The Leading Media Forum at Webit Virtual Brand Innovation week hosted by Dr. Plamen Russev on 21 May with over 9 thousand simultaneous live virtual attendees and hundred of thousands views afterwards.
During the Leading media forum on 21.05 at Webit Virtual’ Brand Innovation Week we met with four of our special guests, invited not only as writers at leading editions such as Forbes, Inc. Magazine and USA Today, but also as experts with more colourful experience and business background, as well as bestselling authors, influencers and thought leaders to speak about the latest tendences in the business world and the “Brand evolution in times of a global crisis”. The discussion was opened by Karen, who presented an overview of the dramatically shifting landscape of media, caused by COVID-19. The scene is now much more focused on substance, rather than flash.This is what Webit and particularly the Virtual Webit events are actually providing and this is what our whole team believes in. Collective intelligence, as called by Rhett Power referring to the organizations and companies who are open to listen to their employees when they are looking for new solutions and decisions, is what we are actually doing at Webit: not only within our own team but we do it as a Global Network and Platform where we invite global thought leaders in particular sectors to share their knowledge and we provide that valuable content to our audience.
What we learned from the invited guests during the Leading Media Forum on 21 May? We all know that everything is changing now and Covid is changing society in different levels and this is going to happen no matter what. The question is how you as a business, as a manager will respond to that change? Anglela made a deep dive into the Italian Ecosystem with the luxury brands like Gucci, Armani, Prada who had the facilities and they made a strategic move and decided to manufacture medical overalls, face masks instead of staying and not doing anything for months, Ferrari who started making ventilators.
- We all know that disruption is a term that’s usually used in the marketing and business world, but we live now in a world that is already totally disrupted so what we need now is to adapt.– said Angela- Evolution is key now.
In a period when nothing is stable and that we need to face with so much uncertainty we go back more than ever to our basic needs. And safety is one of them. Steve emphasized exactly on this saying: “What you can do as a brand at a minimum is to look responsive. Be responsive. What people are looking for is safety.“ Rhett added to that point that companies should care not only about their customers’ safety but also about giving the feeling of safety to their employees as well. Starting from here, companies need to figure out, using the collective intelligence of their team, if the product is still relevant and if they need to make changes: but if they are moving fast right now, and if they are taking action on all these new changes, they will be ok. One of the signs for this is the quick digital transformation.
- Right now your reputation online is your reputation. – said Karen – No one has the luxury not to look good online any more. Everyone needs to have their personal brand, their CEO brand and their business brand really in top shape. The messaging has to be clear, the visuals have to be clear, it has to be clearly represented online so people can see who you are, what you stand for and what you offer. Pre-COVID we lived in an “or” world. There was live, or virtual. We had live events, virtual events, live businesses, virtual businesses. And virtual was kind of considered the step-child of life. One of the huge changes out of COVID is, we’re going to live in an “and” world. End evey live event will have a virtual equivalent. That digital transformation will open up a whole world of possibilities for people personally and for people in business. And it is not just the technology and to learn how to use it but also it is about how we communicate with other people and perform better online, if experts learn how to look online, that will exemplify their credibility and their influence.
- The change you are going to make, when you pivot online, when you add the digital to your brand is a pivot that has to be authentic to your brand. – advised Steven – It is not easy to pivot your business in 5 weeks and still be authentic but you have to do it. Otherwise you will lose your audience. You have to become a digital leader and to be a trim tab – an example of that small thing can make a big difference and change the direction of all.
We ended from where we started:
- Go back to day 1, think about your business as it was in the beginning and as it was in the first stage of that business and you have to figure out how to make it work all over again.– said Rhett in the end of the discussion concluding the strong message that all participants gave to the audience: if you restart and reinvent yourself, if you don’t stop learning, adapting and evolving the changes and the challenges will become new doors and opportunities both for your business and for you personally.
Written by
Teodora Hadjibojeva,
Press Officer and Media Coordinator
Webit Foundation