Bringing innovation and building trust are the key to winning the hearts of people and creating successful brands as consumers are more conscious and demanding than ever before, analysts said yesterday.

“Put people first,” said Bharat Avalani, chief executive of Connecting Dots Consultancy.

Fredrik Haren

Avalani, who formerly worked for Unilever for Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Turkey, said trust is very powerful for building brands and suggested investing in winning trust of people.

Nirvik Singh, chairman and chief executive of Grey Group of Asia Pacific, said: “Let people tell the story to other people.”

Their views came at the sixth edition of a communication summit at Le Meridien hotel in Dhaka, which was attended by around 350 professionals from the creative communication industry and related sectors.

Bangladesh Brand Forum in association with Cannes Lions and The Daily Star organised the summit -- COMMWARD Excellence in Creative Communication.

Anir Chowdhury, policy adviser of the Access to Information Programme under the Prime Minister's Office, said a brand is not only a colour or a logo. “A brand is the representative of values and actions.”

In his presentation, Singh said people's behaviour and expectations are being reshaped by the media and advertising.

He said many things such as blocking advertisements online, and lower attention of people make the job of communication challenging. 

“Today content is everywhere. Today's world is very different from that in the past,” Singh said.

He said brands need to get into conversation with people so that people tell the stories to others.

He said, nowadays people do not trust brands anymore. “At the end of the day, people trust people. Brands need to communicate with people.” He suggested embracing changes and being innovative.

Kaushik Roy, president of brand strategy and marketing communication of Reliance Industries Ltd, said: “It is not just about innovation; it is about how one can reinvent things.”

Avalani said an authentic relationship with clients is important. He said majority of people would not care if some brands vanish. “Storytelling is also important to take a brand to the masses.”

Fredrik Haren, a professional conference speaker, said: “Every single idea is a combination of previous creative ideas.”

Fazal Ashfaq, country head of Google Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, suggested understanding the audience for better communication.

Mahfuz Anam, editor and publisher of The Daily Star, said as Bangladesh produces more goods and services now, consumers are more conscious and aware than they were in the past.

“So, the challenge of creativity lies in how producers of goods and services meet consumers who are far more educated and far more deserving,” he said in a recorded speech. Shariful Islam, founder and managing director of Bangladesh Brand Forum, and Nazim Farhan Choudhury, managing director of Adcomm Ltd, also spoke. 

The summit aims to provide a dominant platform for peer-to-peer learning and knowledge sharing, bringing together leading communicators and marketing professionals and discuss ideas on the most cutting-edge tools.