“Brands help you edit,” stated Shelly Lazarus ’70, Chairman Emeritus, Ogilvy & Mather, at BRITE ’16. This is indeed the crux of why brands developed a bit over 100 years ago, and this need may make them even more important in a future where information and data are becoming ubiquitous.
Around the same time brands were becoming important, Columbia Business School was being launched. In honor of its Centennial, a distinguished panel of alumni was brought together at BRITE ’16 to discuss the past and future of brand building:
- Shelly Lazarus ’70, Chairman Emeritus, Ogilvy & Mather
- Lew Frankfort ’69, Chairman Emeritus, Coach, Inc
- Russell Dubner ’00, President & CEO, Edelman US
- Ntiedo (Nt) Etuk ’02, Co-Founder & CEO, YourGuru / YG Studios
- Moderated by Prof. Bernd Schmitt, Faculty Director, Center on Global Brand Leadership
In response to questions fielded from the BRITE audience, the panel dove into a range of issues organizations will need to tackle, including:
- Several key themes facing brands moving forward — experience, authenticity, values, and connections
- The future needs for brand agencies — “You have to be comfortable being uncomfortable,” noted Russell Dubner
- How brands need to think about global markets and consumers
- What brand lessons are revealed by the US Presidential race
Watch this vibrant discussion and help use their insights to develop your own brand building strategies.
