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The brand revolution

As humans, we have a certain ability that differentiates us significantly from the other known beings.
The ability to think. The ability to imagine.
It gives us power to envision, to see the future, to make scenarios and follow them through. It makes
us invent concepts, bring them to life, share them with those around us and get incredibly attached to
them.
If you look back over the last 3,000 years, you will realize that mankind often fought for imaginary
notions rather than real-life, material things. Concepts such as nation, religion, ethnics, history,
honor, duty, they are all things one cannot touch, but feels extremely strong about. They are
intangibles living in our minds, invested with tremendous power. They are all brands.
What is a brand if not a word with great significance?
What is a strong brand if not a word that triggers emotions so intense that create desire and loyalty
beyond reason?

The Brand Academy prophecy

In branding, as in any other field, it only counts what's in the mind.
The mind creates desire, the mind creates value, the mind creates loyalty, the mind creates power.
No product, service, or corporation can retain, nowadays, long lasting competitive advantages.
Technology, globalization and easy access to information made it possible for any product or service
to be replicated. The only asset a company truly posses is the one living in the mind. It is the brand.
We predict that this century will prove to be a brand oriented one.
We predict that the brand will ultimately be recognized as the most important business property,
the only one whose value increases in time.
We predict that organizations will turn toward branding and acknowledge its tremendous
business potential.
We predict that smart companies will re-design their business functions around branding.
We predict it will be brand that will make the difference: glory or misery?

The Brand Academy committment

Starting with a common vision, a handful of people founded, in October 2003, the first institution of
brand education, whose mission is to foster communication between brands and their audiences, to
unveil the true value of the Brand.
Brand Academy was born to address a widely spread need, in the business community and not only,
for educational programmes designed at enhancing people's level of brand consciousness and brand
knowledge. It is a studying place of continuous learning and business education that helps
organizations organically integrate the concept of brand oriented leadership.
Our ultimate goal is to support our clients envision their brand essence and understand the science of
branding, so that they can successfully create, develop and communicate their brands, whether we
talk about products, services, corporations, ideas or personalities.

The Brand Academy approach

The business of branding is business.
Faithful to this principle, our approach to branding relies on two full-hearted beliefs:
A. A brand is a company's most valuable asset as long as its entire reason for being is
accomplished: to sell. There is no point in brand investments, unless these investments have a
multiplied, quantifiable return. In revenues and profit.
B. A brand can only be built and sustained from within. Because, just like character, the brand speaks
louder than words. And it is the deed and the attitude that tells the world who you are and what you
stand for.
That is why all of our programmes were built for brand owners, around a practical, business-oriented
perspective. They include strategy and planning, management and implementation tactics, all
equipped with efficiency measurements and evaluation criteria. And intense passion.

The Brand Academy Mission

Our mission is to foster communication between brands and their audiences.
We do that through:
(1) educational programs designed at enhancing clients. level of brand consciousness and brand
knowledge, for the benefit of their business,
(2) consultancy, hand-on projects, that support our clients envision their brand essence and develop
their businesses accordingly, and
(3) conferences & events hosting the world.s most renowned speakers, inspiring leaders who expose
audiences to powerful ideas, exquisite knowledge and outstanding expertise.
Our ultimate goal is to take our clients to the next level in strategic marketing, so that they can
successfully create, develop and communicate their brands, whether we talk about products,
services, ideas, corporations or personalities.

The Brand Academy Vision and Values

What we stand for:
We stand for competency, knowledge, ethics and integrity combined with profound business
understanding.
What we dream of:
We dream of your success. Because your success means our success and we plan on being the premier
brand specialists of tomorrow.
What we measure ourselves by:
We measure ourselves by tangible results, demonstrable benefits, and superior client performance in
a rapidly changing marketplace.
We adhere to a set of beliefs consisting of complete dedication towards the client, outstanding quality
of the work delivered, continuous education and professional development, as well as confidentiality extended to every aspect of our work.

The Brand Academy Team

Our strategic consultants have extensive executive experience in marketing, business development,
sales, human resources and general management rather than advertising precisely because we
believe branding is more about research, strategy, management and results than it is about
awareness, favorability or creativity.
Most of our staff holds MBA degrees along with high professional credentials from prestigious
international universities such as Harvard, Oxford, University of Washington, University of
Maryland, or Open University UK.
Our team members have a proven track record in both (a) teaching and coaching individuals and
organizations, (b) lecturing on leadership and personal development, and (c) managing key business
departments in multinational and large Romanian organizations.

