On this episode of “Marketing, Demystified,” host Jenn Mancusi sat down with Siew Ting Foo, author of “Building Brands with Soul,” to explore how companies can build authentic brands that maintain their humanity.
Drawing from over 25 years of global marketing experience with iconic brands, Siew Ting shared her framework for building brand connections that resonate.
The five pillars of building a brand with soul
According to Siew Ting, building a brand with soul requires five foundational elements:
- A timeless purpose anchored in universal human truth
- Emotional connection with the audience
- Continuous reinvention while maintaining relevance
- Consistent, recognizable visual identity through semiotics
- Internal brand alignment starting with employees
“A great brand with soul starts from within the organization,” Siew Ting explained. “The stories being told to employees, the people who work on the brand—you can literally feel the soul of the brand when you walk into a store.”
She introduced the concept of the “ripple effect” in brand building, emphasizing that every brand journey starts with self-mastery.
“I believe in community-based leadership,” Siew Ting shared. “Using the power of internal brand passion to drive the ripple effect can be stronger than a top-down approach.”
Read next: Humanizing Brands for Competitive Advantage – a chat with Emma Borochoff
Balancing AI and human touch in brand building
Siew Ting advocates strategically combining AI with human intelligence.
“It’s not an ‘or’ but an ‘and,'” she explained. AI should handle tasks that free marketers to focus on the “why” – digging out human insights and generating creative ideas – while AI can support the “what” through data analysis and routine tasks.
She emphasized that modern marketers must deliver both immediate results and long-term brand building.
“Marketers have to start making sure the expectation now is that you have to deliver short term and actually deliver long term at the same time,” she explained.
Success comes from having internal buy-in at the top level and aligning the brand to corporate mission and vision.
As marketing evolves, the importance of authentic human connections becomes increasingly vital.
“With technology and social media, we are constantly fighting for people’s attention,” she noted. “A brand that has great meaning and soul becomes absolutely important to capture people’s attention.”
“Marketing, Demystified” is a podcast presented by Growgetter that connects the dots for business leaders to drive revenue through effective marketing strategy.