top brands and companies, and brand professionals who have recently helped companies build the best brands.

L21 Annual Branding Summit 2005 will look at the Ten Branding Themes that almost all companies face.

Key Learnings for Delegates Include:

Theme 1: Branding in dynamic industries

Brands have to keep up to survive and aim toward leadership to thrive in industries that are fast paced and continually changing.

• Evolving your brand vis-ΰ-vis changing technology, changes in consumer lifestyles, and responding to perceptions of your brand. • Managing product diversification and product extensions - avoiding brand overstretch and a confused consumer. • Aligning your brand now with your future vision.

Theme 2: Strategic branding Brand strategies cannot be confined to the marketing department.

Branding strategy must be aligned with business strategy.

• Benefits of being strategic about branding. • Taking a whole-of-organisation view of branding – aligning business plan with branding strategy. • Communicating fundamental branding strategy across different segments of the whole organization. • Broadening your branding perspective - Treating branding as a multi-dimensional activity. • Positioning for advertising markets vs. consumer markets

Theme 3: Branding in domestic vs. international markets

Branding cannot be a cut-and-paste exercise. Branding to domestic markets can bring up different challenges to international markets.

• Brand segmentation - Learn to identify segments (core, niche, new and under-developed ) in different domestic and international markets • Successfully execute global brand launches and promotions locally • Branding global premium and luxury brands in local markets – preventing premium brand erosion

Theme 4: Rebuilding a brand

The task of rebuilding a seemingly shattered or obsolete brand is one of the most difficult challenges.

• Know when your brand is aging, obsolete, unfocused or losing brand leadership and equity • Bringing a brand back to life – when it can and cannot be done • Being tactical and giving substance to brand rebuilding – revamping symbols, changing layouts, offering new products to suit changing lifestyles • Learning to target, capture, and hold your new market

Theme 5: Branding internally

Building and promoting brand values within your organization is as important as branding to customers.

• Creating a culture of values and respect for the brand – dos and don’ts • Identifying brand misfits and brand terrorists within your organization • Effecting transfer of brand values between generations – building a brand story • Creating brand ambassadors within your organization

Theme 6: Managing rapidly growing / emerging brands vs. established brands

Managing rapidly growing and emerging brands bring up some different challenges to managing established brands.

• Out-hustling entrenched competitors in crowded markets • Strategies to maintain momentum in your brand and learn to anticipate when momentum is fading • Building resilient brands for the long haul - Why integrity in your fast growing brand cannot be compromised • Moving from adolescence toward maturity - Keeping the brand fresh and reading the signs of brand complacency • Methods of controlling the pace of the brand to suit your capabilities and long-term objectives • Maintaining brand values in fast growing franchises

• Maintaining a foothold in core markets for established brands and moving away from core markets & products as an established brand – managing the risks and leveraging off your established brand to full advantage • Evolving from established brand to brand leader & industry champion

Theme 7: Bring accountability and metrics into branding

Branding and brand execution needs to speak a language wider than that of the marketing department. Boards, CEOs, and Finance executives need to understand branding initiatives in a language they know in order to support branding initiatives.

• Avoiding waste and promoting discipline in branding – speaking the language of numbers in branding execution and building brand equity • Using Return on Investment (ROI) to drive current and future branding decisions • Understanding the limitations of metrics in branding

Theme 8: Taking advantage of new branding mediums and techniques

New mediums bring up new challenges and requires new thinking but also offers new possibilities.

• Understanding the evolution of the Internet as branding medium. • Brand building using search engines – targeting a local or global presence efficiently • Online presence and branding strategies - Bypassing clutter and achieving cut-through

Theme 9: Using partnerships and sponsorships to build your brand

The right partnerships and sponsorships is one way of quickly building brands but the wrong ones can be expensive and even damaging to your brand.

• Learn to identify the right fit – being strategic about associations with other entities • Getting the right terms from sponsors and partners for your brand • The power of building an icon brand

Theme 10: Key development for FMCG brands

The FMCG is one of the most competitive of any industry. Knowing the ten key changes impacting the growth of FMCG brands provides a critical advantage.

• Key changes affecting growth in FMCG brands: Changing consumers; Changing demand dynamics; Rising consumer health & safety needs; The innovation imperative; Managing and supporting brands; The category killer effect; Responding to retailer brands; Leveraging technology; Supply Chain efficiency; Distribution and space attack • Responses to combat and take advantage of these developments.