The Brand Academy Services

Creating value from within
We know our clients need expertise, knowledge, strategic wisdom and undivided attention from
their branding partner.
We know they have business objectives that need to be addressed by business oriented marketing
professionals.
We know their entire marketing function has to be strategically planned, every action subordinating
itself to the main goal of growing their businesses.
And finally, we know that, unless our clients have grown an internal team of brand professionals able
to develop and carry on whatever project initiated by consultants, these projects have a good chance
to gloriously fail.
That is why we identified and developed a range of services that covers the entire spectrum of
branding needs our clients might have:

Devoted to sharing knowledge

Brand Education
While companies have, in recent years, embraced the need for brand communication, mostly by
advertising, today they are pressed to meet the need for brand wholeness.
There is much more to branding than advertising and companies who understand that have a good
chance to positively impact on their business performances. Companies that ignore this reality do so
at great risk to their long-term success.
Our programmes are designed precisely to offer clients an integrated, holistic approach to branding,
by covering numerous aspects of brand assessment, brand strategy, brand management and brand
communication, along with a tight linkage between brand and business performance.

Shaping the future through organizations

Corporate Programmes
A. Brand Management Operating System
BMOS is structured into five sessions, summing up to 8 days of applied learning. Through its
included diagnosis and tailor-made profile, BMOS innovatively stands at the border of training,
consultancy and coaching.
BMOS includes:
(1) MBA Analysis (Marketing & Branding Abilities)
We believe that, without a clear understanding of your industry, objectives and corporate strategy, a
business education programme has a good chance to gloriously fail. That is why our corporate
programmes always include, or are accompanied by, a diagnosis of the organizational brand
development needs, in the form of our proprietary MBA Analysis. Following the conclusions of the
MBA final report, we deliver a strategically oriented, highly customized programme, entirely
connected to your business specifics.
(2) Brand leadership. Unveiling the true value of the brand
What creates strong brands? How can you turn your brand into a leading one, perceived and
recognized as such? This course walks you through the entire branding process and helps you
discover what is below the tip-of-the-iceberg. The programme emphasizes on strategy and the work
behind scenes, responsible, in our perception, for the success of many organizations and brands.
(3) Think strategically. Think integrated communications
Every aspect of a business requires strong strategic thinking skills. Branding makes no exception. We
believe strategic thinking to be invaluable in (a) understanding your client and his potential
interests, (b) formulating goals and plans according to the above, (c) delivering a clear and consistent
message to all stakeholders.
(4) Give and get. Managing your advertising agency
The advertising agency has increasingly become a strategic partner to many marketers: it often
manage your brand communications and have a great influence over strategic decisions affecting the
brand. This course focuses on their profile and core set of competencies, and sets the path for building
beneficial relationships for both marketers, as well as advertising agencies.

B. Live the brand. Transforming employees into brand ambassadors

Your employees represent the link between all those brand-new, wonderful-sounding, customercentered corporate statements and those real-life, cash-carrying customers. How a brand is
positioned in the customers' mind is nearly 100 percent dependant on employees. Unfortunately, too
few companies understand this basic point and even fewer take the time to do anything about it.
Don't ever think your employees aren't necessarily involved in the branding process. They already
are!

C. Girl power. Marketing to women

There are many studies and prestigious research initiatives that highlight a certain fact that makes us
wonder: the purchase decision belongs, in more than 80 percent of the cases, to women. Whether we
talk about female products or family services, the women, as budget keepers, act as the ultimate
decision maker. So why not think of them in the first place? Why not build out products and
communications around their area of interest? Chances are your revenue figures will substantially
grow.

D. Brand your sale. Sell your brand

So many times, the brand acts as your most important sales tool. In over-crowded product and
service categories, such as most categories today, the brand is the only valid differentiator you have.
The course covers two extremely important business areas: it gives you the tools to attach a specific
sales-value to your brand, and it helps you build your sales strategy and implementation tactics
around the brand promise. And keep it in that face-to-face daily contact with the consumer.

E. Be a leader. Be a brand leader

Leadership has increasingly surpassed management on the worldwide required skill set of business
people. At all levels. Leadership skills have become the norm in organizations with high goals and
endeavors. Such as yours. This course covers just that, in a brand-oriented manner. Because a leading
brand triggers the need for strong leading skills. And vice versa.

Shaping the future through individuals

Open Courses
Mainly designed to build and improve individuals' competencies and abilities, our open courses
address different targets, with different degrees of experience and exposure to brands.

A. Cross-the-line communications
The battle field today have shifted! From being different, innovative and better, marketers face the
challenge of being totally remarkable. At all levels. Using ATL and BTL techniques is no longer the
success recipe. Everybody does. So what can you do to step forward? The course addresses just that
and takes you to a whole different level of understanding your customers and providing them with
benefits unmatched by any other player in your field.

