• by Alan Hart , July 11, 2018

For this week’s “Marketing Today” podcast, I am moderating a panel at the recent Brand Marketing Summit* in San Francisco. The panel discussion I led, “Creating Work that Stands the Test of Time: How to Futureproof Your Brand in a Constantly Evolving Landscape,” featured Margaret Quan, director of customer marketing strategy at eBay, and Valerie Nguyen, partner and co-head of strategy at Wolf & Wilhelmine in New York.

During the panel, Nguyen and Quan talked about brands charting courses as the world rapidly changes around them and what brands must do to remain relevant. The discussion ranged from Quan pointing out that “competition creates greatness in the marketplace,” to Nguyen discussing her belief that “empathy and vulnerability are both really important tools and practices to building great brand strategy.”

Highlights from this week’s “Marketing Today” podcast include:

• Quan and Nguyen describe their career paths. (1:30)

• Nguyen on the need to futureproof your brand: “The future’s really bright until you’re caught in its headlights.” (2:42)

• A Kodak moment? Quan on an iconic brand that failed to pivot with the times. (5:54)

• Building a brand strategy to scale up to the next level: Nguyen talks about Bonobos and how its brand instinct drove the company forward. (9:39)

• Quan: “Take a stand when it’s the right thing to do and when it’s aligned with your brand and what it stands for.” (15:50)

• Nguyen points out that executing on brand instinct entails hard work. (26:16)

*The Brand Marketing Summit is not affiliated with MediaPost's Brand Marketer's Insider Summit.