Dochita Zenoveiov: Brands will try to sell us “time”
We are on the right track in terms of branding interest in Romania, says Dochita Zenoveiov, Brand Consultant INOVEO, who has a 20 years experience in branding and marketing at the customer and at the agency. We are on the right path to corporate identity and product identity; and at corporations, and start-ups.
Start-ups took this topic seriously and make branding as it says in the book. That helps because they start with the well-done themes, but it’s their only chance to compete with established brands, says Dochita
Dochita talks about the trends influencing branding in 2019, the good things that are happening in this area, brand engagement, branding, turning to the roots, and rebirth of the “Romanian”.
Trends of 2018
The main aspect felt was the revival of interest for the company brands. Many committed entrepreneurs, with more than 20 years of experience, realize the importance of their company’s reputation and image in the market.
Start-ups took this topic seriously and make branding as it says in the book. That helps because they start with the well-done themes, but it’s their only chance to compete with established brands, and then that’s one of the simplest options to build credibility in a controlled, easy and fast way . And co-financing programs help them to budget.
He would still be working on the budgeting side and here the recommendation would be to not let the people who write projects because they do not know how many of them have gone through a branding project. However, we are on the right track and at corporate identity and product identity; and at corporations, and start-ups.
Another topic of interest last year was brand engagement. I do not call employer branding, though that’s what they called, because that’s more than that. It is an effect of the much-debated HR crisis. A program of this kind differs a lot from one company to another, including from one period to the next within the same company. I expect this year to shift from general requests to specific ones, the involvement of the branding agency from the moment of research design and a collaboration between HR and Marketing in particular, expanding to all departments of the organization.
How important are the trends
In branding, the importance of the brand is the vision of the contractor or CEO. Trends become relevant to the extent that you want to bring the brand into the contemporary, to align it with trends, but you will never follow the brand strategy according to trends that are ephemeral. Trends have much more sense in advertising. In branding, you need to work more with the brand platform, with the brand’s purpose, with its relevance to the stakeholders. International conferences, lectures and lectures are important sources to keep up with trends.
Branding and what this means
What a beautiful definition you gave to the brand … 🙂 Complete the list of touchpoints of a brand with its direct and indirect audiences. This should include any re / branding project. With activation that results from the brand platform and which will be implemented over a 3-5 year period according to priorities and resources so that the promise of the brand is brought to life.
We have many activations lately. I like both those that are seen internally, limited to the firms, but also those that transcend their territory and reach even more glass, WOM. In branding, it is essential to humanize the brand. We work with tools that humanize brands from the moment of construction or reconstruction. That’s why our methodology involves a lot of organization, because those who know the brand very well are the ones who work for it. That’s how we built all the brands we call international today. Just because together the agency and employees actively participated in defining, then increasing. They did not get those international brands just because they had budgets. And because of this reason they got there, but not exclusively.
The big brands have grown great because they have set a set of touchpoints for a 3-5 year interval and because they follow it holistically by fulfilling their vision. It is a technique of guiding the brand similar to the teacher’s school curriculum. We at INOVEO, for example, have a program for entrepreneurs, BRANDATHLON, through which we try to give back to society what we know to do – branding.
How Trends Appear: Humanization / Community / Social Responsibility in Logos, Packaging
We would not call them trends, our market perceives them like that. In order to exist, interact and bring well-being to its audiences, brands must behave in the face, need and likeness of their clients. As all brands get to interact with people, brands need humanization.
More than in visual identity, we can see humanization and community involvement through brand activation, see Zitec, Metamob. Big brands do it very well because they have in-house specialists dealing with the whole process from identification, execution to communication. In small companies it is even more interesting because you see how employees turn into brand ambassadors and bring a lot of authenticity.
Ethics
Ethics is implicit in any branding process.
Naming
Naming reflects nothing but the return of entrepreneurs to the roots. And more than in design, here can be seen the rebirth of the minimalist or creative “Romanian”.
Many brands created by entrepreneurs or created in Romanian entrepreneurial groups bring Romanian language on the wallpaper. We are proud of the roots, but at the same time we think of what the English name would say and how it would be pronounced. However, the market dictates one direction.
Here are some examples: dalberry (dalb + berry), poftis (fast-paced craving), mofft (fast-fashion line of retailer IL PASSO), … with grace (jam, natural juices) orchard), immaculate (the immaculate reinterpreted in a millenistic form), zoombet (mobile camera cabs with a play between smile and zoom).
Packages
Minimize. Bring authenticity to the forefront. More courage.
What attracted your attention to branding
First Bank. An ample project. A visual identity aligned with the brand platform. Simple but not simple. Catchy. With hidden symbol, brought to life in certain applications – signaling, ATM etc.
What’s next for 2019?
Brands will try to sell us “time”. I’m curious how this idea will be translated by the strategy and the creative.
Interview conducted by Alexandra Badicioiu Matei