B. Be a brand. Be the brand you want to be

Perhaps our most spectacular course, this programme focuses on your name and persona, on
strategies and skills required for transforming you into a brand. Yes, a personal branding course.
Unconventional, mind-dazzling and paradigm-shifting, this course is not for the shy and quite ones.
Or perhaps it is just for them! If you want to become a Brand and to be recognized as such by your
community whatever that might be dare to join our course. It will change your perspectives forever!

C. Communication skills for business professionals

In a recent Fortune survey among the CEOs of the world's top 500 companies, asked what is the single
most important set of skills ensuring professional success, 86% of respondents answered: excellent
communication skills. Communication takes many forms and our course aims at addressing most of
them in a new, innovative, and highly personal manner.

Brand Consultancy
Every company dreams of having a brand that is cherished by consumers worldwide. A brand that
breaks through the barriers of language, culture, race, religion. A brand that encapsulate a profound
meaning, a brand that transcends the product it labels.
Such magnificent goals call for a smart integrated approach to the entire process of branding, from indepth assessment to stunning communication, walking through thought-provoking strategy and
wise management.

Brand Assessment
Whether conscious or not, your brand has a very clear position in the stakeholders. mind, whether we
talk about employees, customers, business partners, industry experts, investors, analysts or media.
We can help you identify their perception by conducting an extensive research on their current
opinions, feelings, and expectations towards your brand.
We also offer an analysis of the gap between current and ideal situation, of the opportunities and
obstacles your brand might face, as well as recommended solutions and strategies.
All these are presented in a full-report that will underline your brand strengths, your development
opportunities, your brand weaknesses and the keys to overcome or even transform them in your
positively differentiating areas.

Brand Strategy
At the beginning, you need a great name to represent you. It has to be attractive, provocative, and
conceptual.
Then, you need a strong basis for it to grow: a clear mission, an inspiring vision and a set of core
principles to be guided by.
You continue with conveying all these in an Unique Selling Proposition. And then, you have to
strategically plan the future of your brand essence in thoroughly constructed brand architecture and
in-depth resource analysis.
Depending on your needs, we can make them all available to you, as stand-alone projects or fully
integrated services.

Brand Management
Having many aspects, such as consistency and clarity, resource management (including people) and
the creation of customized brand metrics, the process of managing a brand is one of the most complex
aspect of a business.
Brand Academy assists its clients address issues related to brand management in a comprehensive
and highly effectively manner.
Finally, we assist our clients with all brand management tools, including, without being restricted to,
Brand ID book, customized brand metrics, brand associations, brand key concepts.

Brand Communications
Think of your brand as a person: it has character, temperament, personality, spirit and moral fiber. It
is a being that lives in the consumer.s mind and it takes a lot of attention, dedication and customer
understanding to place it in a top position and keep it there.
We.re all consumers and we all need to be reminded of our favorite brands features and benefits in
order to continue buying and be faithful to them. And this is where your brand communication
comes in.
We can help you continuously give your customers reasons to buy, through advertising campaigns,
internal and external launches, web design, environmental design, public relations campaigns and
marketing events.

BeyondBorders

Imagine!

Conferences & Events

One of Brand Academy's flagship projects, BeyondBorders series of conferences is intended as a
major event for the entire region. Each year's conference will focus on hot topics highly concerning
the business community and will welcome worldwide renowned speakers from fields such as
business and economics, politics and government, health and healthcare, media, technology and
science, arts, entertainment and sports.
Faithful to our mission to foster communication between brands and their audiences, we launched,
in 2005, our series of inspiring conferences, under the brand name BeyondBorders. Acknowledging
that a strong business community needs authentic leaders to related to, we created BeyondBorders
for those seeking to learn from the best, for those who aspire, for those who want to become!
During our events, attendees will become immersed in the latest leadership insights, developed by
the world's most visionary minds. BeyondBorders will offer Romanians the opportunity to meet
internationally recognized personalities and be exposed to powerful ideas, exquisite knowledge,
and outstanding expertise.

www.beyondborders.ro

BeyondBorders 2005
Keynote speaker:
The Honorable William J. Clinton, 42nd President of the United States
Conference theme:
Branding a Country. Building Reputation From Within
Theme approach:
Far from being just an act of cosmetic surgery, branding is actually a declaration of authenticity based
on clear vision, strong principles and firm human values. Just like any other branding process, the
branding of a nation means, first and foremost, restoring trust, creating healthy cultures and
enduring competitive advantage in a number of fields such as business, culture or education. It is not
about advertising, it is about facts, about solving real-life issues that will afterwards speak for
themselves.

Contact us
South Business Center
105A Oltenitei St. 3rd floor
Bucharest, Romania
Phone: +40 31 401 6701
Fax: +40 31 401 6701
GSM: +40 0722 229 888
office@brandacademy.ro
www.brandacademy.ro
www.beyondborders.ro
www.brainwave.ro