Expand Brand Governance Function in the Era of the Metaverse and Web3.

A strong brand governance strategy is essential for any organization that wants to effectively manage and protect its brand, while also ensuring consistency and alignment across all internal and external communications. But things are only getting more complex. Gone are the days of leaving brand governance on autopilot. The rise of social media, e-commerce, and mobile payments has already created a more challenging environment for brands to operate in; one that is constantly in flux. But when you consider the rapid, albeit inconsistent advances of the metaverse and how it is anticipated to affect many brands’ engagement strategies, the picture gets even murkier. There is great trepidation regarding how these events may upend many of brand management’s key practices.

Will an expanded approach to brand governance be necessary? Will it be at odds with the more traditional approach to managing and protecting the brand? This remains to be seen. But clear guidelines and protocols for usage across all departments and divisions of a company will remain paramount. The great irony here may be that in the face of the “decentralization” of the web via Blockchain technology advances and broad adoption, it may become that much more critical for organizations to strongly consolidate their hold on their brands and increase their investment in a centralized brand management approach to allay potential issues.

So, what may change?

I will not risk launching into an extensive list of potential and future changes here, for fear of missing some important ones. But answering 'What won’t change?' may be a far easier task. Suffices to say that these technologies will, to various degrees, eventually touch every sector one can imagine (even sprouting new ones), even those that would seem on the surface, to not be ideal targets. One only has to think back to the advent of the internet and the World Wide Web (Web 1.0), and social media (Web 2.0). Which companies/organizations, in both the private and public sectors, do not rely in whole or in part on these technologies today? We are now finding ourselves well into the Web 3.0 (powered by Web3 technologies) adoption era. Some even argue that the Web 4.0 era, empowered by Artificial Intelligence advances, is already upon us, the ramifications of which, while hard to precisely foretell, are nonetheless the subject of much speculation and anxiety.

From a brand management perspective, these advances will likely mean the need for companies and brands to create a dedicated brand governance function to oversee consistent application, to present a dependable and unified set of values and experiences, and to ensure that brands stay on mission and on purpose, regardless of the platform, be it in the virtual or in the real world. Organizations finding it cumbersome or prohibitive to justify creating a dedicated brand governance function would be well advised to think further on the subject. However, those may find that some digital tools and technologies, such as brand management software, may provide some help with the governance process. Simply opting for an online brand management resource may not be enough, however.

A holistic approach could further involve ongoing collaboration and communication with key stakeholders, such as customers, sponsors, partners, and other external parties to ensure that the brand is accurately represented in the marketplace. It will become even more important, moving forward, to ensure that all employees are trained and educated on expanded governance principles.

In any case, new or expanded governance protocols and policies will be needed, so that hard-earned brand equity that has been built with great care and often at considerable investment cost over many years, does not fall apart in the face of technological upheaval.

How to prepare

In order to meet customer expectations as demand for branded content and immersive experiences increases, your brand governance strategy must include guidelines that are consistently applicable across all channels. The success of your strategy to ensure you can meet the growing demand for relevant experiences will depend on your brand being well-represented in both the analog and virtual realms. An expanded governance strategy will be necessary for any brand that wants to survive the technological onslaught, let alone see growth, in an ever-changing market and regulatory environment.

But all these measures, on their own, may not be enough. Organizations that do not also address the impact that this changing communications landscape will unleash on brands at large, may find their own brand(s) quickly losing relevance. Providing immersive virtual reality experiences in a gamified and decentralized virtual universe will begin to shift how brands are perceived and purchased, reshaping consumers’ expectations. These changes may require that the brands themselves, and not just the tools to manage them, undergo an overhaul.

Expect disruption

Every disruptive technology brings with it risks to market incumbents and entrenched participants. Identifying potential threats to your brand and taking steps to mitigate or eliminate those risks will be important. Just think of the newspaper industry stalwarts that had to redefine themselves as digital news media organizations, some even divorced from their original primary physical ink-on-paper outputs. They had to transcend their business and evolve their operating and revenue models to survive and become what they are now. Alas, many of them were too slow to adapt and didn’t fare nearly as well.

Is your brand likely to experience a shift of this magnitude? Are you prepared for it? Evolving and elevating your brand governance game may begin to provide some answers to these questions.

One thing seems certain: With the rise of new virtual channels and technology, it is increasingly important to have a centralized system for managing and protecting the brand, no matter where and how it is accessed.

Future best practices in brand governance and management

In subsequent articles, we will explore brand governance best practices moving forward into this new digital frontier. Watch this space.