Abstract

Current rate of change is way faster than rate of understanding, adoption and implementation by brands and communication agencies. We learn from the recent present and transform empirical learnings into best practice and approaches for tomorrow's communication challenges. The way to connect, interact and build a relationship between brands and consumers is undergoing deep and disruptive changes. People relate to brands differently. Actually: from now on people will be able to make their thoughts about a brand very much heard. The original brand monologue is turning into a wide open dialogue. How should advertising work from now on? Most importantly: is advertising per se the way forward for building brand relationships? Or should we really start talking about wider communication approaches: turning listening and conversations into strategic communication tools for the brands of the future? Ultimately: what are the implications for communication? Storytelling is the tag-word for this paper. An attempt, from a communication practitioner (the insider point of view), to provide a meaningful framework to the how's and what's of the communication approaches currently being developed by agencies and clients. And Engagement is the paper's final destination: the new one-word best describing the essence and nature of the relationship brands and consumers should be moving forward from now on.