My favourite Brand Experience Matters posts

I can’t believe it has been just over one year since I started this blog.

114 posts later and I still have so much I want to say...

Anyway, as seems to be customary at the start of a New Year, I thought I would highlight what I think may be my top ten posts:

• Brand usage – the opportunity
• Brand experiences to get a brand chosen
• Brand experience is strategy, not a slogan
• Winning brands understand the power of emotion
• Importance of a brand experience culture
• Deliver customer brand experiences that build sales
• Advocacy must be a focus for the whole brand organisation, not just marketing
• Delight consumers. Show you care. Make them talk about you
• Marketing departments must look beyond just making the brand promise
• I’m a customer that has become the ad agency for Nikoi Island

Thanks for visiting my blog and come back soon.

What is Brand Experience?

I came across this excellent definition of Brand Experience in Digital Web magazine.

"Brand Experience is the strategic approach to compelling people to take productive action through the integrated, coordinated planning and execution of every possible interaction that they have with your company or products. That means assessing business strategy through the lens of providing people with carefully designed experiences that meet their needs and desires, with the explicit intention of compelling them to take productive action on your behalf.

Brand Experience—in its totality—is a rather new discipline, and one that is incredibly complex to execute successfully. Not only does it require a sophisticated understanding of business strategy and a deep, scientific and cultural understanding of people and markets, it also demands a broad—and neutral—understanding of communications and media. It is, at once, the synthesis of business, marketing, design and technology."

So, in summary:

• It's new
• It's complex to execute
• It requires smart people to work it out.

I am not sure that I can add anything to this except a strong recommendation to spend time and effort mastering it. The business rewards for brands that get it right can be very high.

Here's a presentation that suggests how you can start......

Brand Experience Management

View more presentations from andrewweir.

Brand organisation must ensure they deliver a joined-up brand experience

I have said before that brand organisations often operate in silos.

This issue is very real, as evidenced by ANA research last year that revealed that 59% of respondents think the existence of silos in a brand organisation is a most serious challenge in planning and executing integrated marketing.

 I read a useful one page excerpt of a book (written by David Aaker) aimed at CMOs that looks at how to solve the silo problem.

It has some very sound advice. [see article]

One point made is the need for: ‘clarity and linkage in silo-spanning brand strategy’

I want to build on that. 

If you are involved in planning and delivering brand strategy I suggest that you gather all other key stakeholders– marketing, sales, customer service, etc – and review whether your operation is delivering great brand experiences across every part of the business.  

In order to build a competitive advantage in these challenging time the objective of everyone in a business must be to ensure that a clear, consistent and joined-up brand experience is delivered throughout the path to advocacy. 

Gut feelings are driven by brand experiences

I really love how Marty Neumeir’s (The Brand Gap) defines of a brand:

“A brand is not a logo, identity or product…a brand is a person’s gut feeling about a product, service or organisation.

(.. a person because brands are defined by individuals not companies.....gut feeling because people are emotional, intuitive being..”)

Marty goes on to say:

“In other words it is not what you say it is...it is what they say it is.”

I have said before (see link), I think actual brand experience is the key. Brand experience drive perceptions; which will shape what consumers do and say (about a brand).

The power of the consumer is increasing. It is therefore vital to get brand strategy right.

Why is it that brands so often get it wrong?