Brand transformation in the age of imagination

What value should your brand put on imagination?

In the information age, brands craved data – measurable insights, statistics, and personal details and habits about their customers. That information still has value, but now not without its restrictions.

But as our culture, economy and society evolves alongside huge developments in technology, the age of imagination is upon us. And it will change everything.

AI, VR, M2M and connected technologies are no longer a thing of the future. They are a part of today. Traditional lifestyles and jobs are going with the way of the dodo, rapidly being replaced by machines, leaving people to pursue less routine and more creative careers.

This is causing an increased demand for user-generated content, engagement and creativity. You only have to look at the explosive rise of YouTube and other creative digital platforms to see this.

For brands and marketing, the age of imagination should represent a shift in philosophies and ways of working with their creative agencies. Transformative thinking should embrace not just data, but ideas.

Ideas that are user-generated.

Brands that merely broadcast and do not engage in the age of imagination risk being abandoned by their base. It’s time to democratise, open up to your brands’ community, and let this new wave of creativity in.

In marketing, co-creation with customers, end users and stakeholders can be game-changing when creating transformative strategies, campaigns and content that solve the toughest business challenges. Why? Because co-creation sits at the heart of this new age of imagination. It connects brands with their customer base through ideas.

At SHARP, we’ve been co-creating for 8 years. Our own Co-Create by SHARP methodology has evolved in that time to become a sophisticated tool that can be uniquely nuanced and tailored for each client and challenge.

Brands have no reason to fear ideas from non-traditional methods. Because what the age of imagination is telling us all is that we should be creating new traditions ourselves, not dwelling on ones from the past.