While the concept of brand is still a critical focus for the retail sector, could the era of brand being the most important differentiator in customer purchases be coming to an end? Now there are a myriad of different ways to determine the value of a product or service, brand alone is not enough, and focus is shifting instead to product quality and development.

However, whilst the influence of brand may be changing due to a greater degree of choice and information, the power of storytelling shows no sign of waning – brand storytelling can still enhance an existing quality product and plays a very different role in the realm of CX. With this in mind the panel will consider:

• What role does brand play now, and how critical is it in today’s world of online reviews and shared information?
• How vital is it that your brand storytelling is aligned with the real-life customer experience and what is available to the customer in practice? How can you ensure this is the case?
• How can CX and brand work with product teams in the development phase, to ensure all aspects are aligned?