The Impact of Social Currency on Branding with Erich Joachimsthaler

“A brand is not just to make marketing better. It’s to lead the company into the future.” Erich Joachimsthaler of Vivaldi Partners has a decidedly global perspective on brand building. The author of Brand Leadership and the new Hidden in Plain Sight has spoken at conferences and corporate events around the world in English, German, and Spanish. We discussed the most recent developments in brand strategy and evolution on this week’s episode of the On Brand podcast.

About Erich Joachimsthaler

After a career of 15 years in academics and extensive professional work experience in several large multinational companies, Erich Joachimsthaler founded Vivaldi Partners. He is actively engaged in many consulting projects for leading companies and brands. In addition to his consulting work, Erich does extensive research on global brands and the formulation of corporate and business-unit level strategies. A sought-after speaker, he also conducts executive-level conferences and workshops around the world in English, German, and Spanish.

Erich is a published thought leader and his book Brand Leadership, co-written with David A. Aaker and translated into 14 languages, is considered a groundbreaking discussion on the recent developments in brand strategy. He has just completed a new book, Hidden in Plain Sight, that focuses on the role of brands in creating economic value and growth for firms. Erich is also the author of more than 40 articles and case studies in leading academic and business journals, including Harvard Business Review, Sloan Management Review, and Business Week.

Erich has held academic faculty positions in the US and Europe and taught in various executive programs in Latin America, Asia, and Africa. He holds masters and doctorate degrees from universities in Germany and the U.S., and completed his education with a Post-Doctorate Fellowship at Harvard Business School.

Episode Highlights

“Brand has evolved significantly.” With social media, we can create “feelings and thoughts in our consumers’ minds. In the future, we’ll have an inner sanctum — an inner circle — of brands” who we rely on more and more.

Branding on the front end and the back end. “The ‘60s was all about the golden age of branding … TV ads. In the ‘90s we started getting smarter about framework. On the front end, you have the brand. On the back-end, you have the overall business strategy.”

What kind of education does a brand manager today need? “A CMO I knew once in Munich ended up running the firm’s financial operations in Asia. He then came back as CEO” with a better idea on the overall brand vision and direction. Brand thinking requires a broad business perspective.

What is social currency and how has social media impacted brand building? That’s the focus on Erich’s latest work at Vivaldi Partners. The firm’s new study Business Transformation Through Greater Customer Centricity: The Power of Social Currency. View the report.

What brand has made Erich smile recently? One of Erich’s favorite brands was recommended by his daughter. He likes GoPro because “they’ve leveraged their social currency so well.”

To learn more, go to vivaldigroup.com.

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