The Oberoi Hotel in Delhi has Class

We just had our agency Leadership Conference in New Delhi - at The Oreroi Hotel.

What a fantastic place.

The rooms rooms were spectacular. The food excellent. The staff were delightful.

On my second day I found this note (shown above) and some deodorant and shaving gel in my room.

Did it delight me? Absolutely.

Will I go back to the Oberoi next time I am in NewDelhi (repeat business)? Of course - it will be my first choice.

Have I talked about (advocacy)?  I have talked about in the office (off-line). I have Twittered it. I have put it on Facebook. I have blogged about it (on-line).

Did it take much effort or cost a lot? No.

This for me epitomises what great brand experiences are about.

I have blogged about great hotels that get it...and rubbish hotels that don't.

All brand organisations should be looking at how they can deliver great brand experiences that delight at every part of the path to advocacy. As this example shows, it can be a very powerful way to build a  competitive advantage that gets consumers' to buy again and advocate your brand.

In case you can not read the note it says:

"Dear Mr Weir,

While servicing your room I noticed that your deodorant and shaving gel is getting over and hence I have taken the liberty of placing the same for you.

I hope you are happy with the quality of housekeeping in your room.

Please let me know if I can be of any further assistance.

Regards.."

Hot models get Abercrombie & Fitch video noticed

What can I say...


I guess this Abercrombie and Fitch video is spot on for it's brand and should appeal to it's core target consumer.


It is getting the brand noticed with an impressive 7 million+ Youtube views.


The store brand experience they deliver consumers - ' hench' models, queues to get in, dark lighting, loud music and indifferent customer service - isn't an approach that I'd typically recommend, but it seems to be a successful formula.


At the very least it seems to be  a film that people are sharing. A positive indicator of advocacy.

Mercedes invisible car works for me

I like this.[posted in The Week]

The idea is clever but the message is simple. A good combination.


Anyone that saw the car when it was 'on tour' in Germany would have had a memorable and powerful brand experience. 


The 8+ million viewers that have seen it on Youtube will have had a different but engaging brand experience.


Both will have helped drive advocacy


Nice one.

Dominoes app delivers a great take-away

This iPad app is an obvious but inspired idea from Dominoes Pizzas (the best ideas often are).


The app enables consumers to create their own pizza, win points, be social, etc.


Oh yes, Dominoes will also deliver the pizza you create.


What a great brand experience for the consumer.


What a smart idea that they will tell their friends about.


What a great way to improve operational efficiency (less telephone calls, etc).


Nice one.

Richard Branson knows the power of a wow brand experience

When Richard Branson talks about delighting customers, building loyalty and advocacy it is worth paying attention.

There is no doubt he is a brilliant operator. He knows how to turn a negative situation into a positive brand story. [check-out my PR master stroke post]

In a recent article Reuters.com post Branson talks about the importance of a 'chain reaction of team that is consistent from beginning to end'

I totally agree.

If a brand organisation wants to WOW consumers it needs to create a culture that enthuses employees to solve customer service issues and, importantly, empower them to take action without having to follow a rule book or refer up a chain of command. He says:

No company can train its front-end people to handle every situation, but you can strive to create an environment in which they feel at ease "doing as they would be done by."

The Reuters article is definitely worth a read. The two stories he tells would have almost certainly resulted in delighted customers.

Brand experiences like them drive loyalty and advocacy. A sure way to drive sustainable profitability.

Brands must deliver what they promise

Once again Seth nails it.

He highlights the mistake some brands make when promising one thing in their glossy ads but not delivering. I go on about this all the time.

Check out Seth's recent post:

"..ads like this (that make a bold promise) actually decrease user satisfaction. If the ad leads to expect one thing and we don't get it, we're more disappointed than if we had gone in with no real expectations at all."

Why is this becoming more of a problem than in the 'old days'?

As I have posted before, and as Seth highlights:

"if word of mouth is the real advertising, then what you've done is use old-school ad techniques to actually undercut any chance you have to generate new-school results."

Marketer beware. Social media makes news about broken promises travel fast. [See old Dominoes story]

Marketing people should be focusing greater time and resource on delivering and delighting their consumers. That is how successful brand organisations achieve loyalty, advocacy and business success.

