BRITE

Every year there is a conference on global branding at Columbia University’s B-school, led by the endlessly energetic and enjoyable Bernd Schmitt.  The conference was given the name BRITE which stands for Branding, Innovation, Technology.  This year’s conference begins on Wednesday, 3/4.  The posts for the next couple of days will be related to the conference.

Last year Professor Schmitt made the emphatic point that technology innovations have made brand positioning obsolete.  It was a non-controversial idea to the audience.  Many had come to that conclusion on their own.  

Hanging over the conference was the unspoken reality that none of the presenters had discussed what goes into a breakthrough methodology to replace brand positioning.