The Renowned Brands Forum (Foro de Marcas Renombradas), in collaboration with ICEX, ICEMD and ESIC, has recently published a report on the state of Brand 4.0. This concept refers to the technology-driven opportunity to bring ourselves into line with the new digital economy, transforming the culture and way of liaising with the various stakeholders.

The report reflects the conclusions drawn from various sessions with experts in all facets of the digital transformation, to serve as a guide towards getting the most out of the digital transformation in terms of brand management and internationalization of companies. These collaborating experts included María José Germán, GMV’s Assistant Manager of People Strategy and Culture Team, and Julio Vivero, GMV’s Business Partner of International Markets.

On the strength of his cybersecurity experience, Julio Vivero collaborated in the report chapter dealing with cybersecurity and legal aspects. Within this section he stresses the need of protecting domains, supervising brand uses on social media, etc., as well as company secrets and customer data, to ensure security acts as a competitive advantage of any company. Special mention was made of the following features: the need of collaboration between company departments in the interests of proper protection and coming up with a coherent response to any conflicts; raising awareness of entrepreneurs and the ongoing training of employees; the idea of creating a prevention and attack-response protocol, plus the clear need of investment in cybersecurity in line with the technology-dependence of any company’s business development.

For his part, María José Germán talked about his experience with a company’s employer brand, especially in attracting international talent digitally and encouraging loyalty afterwards. Key features here are the need of creating a talent brand between candidates and the employees themselves, tapping into client experience to improve the candidate’s experience, watching out for brand positioning in various outlets (especially, digital and social), potentiating and communicating those values that make the company stand out from the rest and adapting the talent-attracting phase to suit the international expansion of each particular project.

In short, digitalization’s impact nowadays on the economy, on the company’s day-to-day and therefore on our lives is undeniable. Brand 4.0 goes well beyond merely using the new technologies or keeping up an online presence; it involves a real challenge in the way of understanding the very essence of business. What are the advantages of this change? It oils the wheels of internal collaboration, improves client relations, favors adaptation to change and helps to boost sales.

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