Spanair converts passengers into fans

I love this.

• A Spanair lands in Las Palmas at around midnight when everyone else is celebrating.
• The airline wanted to do something special for their 190 passengers.
• The answer...a gift rapped present for each on the luggage carousel.

Did they need to do this...of course not.

Is it a good idea...definitely.

It is exactly the type of brand experience that I love.

On face value it is an expensive activity. However, it is clearly designed to delight consumers with the aim of driving loyalty and advocacy. Moreover, when you take into account that this story will get talked through social media it will more than likely make good commercial sense.

Good one.

If you work for a brand organisation then think about how you can WOW consumers in a way that only your brand can do. That is a great way to build a competitive and sales.

Here are some other examples.

• Wheat Thins
• SW Airlines
• Hotel
• Zappos

Fans drive a brands success

Mario Vellandi wrote an excellent article about a book by Kate Newlin called Passion Brands.

It sounds like a must read.

One of Kate’s definitions of a Passion Brand is:

"A product that creates such personal enthusiasm that purchasers badge themselves with it through conversation, apparel, continuous repeat purchase."

These are what I refer to as FANS on the path to advocacy.

Marino does a great job apprising the 7 drivers of Passion Brands.

Here they are:

1. Adopt and Promote a Shared Worldview...a brand identity based on a worldview, rather than a demographic, will attract a larger and more culturally diverse customer base.
2. Use Design as a Differentiator and Lovemark..think Apple, Porsche, and Flip video cameras
3. Hire Passionate Employees...are more likely to positively talk about their work and affiliated brands with other people including family, friends, and the growing circle of online acquaintances.
4. Engage Customers and Become More Personal..understand how ineffective advertising has become.. most brands have to become a little more humanistic and/or personal in all touchpoints to stand out. [and drive advocacy]
5. Democratize the Brand...allowing folks to customizing the product/service.
6. Use Backstories and Arcs.. stories describe how such excellence came to be.
7. Brand the Buzz... stimulates word-of-mouth and sales.

Powerful stuff.

If a brand can create consumers like these it is going to win.

In my view a key is to deliver brand experiences that are personal. The best deliver meaningful emotion through the use of human contact. Get this right and you’ll build a sustainable competitive advantage that is hard to copy.

Mobiles apps are important drivers of brand experience

MarketingProfs recently blogged about an interesting piece of research by Harris Interactive.

It reveals that mobile is a key part of the brand experience for many (76% of mobile app users say brands should have mobile apps to make shopping or interacting with them easier).

Is this a surprise?

No, not really. However, what is a surprise is that 38% of users say they are not satisfied with most of the apps current available from their favourite brands.

Marketers need to get their act together because mobile is becoming increasingly important and influential.

According to a survey by EffectiveUI 69% of their sample agreed that if a brand’s mobile app isn’t easy to use it contributes to negative perception of the brand.

This is not good.

Let’s look at the facts:

• Mobile phone subscriptions will reach five billion this year -- almost one per person on the planet, (source: UN)
• People love their mobile phones. A Daily Mail poll last year found that of 4,000 women, 4 in 10 said they would be 'devastated' if they lost their phones.
• Mobile ad spending is up 80% in 2010 (source: eMarketer)
• Retailers see huge potential to sale stuff via the handsets. A survey by Deloitte at the end of last year found that 1 in 5 shoppers said they intended to use their phones to shop over the holiday season.
• Nielsen predict that smart phones will overtake standard phones sales in U.S. by 2011

So, if you are in the business of building brand experiences that deliver and delight consumers with the aim of driving sales and advocacy, make sure your mobile strategy works.

Getting it wrong could be costly - research shows when things go bad with apps, people spread the word (32% of app users say they have told others about a bad experience with a mobile app).

On the other hand, get it right and you could win. The research shows that 66% of app users have downloaded an app based on a review or recommendation, and 57% have recommended an app because of a positive experience.

One last thought

One-third of US wireless subscribers downloaded a mobile app in the third quarter of 2010, up 2.5 percentage points from 30.6% in the prior three months.

Enough said...

Wheat Thins reward a fan and create a great story

This is a great story.

A Wheat Thins fan posts a comments on Twitter saying: "AAAHHHH I'm outta Wheat thins...mi life is officially over"

Next thing she knows is that the brand delivers a crate full of Wheat Thins to her home.

