Dr. Stefan Markovic wins the Brand Science Slam at the 14th Global Brand Conference in Berlin.

A science slam is a science communication format where scientists explain their research projects in short 10-minute-talks that are easy to follow and afterward the audience gets to vote. The important thing is not primarily the scientific outcome of their work, but to explain it in an understandable, entertaining and concise way. Science Slams take place outside the university or lecture halls and instead in cultural centers, theaters or clubs, usually in the evening. So, in the Brand Science Slam, the scientists leave their ivory tower and become a part of popular culture. For further information, visit: http://gbc2019.berlin/brand-science-slam-2

With his work entitled “Why co-creation is the future of branding,” and co-authored with Prof. Nicholas Ind and Dr. Oriol Iglesias, Dr. Stefan Markovic received 1st Prize at the Brand Science Slam held at the 14th Global Brand Conference in Berlin. The work argues that brands can no longer be defined solely by organizations – rather they are built out of a network of physical and digital relationships. This suggests that managers are no longer “brand guardians,” who can rigidly try to keep and preserve the purity of the brand identity, but are instead “conductors,” who integrate multiple stakeholder perspectives and reconcile diverse brand meanings. In this sense, co-creation is the future of branding. However, even if most managers recognize this, very few brands have embraced co-creation from a strategic perspective. Most of them use co-creation tactically, as an additional tool within their portfolio of qualitative and quantitative research methods to validate ideas that have already been conceived from inside the company. Nevertheless, some brands better understand the current competitive environment and have embraced a much more strategic view of co-creation. Managers of these brands use co-creation as a strategic resource to build competitive advantage. Customers are not seen just as validators of preconceived ideas, but also as creators. However, important reservations about sharing key information with the outside remain. Traditional cultures tend to be very guarded regarding their internal knowledge, and are wary of sharing it with outsiders. This means that managers interested in developing a strategic approach have to understand that they are essentially managing cultural change and that they need to build a much more open and participatory culture if they are to reap the full potential of co-creation.