What are going to be the big branding trends in 2015? What will be the biggest opportunity? The toughest challenge? That’s exactly what we asked 16 branding experts from around the world, all of whose organizations have participated in this, the inaugural year of The Branding Roundtable.

What follows is just a hint of what you’ll find in The Branding Roundtable No. 7: Trends for 2015 – be sure to download the full eBook to read everything these leading thinkers have to say:

Tom Adams, Global Head of Strategy, Futurebrand
Tom reflects on how trends can effect not just a single year, but an entire epoch, to use his term. To look forward, he first takes us back a century, to reflect on what turned out to be some fairly momentous branding developments in 1915.

Jorge Aguilar, Executive Director of Strategy, Landor Associates
Jorge breaks down the need for brands to be more agile, offering five actionable ways you can turn brand agility into profitability. Do you know how to leverage “beta brands,” or how to bridge brand storytelling into experiential brand selling? You’ll have a much better idea after you read this Roundtable.

Jon Bailey, Founder/Chief Relationships Officer, i.d.e.a. brand
Jon, part of the C-Suite leadership of this California-based branding firm, shares how both agencies and marketers can find new opportunities by working for the benefit of more than the bottom line (and why his firm invested in becoming a B-Corp, or benefit corporation).

Carol Cone, Chair, Edelman Business + Social Purpose
Carol, a long-time leader in promoting social purpose for business purposes, talks about the shift of purpose-based brands from a niche in the branding business to a mainstream strategic orientation.

Scott Davis, Chief Growth Officer, Prophet
Scott discusses the coming need to be “ruthlessly pragmatic” if brands are going to maintain relevance. He also has some pointed things to say about the need to move beyond lip service in brand’s supposed customer centricity.

Vladimir Djurovic, CEO, Labbrand
From his vantage point in Shanghai, with a perspective not only on China but on the global branding arena, Vladimir offers some advice on why and how to realize the power of internal branding.

 DOWNLOAD THE FULL eBOOK:   Branding Roundtable No. 7: Trends for 2015

Alexander Haldemann, CEO, MetaDesign
Alexander forecasts a need for flexibility, and describes a new “brand ecosystem.”

Margaret Molloy, CMO, Siegel+Gale
Margaret discusses the growing success of disrupters in the marketplace, and offers some insight into exactly what it will take to make your brand adept at disruption in 2015.

Sean McCoy, CEO, HKLM Group
From Africa, where he oversees offices in several countries, Sean describes the causes and costs of employee fatigue, and how to address it with internal branding.

Don Peppers, Founding Partner, Peppers & Rogers Group
As to opportunities in 2015, Don speaks to the area of trust; in terms of challenges, you won’t want miss what he has to say about the need for all brands to address “the Amazon Effect.”

Dominik Prinz, Senior Director of Strategy, Interbrand
Do you know what “Brand Democratization” is? Be sure to read why Dominik believes it represents both the big opportunity and challenge for the coming year.

Michael Savage, Director of Employer Brand, JWT INSIDE
Michael concentrates on our “bonus question,” namely “What branding buzzword would you like to see disappear in 2015?” Given his title, you may be a little shocked as to what he has to say.

Claude Singer, Chief Strategist, Siegelvision
Claude takes a big step back from our basic questions to entertain the bigger picture. Just how does the challenging context of our times effect what brand marketers have to offer?

Russ Stoddard, CEO, Oliver Russell
Russ and his agency are all about branding for positive change, and he sees a potentially breakthrough year for purpose-driven brands in 2015. (If you want to get past the hype surrounding purpose and doing well by doing good, follow his “Change Makers” series for profiles of people who are putting brand purpose into action every day).

Rob Swan, Executive Creative Director, Brandimage
Rob takes an interesting look at how brands in 2015 need to pay greater heed – proactively, not reactively – to the intertwined impacts of time and salience on brand success.

Eric Villain, Managing Director, Brand and Customer Experience, GfK
What will the traditional brand-building funnel look like in 2015? Eric takes a close look at it, and comes up with an answer that traditionalists should hear – but may not like.

Be sure to download your copy of this Branding Roundtable >