This is smart brand behaviour on so many levels:

• This is a brand that knows how to deliver a brand experience that will delight it's consumers.
• This is a brand that has good social listening capabilities.
• This is a brand that knows how to create and spread a story - via social media - that will get talked about.
• This is a brand that understands the power of advocacy; and that when you delight consumers and create a positive story - it will spread (as evidenced by 500,000+ views on YouTube to date).

That's a good way to build a winning brand.

Nice one.

Customer experience is the new brand

I found a great article at Stage Two that quotes Dustin Hoffman...

“Customer experience is the new brand.”

“I’m not referring to a brand as a logo and a typeface. I’m referring to the new kind of brand; the one is formed by the entire experience of a customer’s interaction. That experience gets branded into his or her memory and leaks into the buzz of modern culture. If you can’t make a good customer experience from start to finish, you’ve failed to generate brand value that will attract customers to come back for repeat business and tell their friends to come back, too. That’s how good customer experience directly affects the bottom line.”

It echoes precisely my view on the importance of delivering a winning brand experience and the affect it has on loyalty, advocacy and the bottom line.

I LOVE IT.

I strongly recommend you take note... and if you want to build a better brand experience for your consumers start by looking at the path to advocacy shown above and work-out how your brand can improve delivery at all stages.

Kitchenaid delivers winning usage experience

There is a great story from Hayley’s Dilling about her recent purchase of a Kitchenaid electric hand mixer and how in the instruction manual there were a dozen recipes that involved the mixer.

This is a brilliant example of how to enhance the consumers brand experience usage; the second moment of truth and a key stage of the path to advocacy.

The Kitchenaid example works because:

• It helps the consumer get the most out of the brand
• It makes her feel good about it
• It gives her a positive story to tell others about it (social media is like word of mouth on steroids which helps make this story spread)

The result should be improved sales, as loyalty and advocacy drives consumer acquisition.

Hayley goes on to point-out that marketers usually spend all their time and resource on acquiring new consumers (the brand promise stage), rather than taking care of consumers they already have.

If you are serious about driving brand sales then think about the brand experience at all stage of the path to purchase and not just acquisition. Check out my tips about the use stage.

Brands must get packaging right to get noticed, bought and loved

This recent report - by Business Insights - looks like a 'must read' for any brand that wants to win in store (the first moment of truth). Errhh I think that is all brands!

I write a lot about the importance of packaging. Most marketers know it is key.

This report highlights some vital things to take note of if you are not spending sufficient time on packaging - to make sure it is consistent with the brand experience you promise (in the advertising), or, us they say in their overview:

• (one of the benefits of the report includes) ...understand how packaging design contributes to the aesthetics and emotion of brand identity.
• (one of the key findings of the report)....design for brand enhancement demands consideration of brand communication, consumer needs, the context in which the product is sold, category norms, brand guidelines and constraints, potential pack structure or format and surface design. Packaging is one part of the marketing mix. Examining the global superbrands demonstrates how packaging is an integral part of branding and enhances the brand experience.

Packaging is too important to leave to chance. Get it right and, at the very least, you will stand-out versus competitors and increase your chances of being noticed. However, the real win comes if you make it stunning and delight consumers when they see and use it.

Get it right and they are likely to reward you with greater loyalty and possibly advocacy.

Get it wrong and your brand may not get noticed. If it really disappoints they will probably not buy again [see previous post].

It is definitely worth investing good amounts of time and resource on it.

Untangling brands and experiences

Untangling brand and customer experience, in 10 minutes or less from Brandon Schauer on Vimeo.

I came across this fabulous 9 minute video on Jay Steele's blog.

It is really helpful for anyone, like me, who is interested in working out how brand organisations should go about building an operation that consistently delivers it's consumers with winning brand experiences.

This video goes some way to help untangle different aspects of brand experience stuff like: brand promise, brand messaging, customer experience, advertising, role of employees, etc.

Why is brand experience important? Because when they get it right it ultimately drives loyalty, advocacy and therefore long-term sustainable profitably.

If that interests you (which it should!) it is worth investing a little time looking at the video.

