Darren Coleman

Building a values-led organization: The importance of data and employee engagement

Demonstrates why building a values-led organization makes good business sense and how attendees can go about doing it.

Brand and service design: A marriage made in heaven?

Shows how attendees can weave brand into the fabric of service design so they can deliver more scalable and consistent customer-centric brand experiences.

Getting your COVID-19 recovery right: Leveraging brand-driven growth

Outlines how attendees can drive organizational growth through brands during the turbulent times COVID-19 presents.

Competing through brand experiences: Three steps for success during times of COVID-19

Demystifies the brand experience building process so attendees can start to build brand experiences that will engage customers in spite of the challenges COVID-19 presents.

Building a winning services brand during turbulent times: Consistency is the key

Provides actionable advice that will help service brand marketers overcome the specific challenges they encounter as a result of COVID-19.

Retaining relevance through brand experiences. How to do it in three simple steps

How will this talk help attendees? C-suite executives and, in particular CMOs, know brand experiences provide a route to retaining relevance. But many struggle to structure then lead BX building initiatives with confidence and conviction.

This talk solves that problem by sharing a simple yet intuitive three step brand experience building blueprint which is based on my recently published book, Building Brand Experiences: Practical Guide to Retaining Brand Relevance (Kogan Page).

What will attendees be able to do differently after this talk? Attendees of this keynote will know how to use a simple three step Brand Experience Blueprint that will help them build brand experiences for themselves. Attendees will be directed to a URL where they can download the Blueprint and its associated Toolkit for free.

The Toolkit comprises a suite of tools / templates that will help keynote attendees put the ideas introduced into action.

Why emotion wins when building B2B service brand experiences

How will this talk help attendees? Senior executives who work in corporate finance, professional services, consulting etc., tend to overlook the importance of emotion when building brand experiences.

Price, capability, reputation and track record of delivery are seen as key drivers of client choice. True, these are important but this talk will help attendees understand why emotion is the trump card when it comes to building experiences at B2B services brands.

More importantly, attendees will learn how they can go about building brand experiences that resonate emotionally with clients and drive brand performance.

What will attendees be able to do differently after this talk? Attendees of this keynote will obtain a deep and scientific understanding of why emotion drives choice and know how to use this knowledge to their advantage when building brand experiences at B2B services brands.

Addressing the challenges of building a services brand

How will this talk help attendees? Services predominate in developed markets, frequently accounting for over 80% of GDP. But the characteristics of a services brand present executives with unique challenges.

For instance, services are intangible, never owned by the person who uses them and tend to be delivered by people – who can have good and bad days. A paradox also plagues a services brand. Senior executives have a large say in how things are done but play a small part in actual delivery. For instance, it’s the receptionist at a hotel and not the CEO that determines how you felt about your check in experience.

Knowing how to address these and other specific service brand issues are critical executive-level skills this keynote will address. What will attendees be able to do differently after this talk? Attendees of this keynote will know how to overcome the unique challenges a services brand presents.

This entails dovetailing strategic thinking and operational processes whilst being mindful of the unique challenges a services brand presents. Attendees’ will also acquire actionable insights that will enable them to deliver more consistent brand experiences through employee behaviour – the perennial challenge most, if not all, services brands face.

Hang on! Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater. How to align your people, brand and digital transformation

How will this talk help attendees? A lot of CMOs dive head first into building brand experiences with a focus being on digital. Engaging then involving their employees with the brand experience building process is often overlooked.

Informed CMO’s develop close working relationships with their HR counterparts to align strategic thinking and operational processes to ensure people, brand and technology are aligned.

This talk will show attendees how to do this. What will attendees be able to do differently after this talk? Use a take away tool that will help attenees align brand and human resources when building experiences that have a digital focus. This will help them to deliver more consistent digital brand experiences.

Delivering brand experiences in a post-digital world

How will this talk help attendees? World-class brands have already moved beyond digital marketing. They are marketing in a digital world where data, connected devices and people combine to facilitate delivery of personalised brand experiences.

Understanding how to deliver brand experiences in a post-digital world is a challenge some brands are starting to embrace. To succeed, focus, clarity and consistency are required across the entire brand experience. This scale of this challenge is amplified by consumer demands for increased transparency driven by diminishing trust.

This talk will provide attendees ’ with practical tools and insights that help them not just to survive but thrive in the post-digital world. What will attendees be able to do differently after this talk? Attendees will understand what they need to do to keep their brand relevant and drive brand performance in a post-digital world.

This entails embracing a mindset that focuses on the end, not just the means, when building brand experiences. The importance of humans’ core need for connection will also be embedded in attendees’ minds as an important, indeed integral part of their post digital brand experience building efforts.

Command more respect in the boardroom by measuring brand experiences scientifically

How will this talk help attendees? Demonstrating how brand experiences drive financial performance is a challenge even the most seasoned executives face. This keynote outlines how senior marketing executives can command more respect in the boardroom by measuring brand experiences in a more rigorous, rounded and scientifically robust way.

What will attendees be able to do differently after this talk? Understand the importance of obtaining employee, brand and financial measures over sustained periods. Members of the audience will also receive practical measurement advice so they will leave the keynote with actionable insights they can start working on straight away.