Forward '09 Speaker Preview: Meet Brandologist Gavin Coombes

Gavin Coombes, CEO of FutureBrand Singapore sat down with the Forward '09: Brandologie team to share his thoughts on branding.

Why did you transition from public affairs and issues management into branding?
Public Affairs is essentially the business of keeping people out of the press (versus Public Relations, which is about getting into the press.) After three years of dealing with product recalls, waste spills and government lobbying I decided that an entire career of that sort of work would basically leave me without a soul. But I did love the challenge of grappling with major issues and helping companies communicate with their audiences in a way that was honest but compelling. I did Internet marketing and CRM software/management for a while and although this was satisfying, I felt I was working on the fringes of the brand rather that at the core. My current job enables me to work at the core of the brand and deal with tricky issues along the way but without the sour taste that Public Affairs left in my mouth. I love it and I do not ever intend to do anything else.

At BRITE Asia '09 you are giving a presentation called "Being Digital by Being Human." What do you mean by that?
In a nutshell, my thesis for this presentation is that the most effective Internet marketing or digital branding is not about Flash or flash but virtual human connections. The most powerful digital brands have little or no razzle-dazzle but instead are open, honest and utilitarian. Think of Google, Amazon or Facebook. They do not hit you over the head with any big brand messaging but instead get you what you want in as short a time as possible. Further, a digital brand is inherently more democratic than a physical brand as the audience is an active participant in the development and management of the brand; they are like unpaid brand managers. It is essentially Karl Marx’s prophesy come to life in a different form; the workers control the means of production, but the factory is virtual. As the man himself once said: “All that is solid melts into air.”

What are your thoughts on brands that try to position themselves as "environmentally friendly," such as Cisco, Dow Chemical and Chevron?
It is interesting that you single out these three as they are examples of what I would call branding reef fish. A reef fish is a type of fish that swims in a school but when any one breaks away all the rest follow. I do not know which one was first to break away but somehow Cisco became The Human Network, Chevron became Human Energy and Dow became the Human Element in fairly quick succession a couple of years ago. I think it is fine to add a human dimension to your brand but these three are each a bit too literal and too close together. Plus, it is the type of brand positioning that can come back to haunt you in later life. For example, it is a bit tough to say Dow is living up to its brand when it is putting 5,000 of its human elements onto the unemployment line.

What brand "values" are important in Asian cultures, such as China or Singapore?
That is a big question and one that I will dig into at the conference itself. But essentially what separates an Asian brand from a Western one is a celebration of community rather than individuality. Asian cultures tend to celebrate the collective (family, company, city, country) rather than the individual and strive to keep often contrasting impulses (i.e. Charity vs. Status) in a state of balance and harmony. They are also very old cultures with strong ties to their respective history and traditions so the best Asian brands will take ancient ideas and motifs and bring them up to date. By contrast, Western brands tend to be built on more universal ideas and metaphors