By Paola Norambuena,
Chief Strategy Officer
In the 20 years that Interbrand has been evaluating the Best Global Brands annually, no year has come close to the turmoils and unknowns of 2020. And yet we saw many brands grow in this time, building new resilience to carry them into the future.
As we delved further into this year’s Australian and New Zealand Breakthrough Brands, what stood out wasn’t anxiety or challenges, but the potential the next decade holds. It took stepping back from all that’s happening, to take a broader look at where our world is now and how this point in time can shape the future.
The Decade of Possibility
More than stepping back, we looked back at historical analogies — take Europe in the 1400s. The world was emerging from a deadly plague, and in the midst of tremendous upheaval: political and religious division, upending of social order, human loss. Sound familiar?
The decades that followed, however, were nothing short of extraordinary: the invention of the printing press, the creation of modern accounting and banking, the sun at the centre of the universe — historic advancements not just in science, but also in the arts and culture. DaVinci, Botticelli, Michelangelo… It was what we now know as the Renaissance. If we are on the edge of something extraordinary, there is a marked difference from the 15th century: the acceleration of change, the exponential pace of technology, and the immediate propagation of ideas, movements and expectations. And it’s not likely to slow down.
“OVER THE NEXT 100 YEARS WE MAY BE EXPERIENCING 20,000 YEARS OF TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCEMENT.”
What does that mean for brands? It’s how they help shape this next decade that will decide what possibility can really mean for us all.
Bringing Possibility Closer to Home
A closer look at the Australian and New Zealand landscape, in the context of Breakthrough Brands, made us consider what makes for innovation in our region. Many will say that Australia falls behind its global peers on innovation, especially when it comes to governmental support and action. In 2017, the Global Innovation Index ranked Australia 23rd of 127 countries.
Not surprisingly, until 2020, Australia’s 26 years of continuous growth was supported by mining and agriculture. So it’s easy to overlook the fact that the services sector makes up a large part of the Australian economy, representing over 70 per cent of Australia’s gross domestic product (GDP) and employing four out of every five Australians. This includes education, recreational travel, professional services, business industries may be going through fundamental changes during these times (some good, some challenging) but all have the opportunity to drive significant innovation.
The picture shifts further when you consider that Australia was ranked the 5th most start-up friendly country globally — with one of the highest start-up rates in the world in 2019, according to Statista (with some of that success attributed to Canva, who features on our list).
As of May 2020, of the leading start-ups (based on funding) a large number were Fintech and digital business services. Again, Covid may have slowed the march, but by no means stalled it. With the advent of our own space port, joining the ranks of only 13 other countries with launch capacity, and the growth opportunities around solar, it opens the landscape out even further.
Australia has long been a model for irreverence and challenging traditional mores (old world wines, anyone?) and often the test model for new ideas (Instagram likes and self-esteem). But it’s not enough to be a distant pilot program. Innovation needs to work inside out.
Can Brands Help Usher in a New Renaissance?
It’s not an entirely fanciful thought — although it’s ultimately the human spirit that will bring it about. But for the brands that emerge from this period with greater business resiliency and individual confidence, they’re part of the charge — especially if they inspire humans.
This takes focus on three key fundamental traits, which we explored in greater detail in our Best Global Brands 2020 report.
1. LEADERSHIP: A FLAG IN THE FUTURE
To thrive in an anxious and uncertain world, brands must know the way, show the way and go the way. Great brands start from their desired future and work back from there, framing each challenge as a step on the road to the future.
2. ENGAGEMENT: A SHARED JOURNEY
Brave leadership thrives on engagement. Highly successful brands don’t just plant a flag in the future, they take people on a shared journey by making moves that resonate with our hopes and fears — they make us want to be a part of their story.
3. RELEVANCE: A SENSE OF BELONGING
People are increasingly demonstrating their values through the brands they choose. Great brands understand the calculated risk it takes to align to causes or beliefs to create affinity with a few. But they don’t back down from their stance.
Pushing our countries to make innovation a core and measurable strategy (in not just STEM but also education, arts and creativity) is vital for the region, its people, and the growth needed as we enter this new decade from an upended moment in time.
But as these Breakthrough Brands, and Ones to Watch, are showing, there’s no reason for organisations to hold back on innovation while we do. Brands may be doing what others cannot. In the hands of the brave, there’s capacity for great change.
“BRANDS ARE A FORCE OF MACROECONOMIC SCALE AND INFLUENCE, MORE SO THAN MANY EXPECTED OR TRADITIONAL INSTITUTIONS, AND THEIR IMPACT CAN’T BE UNDERESTIMATED.”
Are we on the edge of a rebirth? That remains to be seen. But coming out of this time, no part of our lives or indeed any category will be unchanged — from retail to government, from education to entertainment, to mobility and food. We’re passionately convinced that Breakthrough Brands of all kinds have the power, opportunity and responsibility to ensure change creates hope, and possibility.
