Five Minutes with Dave Blendis

Dave Blendis, head of strategy at design consultancy Dixon Baxi, speaks to Transform magazine about how the changing attitudes and behaviours of audiences impact brands, what kind of effects social and political crisis will have on brands, and how creating brand experiences for the TV differs from other sectors.

What are some of the most essential progressive methodologies brands can adopt make sure they are continually evolving?

In times of such rapid change (even before the pandemic) we believe it’s essential that brands use foresight and futuring methodologies in their thinking. If you create a brand for ‘now’ it will be out of date before it launches. Businesses must be brave enough to develop brands that recognise emerging needs and values. 

How has the experiential side of brand strategy developed over time?

Brands have been more than a visual identity for a long time now, but as technology continues to create new interactions for businesses - voice, AR, AI etc - the strategy that drives brand work needs to recognise how broad and varied a brand experience can now be. The reality is that strategy must be flexible and holistic enough to be used to create any experience, even ones that don’t exist yet. 

What are the key aspects to consider when trying to understand the audience?

Brands are fundamentally about making an emotional connection, so we have to understand people’s values, attitudes and behaviours, and through that understand how to meaningfully connect with them.  Demographic data has its uses, but we believe it’s a mistake to think too much about people’s age, gender or ethnicity. 

How do the changing attitude and behaviours of audiences impact brands? 

Changing attitudes and behaviours is both the biggest challenge and the greatest opportunity for brands. Failure to recognise change can be the literal death of a business, and there are countless examples of this. But by a similar token getting ahead of the game and creating a brand for emerging values can catapult a brand to the head of the pack. Just look at Tesla. 

Will political and social crises such as sustainability and inclusivity play a long lasting effect on how brands act?

Absolutely. Anything that has a significant impact on people’s lives will in turn have a significant impact on brands. For example, Brexit is a huge political change here in Britain, which will create a need for all British brands to consider how they behave, particularly those with a strong British identity. And environmental change is already having a massive effect on several industries from transport and travel, to food and drink, textiles, energy and more. There is again both enormous opportunity for businesses that are brave enough to respond to what’s happening in the world, and huge challenges for those that don’t. 

You’ve worked on several TV brands. How does creating brand experiences for them differ from other sectors?

The nature of content and how we engage with it is again, rapidly shifting, and businesses in that space are having to think about so much - device agnosticism, streaming platforms, UGC. And now in the emerging post-pandemic world it seems likely the relationship between cinema and home screens will also be redefined. There is a lot of complexity to navigate, but as with any other brand, effective strategy will be a combination of what is credible to that business, and uniquely meaningful to their audience. That should result in a different brand experience for any brand that can think in those terms, and avoid following the herd.