Then have a look at my Path to Advocacy model and think about how you should be focusing effort not just on traditional marketing but on delivering experience on every touchpoint that delight consumers

RAC drive-in idea will do good things for the brand

In August the RAC are launching drive-in movies in two UK locations (check-out their site for details).

Okay, it's not a new idea but I think it's a really smart strategic fit for them.

It will deliver a pleasurable in car brand experience that rewards existing members and attracts potential members.

It builds some positive and interesting news around an otherwise low interest category.

Rewarding existing users, attracting new users and driving positive advocacy will do good things for the RAC brand.

Neat.

Good luck with the weather.

BMW stunt in Singapore

I came across this film about a BMW media stunt in Singapore thanks to Truly Deeply.

It is a good example of how a media innovation and some creative messaging will get noticed and can even get talked about (in this case on-line).

I am not generally a fan of stunts but I think this one works.

It delivers a brand experience that will make people smile, it is probably 'on strategy' but I don't think it will make people choose to buy BMW.

Enjoy.

Marketers must build Experience Brands to win in the 21st century

This is a very interesting Slideshare presentation from Jack Morton.

It echoes a lot of the stuff I talk about.

Here are some extracts from it and links to my previous postings:

"Brands are defined more by what they do than what they say" [Actions speak louder than words]

"Experience brands understand that the consumer experience has to carry through to the experience of actually using the product or service" [Never in the history of brands..]

"Experience brands do things that get people talking about them" [Delight consumers to build advocacy]

Great stuff.

The message is simple

To win in the 21st century brand marketers need to think very seriously about how to build an organisation that delivers and delights consumers.

A good place to start would be to gather all key stakeholders

...map out the Path to Advocacy

...do gap analysis

...work-out how you are going to delight consumers so they buy again and may be tell their friends.

This is an effective way to build a competitive advantage and sustainable long-term growth

How to make a consumer feel when they open the packaging

The usage stage of the path to advocacy is important.

The first part of it is the often described as the ‘second moment of truth’ (the first moment being in store).

This moment can provide a good opportunity to deliver a WOW brand experience.

Some brands get this wrong (think anything in a plastic moulding)

Some brands get it absolutely right (think Apple).

The film above is a fun parody of the affect you should be achieving when the consumers opens the box for the first time. If you can do this you are far more likely to cement the consumers' view that they made the right brand choice.

They may even tell their friends about it.

If you can do that and build advocacy you will have a winning brand.

Are UK supermarkets ripping us off?

Do you check your receipt carefully at the check-out?

No...well, I recommended that you do.

My wife does and some times she finds a small error.

The most common error being when a promotional offer (i.e. buy one / get one second at half price, 25% off, etc) does not get deducted.

She reckons that without a little diligence she could miss-out on around 50p - £1 per month. That equates to up to about £12 per year. Multiply this by every shopper in the UK and it quickly builds-up to around a whopping £1/4 billion a year.

That is not great, but it is how some supermarkets handle it that really irritates her.

She is told to take her receipt and wait in the (so called) customer service queue - behind customers buying lottery tickets, etc - to claim her money back.

This is not good enough.

If I were running a supermarket I would would take this as an opportunity to deliver a brand experience that aims to surprise and delight the consumer.

Make a bigger deal of it. The check-out person should be empowered to thank the consumer for highlighting the error, and maybe even rewarding them (In some supermarkets not long ago the policy was to pay-out double the difference.)

Okay, I recognise that this could reduce revenues and add costs (clearly not a great combination). However, turning this situation into a positive and memorable brand experience would build greater loyalty and advocacy.

A good way to differentiate and win greater market share in this extremely competitive market.

Focus on building memorable brand experiences to drive business success

Seth makes a great point in a recent article.

He asks a simple question about what brand organisations should focus on:

“Should their product or service be very good, meet spec and be beyond reproach

or...

... should it be a remarkable, memorable, over the top, a tell-your-friends event?”

You guessed it...brands must aim for the latter. (You can’t compromise by trying to do both.)

He goes on to say what I say all the time:

“..invest in staff and training and services that would be so connected to each other and the guests, so willing to engage and to change people that it might become the sort of transcendent experience that people talk about for months.”

It is simple. Focus on WOWing consumers so they buy again and tell their friends.

If you can build advocacy you will be successful.