The marketing landscape has seen some big changes in the last year.

But both marketing agencies and clients need to understand C2C is here to stay, says Adrian Cory, Business Development Manager for the Clay Group

It appears ‘communications agency’ is a common misnomer these days.

Somewhat puzzling given the designation of a communications agency appears relatively straightforward: an organisation that offers valued clients the best possible routes to reach out, connect with an audience and begin (or continue) meaningful and long lasting relationships. Sounds simple enough, but the reality is a little different. The way we communicate has undergone the most radical change since a man named Bell asked a man named Watson to pop in and many brands still haven’t adapted despite the over-bearing attentions of ‘experienced’ communications agencies.

What is a brand? And how important is the mojo behind it?

Andy Hunt, Managing Director of marketing agency, Quick Thinking aims to find out...

What is a brand?

Ask a sample of the average-Joes and most will reach for one of today’s star brand icons. They’ll probably google a Coca Cola logo. Or point to a Nike trainer flash. Or show you the shiny Apple adorning their i-phone. Of course, these are all correct answers, but only partly right. As any brand marketer will tell you, brands are really a subtle mix of ‘10% logo and 90% mojo’. The lion’s share of any brand sits not in its physical identity, but in the much fluffier and less tangible attributes that surround it. Its real value lies not in its appearance, but the associations and behaviours it excites in people.

That’s why a branding agency will invest so much time (and charge so much money) to understand the ‘mojo’ of a brand before crafting its brand bible. Without knowing the essential back-story it’s impossible to engineer an identity that fits the bill.

As we're always looking for the upcoming marketing agency trends set to shape the ways brands and consumers interact, we turned to Caroline Margolis, Marketing Director at digital creative agency, Somewhat_ for her predictions.

Here, she looks at IPS and at how smartphones are enabling greater connectivity, experiences and customer services for brands in 2014 and beyond

So what is IPS and why is it important?

IPS (Indoor Positioning Systems) is similar to GPS, in that it uses location based services via smartphones to allow individuals to be located within a few meters accuracy and sometimes even less than that. However unlike GPS, IPS works indoors, without the needs for satellites, using wifi or bluetooth technologies.

2013 has seen the rules shift for both marketing agencies and clients when creating brand comms campaigns.

Here, Shay Boyd, MD and Creative Director for communications and marketing agency, Clay Group provides us with a snapshot of how customers will be dictating the pace and rhythm for brand comms in 2014 and beyond

If you are starting to develop an agency brief or are about to embark on the agency search and selection process, you may want to consider how to navigate through the process effectively as the market place is continuing to evolve.

When it comes to rebranding, many businesses will search for a good branding agency. And rightly so. Simply put, re-branding can be tricky at the best of times, with too many examples of branding disasters to choose from. This infographic on the re-branding process however, should help

You only have to look at one of the many disastrous rebranding campaigns, like The Post Office for instance, which for a brief and nightmarish period became Consignia, or Tropicana, whose new packaging received such backlash it was swiftly abandoned, to know that without an effective strategy, your launch can very fall on their face.

Hi. I’m Sarah, Founder of Brand Experience Agency, Woof London.

I like tea. And biscuits, to dunk in my tea. If we met, I’d make you (probably) the best tea you’ve ever had. I’m confident about that. You’d enjoy the tea and we’d have a lovely chat.

The truth is, you just can’t beat the personal touch. Especially when it comes to your branding or marketing agency.

In an age when it’s getting harder and harder to make people feel anything at all, the personal touch still has the power to make anyone feel a little bit special.

That’s the thing I’ve always been interested in. It’s why I run a Brand Experience Agency that tries to do exactly that for our clients.

Read what CEO UK and Ireland of Branding Agency, The Brand Union, Toby Southgate has to say about 'Experience' and how a holistic marketing approach could fix your brand-consumer comms.

How do you keep up with branding trends, stay new and stand out? 'New' may not be the answer for your developing brand strategy, argues Max Wright, Strategy Director at Kindred.

When it comes to brand identity development and creating a brand strategy, the concept of 'Newism' is hard to ignore. I suspect that this thrill of the new is driven by seeking standout at all costs or the ego-centric view that our audiences are just as obsessed with the new as we are.

You can read part one of this series here.