Branding in 2030: from promise to pact

In 2030, branding will no longer be a publicity dressing, but a living architecture of commitments, interactions, and evidence. The brands that matter will be the ones that truly change something. Here's a look at an ongoing transformation.

From Image to Involvement

For over a century, branding served to differentiate, seduce, reassure. Logos, brand universes, slogans, calibrated narratives... a well-oiled machine at the service of consumption. But by 2030, this linear and superficial approach is increasingly obsolete: Climate crisis, advertising fatigue, collapse of trust, accelerated transitions: brands can no longer simply tell a story—they must take on a role.

The Most Influential Marketing Thinker

The first edition of the marketing bible, Marketing Management by Philip Kotler, dates back to 1967. Sixteen editions have followed. The first definition of branding appeared in 2009: “Branding is the process of endowing products and services with the power of a brand. It is essentially about creating differences between products.” It remains the same from 2009 until 2021. The "power" of a brand goes beyond the product:

1. Instant recognition (Coca-Cola, Apple)
2. Credibility and trust (Michelin, Nivea)
3. Emotional or status-driven preference (Chanel, Gucci)
4. Ability to justify a higher price (Rolex vs. generic watch)
5. Long-term loyalty (Lego, Nike)
6. Halo effect on other products from the same brand

The branding process, defined over successive editions, is not just a logo or campaign. It's a strategic and progressive long-term effort:

1. Define the brand essence (promise, mission, vision, values)
2. Position the brand
3. Create distinctive identity elements (name, logo, design, slogan, tone of voice)
4. Deploy the brand across all experiences
5. Maintain consistency and relevance

The goal is simple: create financial value

1. Build lasting customer relationships
2. Generate financial value
3. Strengthen competitiveness
4. Enable brand extensions
5. Reduce price sensitivity

The World Didn't Read Kotler

“We wanted to change the world, we chose teleshopping.” Stephen King says it all: marketing has lost touch with the world it claims to serve.

Faced with new challenges—loss of trust, ecological urgency, search for meaning, the social role of brands, audience fragmentation, reconciliation of personal values and collective dynamics—other leading experts have redefined branding:

Byron Sharp (2020): 

"A brand is about creating mental and physical availability."

Seth Godin (2020): 

"A brand is the set of expectations, memories, stories, and relationships that influence a consumer's decision."

David Aaker (2021): 

"A brand is more than a name or a logo: it’s a network of mental associations that represents a promise of value."

Ana Andjelic (2021): 

"Brands reflect contemporary culture, embody lifestyles, aesthetic values, and social narratives. They don’t just sell products."

Nikki Trott (2025): 

"In 2025, branding is the art of energetic coherence—expressing the soul of a business in a way that creates deep resonance, thriving success, and lasting trust. It begins with inner leadership transformation, then moves to magnetizing a community, activating a shared mission, and creating a movement greater than the company itself."

At least, these leading experts, each in his or her way, went beyond teleshopping and read the World. Ana Andjelic embraces culture. Nikki Trott gives us the most holistic view.

From Promises to Proofs: What Do Citizens Want?

The Meaningful Brands study by Havas (on a global scale, latest edition, May 2024) helps clarify public expectations:

• “63% think brands should help me save more time and money.”
• “73% want brands to show support, humanity, and generosity in times of crisis.”
• “72% are tired of brands that pretend to help society but only seek profit.”
• “54% believe brands should focus less on selling products and more on supporting their customers.”
• “68% think brands have the power and responsibility to help solve global issues.”

Most striking: “74% of brands could disappear today and no one would care.”

This confirms the study’s core message:

1. Most brands remain insignificant to consumers.
2. Only those with real and emotional impact can rise above anonymity.
3. Meaningful brands are functional, personal, and collective.

A brand no longer 'positions' itself—it gets involved.

We wanted to change the world, but the world changed us: Citizens demand action, not slogans. Proof, not promises. Overexposed and overinformed, they change the equation: branding becomes about consistency, relationships, and moral and operational commitment. A brand stops being a label—it becomes a living, acting structure capable of playing a social, cultural, and environmental role.

The Brand Engagement Pyramid: Five Functions to Scale Up

The Brand Engagement Pyramid offers a five-level reading of the brand’s role:

1. Cultural Tool: 

The brand embodies a worldview and internal culture aiming to be perceived ouside. It acts as a moral compass for stakeholders and a source of belonging and identity.

1. Transition Tool: 

It provides guidance through ecological, technological, or societal changes. It leads transitions rather than reacting to them.

1. Response to Needs: 

It offers real, useful, tangible solutions—a relevant, accessible product or service.

1. Relational Catalyst: 

It connects people and communities with the causes. It sparks conversation and solidarity.

1. Private and Common Good: 

It contributes to shared value creation—moving from conquest to contribution, blending financial and societal profit.

The higher up you go, the more the brand becomes a systemic actor: useful, relational, mobilizing, political. And the less it can be manufactured by a campaign. Branding stops being a creative act by agencies—it becomes a form of organized responsibility.

In 2030, a Useful Brand Will Be...

1. Operational and Systemic

It will act in the real economy: jobs, carbon footprint, short supply chains, fair pricing, inclusion. It will own its externalities—environmental, social, and cultural.
It will prove more than promise.
It will turn values into tangible, audible actions—in governance, in products, in partnerships.

1. Legible and Relational

It will communicate transparently, be accountable, and foster real dialogue.
It won’t avoid debate—it will host it.
It will build lasting relationships in contrast to market volatility.
It won’t just exist online—it will inhabit the real world.
The relational brand won’t speak to people, but with them.

1. Cultural and Mobilizing

It will contribute to collective narratives, nourish public debates, spark alternatives, set in motion and take part in transitions.
It will move beyond inspiration to activation.
Through values, aesthetics, public gestures, it will create meaning.
A cultural brand doesn’t just reflect its time—it shapes it.

1. Repairable and Responsible

It will know how to admit mistakes, make amends, learn publicly.
It won’t pretend to be perfect—just alive, evolving, and sincere.
It will adopt a posture of active humility.
In 2030, sincerity will outweigh polish.
The most powerful brands won’t be the smoothest, but the most human.

The Pact, Not the Promise

Branding in 2030 will move from image to active pact. Symbolic allegiance won’t be enough: brands will need to earn trust, prove their value, and embrace their role in society’s transformations. The brand ceases to be a label and becomes a living, active structure capable of playing a social, moral, cultural and environmental role.

The useful brands of tomorrow? Those who, today, already combine culture, impact, and real engagement. They will be the new symbolic institutions of a reinvented age. Not neutral, not above—but embedded, committed, active. Cultural and economic forces. Transition partners.

In 2030, branding won’t be dead. It will have changed tone, scale, and mission.
It will no longer aim to persuade—but to evolve.