With each new year comes a wave of trends and ideas that will define that year in branding and will shape how branding evolves. While some of these ideas showcase new ways of thinking about branding, others show the circular nature 
of the industry and how sometimes, you have to look back in order to move forward.
Below is a look at four trends that will drive branding strategy in 2015:
- Cross-Platform Branding Becomes a Must-Have
Gone are the days when branding meant creating a name and a static logo for the brand. In today’s mobile, online, constantly-shifting platform-driven world, your visual needs to be adaptable to all areas in which you will be present.
Logos need to transfer from a magazine ad to a tablet, from a business card to a phone. Small, intricate details or trying to put a lot of information into one logo may look good when rendered on a large scale, but get lost when it is shrunk down for another use. This will contribute to an increase in logos that embrace simplicity, with companies considering eliminating aspects of their logos deemed detrimental to cross-platform adaptability.
Additionally, names need to be easily remembered and stand out in a way that they can be conjured for quick searches. In 2015, this trend will continue to move up the scale of importance, especially for newer brands that don’t have already-established brand equity.
- Brands will Re-Focus on Basics
With such a crowded consumer space and so many brands clamoring for a piece of the attention, brands will begin to look inward at what truly makes them unique. There will be less brand strategy based on reaction and mimicking what other brands are doing and more focus on characteristics that make up the foundation of the brands.
This brand characteristic shift will lend itself to a new wave of branding, getting back to the essential elements that make a strong brand. This is the key – the brands who thrive in 2015 and beyond won’t be the ones who are the most unique all of the time, but the ones who can show the consumer that they are stable and will be around for the long run.
- Brands will See the Positive Impact of Transparency
Today’s consumers can and will learn everything about a brand that they want to. If there is a skeleton hiding in the closet, it will come to light. Brands will shift their thinking to the idea that instead of hiding, their brand perception can be enhanced by being transparent about the not-so-pretty aspects of the brand that may be exposed.
Consumers are much quicker to defend and forgive when they don’t feel as if the brand was hiding something from them. Transparency can go a long way into both crisis management and solid brand management.
- Developing an Internal Brand will Help Retain Talent
Today’s generation of employees is decidedly different than their predecessors when it comes to staying in one job for an extended amount of time. They have a tendency to bounce around repeatedly, especially early in their careers, meaning many times brands must impress their employees as much as the employees need to impress their brands.
This is why more companies are turning their attention to internal branding – ensuring that their inward brand is as strong as their external, giving them a head start in retaining their top talent. Employees gravitate toward brands that have a strong sense of who they are and who treat their employees right, which starts with establishing what kind of brand they present internally.
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