Surprise Surprise...Apple deliver most admired customer experience

It came as no surprise to me to see that Apple ranked the 'Most admired customer experience' brand based on  a recent survey by Beyond Philosophy.

In fact most of the brands ranked in the top ten are of no surprise to me.

Listed below is the top ten. It also shows some of my previous posts that will give you some insight into why they have performed so well in this survey and, as importantly, in terms of sustainable business success.

1. Apple - Apple understand the importance of in-store delivery and delight
2. Amazon - Great experience drive word of mouth
3. Zappos - Zappo win by focusing on WOWing consumers
4. Starbucks - Starbucks coffee launch will cause a stir
5. Tesco - Tesco's neat scan to van app
6. Disney - Apple and Disney deliver some in store magic
7. Virgin Atlantic - Virgin turns problem into PR master stroke
8. Vodafone - no post (yet?)
9. Nordstrom - 4 tips on howto deliver consistent winning brand experiences
10. First Direct - no post (yet?)

If you work in a brand organisation that is looking for ways to outperform your competitors then one effective approach is to review the brand experience your are delivering your consumers and consider how you can improve it. It would be smart use the path to advocacy model and also look closely how the above winning brands deliver.

Those bad boys at Carlsberg know how to party

I love this ad.


It is surprising.


It is charming.


It is simple.


It delivers a brand experience that is absolutely what Carlsberg is about.


It will get noticed.

A man without a smiling face must not open a shop

What a great Chinese proverb.


It is spot on and a key part of delivering a great brand experience at the buy stage of the path to purchase. The first moment of truth.


We all know shops we have visited when we had a poor brand experience with the sales person (rude, poor advice, no smile, etc). As a result we may have been put off buying or at least felt less inclined to rush back to buy again.


On the other hand, we have also all had a great interaction with a salesperson. A smile was probably a key part that left you with the feeling of a good buying experience.


It does not take much but can make a big difference.


Retailers know this but don't always have clear values or training in place.


Sure, it takes time and money but if you look at the loyalty and potential advocacy it is worth it [check-out advocacy drives growth paper from LSE].

Kia nail ad will get noticed

This is a nice ad for the Kia Picanto.


It is getting noticed on You Tube (over 3 million hits) and uses stop motion technique to promote Kia's small is beautiful message.


It delivers a fun, clever and easy to watch brand experience.


I like it.

What kills loyalty?

In a recent article Business Insider suggested 20 ways to kill loyalty. It admits to appearing negative but does provide a useful perspective - and check-list of what brand organisations have to avoid.


To me they the list is fairly obvious and a little repetitive, that said, the last point: 'a failed promise is a loyalty killer' is the deal breaker.


To be a successful brand you have to deliver the promises you are making (via brand communications). That is how you build loyalty, a key stage on the path to advocacy.


It is also important to remember that there are a number of different types of loyal customers [check-out Inertia, Transactional and Fanatical loyalists article], so for some consumers it is also important to find ways to delight them. 


That's how you build brand fans who are likely to advocate you and, as we all know, advocacy is the most powerful form of communication. 


Zappos know how to do this. They have a list of core values that everyone working there has to live and breathe. Top of the list is WOW through customer service.

Working out how to do delight/WOW isn't always obvious or easy but when you get it right, like Zappos, you will build a very successful business. 

Cadburys plays with Augmented Reality

To date I have failed to get particularly excited by the Cadburys Spots v stripes campaign.

This gaming idea (recently written about in Brand Republic) based on Augmented Reality looks fun and arguably a clever way to get consumers to engage in a unique brand experience.

Will it get noticed? Possibly. (It depends on the tactical support plan.)

Is it relevant? I guess so.

Will it get talked about? I have no idea but will watch with interest.

St Johns ad turns heads in the cinema

I came across this is brilliant St Johns Ambulance cinema ad thanks to utalkmarketing.com.

It would have delivered an extremely powerful brand experience.

It reminds me of a British Airways City Break campaign that I worked on at Saatchi & Saatchi many years ago which, like this ad, involved an actress in the cinema audience interacting with the screen.

It is a brilliant and simple idea but will get noticed and talked about.

I love it.

Wrigleys car park ticket trick

Wrigley's flavoured parking ticket from Gustavo Vieira on Vimeo.

This is a brilliant way for Wrigleys to deliver a brand experience that will surprise and get noticed.

It may even delight and get consumers to talk about it (the brand experience).

This should be the objective for all brands.

ZMOT should be a priority for all brands

I talk a lot about the first and second moments of truth, however, when it comes to choosing a brand 84% of consumers in US look on-line first - according to Google. They are calling this the Zero Moment of Truth (ZMOT).

The ZMOT concept is simple. The internet has significantly changed consumer shopping habits. Now they typically start the process of choosing by checking out blogs, consumers opinion websites, social network, competitor sites, etc, before they visit the store

Delivering winning brand experience at the ZMOT is something all brand organisations need to be focusing on.

Kevin Roberts has posted the some excellent nuggets that Lecinski (Google US Sales) has suggested. These are key:

1. Put Someone in Charge. If it’s nobody’s job, it’s not going to get done. You need a ZMOT evangelist, in on every meeting and empowered to do the job.

2. Find Your Zero Moments: Find out exactly how people search for your product. Where do they go? Who do they trust to give them information?

3. Answer the Questions People Are Asking: There’s no point meeting people at ZMOT if you’re not giving them the kind of information they want, as and when they want it.

4. Optimize for ZMOT: Show up more when it counts by making your content super-relevant, and being where you need to be (Lecinski makes the point that having a great mobile presence is a big part of this).

5. Be Fast: Know when something’s making people search for your product, and do something quick to capitalise on it. Speed beats perfection.

In my view there is another thing missing from this list. That is to ensure you WOW existing consumers so they become advocates. This is a vital component because positive social commentary and conversations from delighted consumers will fuel your brand's on-line reputation.

Powerful stuff.

Cool ad from Touchwood

Docomo - Trees / Forest / Touchwood SH-08C - (2011)

This is a cool ad.

It is fun, engaging and should get noticed.

Tips on how to get mobile right

Mobile is becoming an increasingly important way for brands to deliver enhanced brand experiences that have the potential to delight consumers.

Technology is getting extremely smart.

Revenues are growing fast (ABI research predict $119bn of goods and services will be bought via mobile by 2115).

Internet Retailing recently published a very useful article for any brand that recognizes the potential of mobile and wants to start using it now. It has a common sense checklist when comparing mobile to on-line.

Here are the highlights:

Screen size - means you have to be sure what content should be served (with on-line 90% of page can be irrelevant).

Load times - mobile is generally slower so you need to think about content and number of steps you get users to take.

Mobile vs tablet – may require parallel sites to take into account differing functionality.

Innovative services – like Augmented reality and location based services are powerful but not always relevant.

Personalization integration –the mobile experience needs to be consistent with that delivered by other brand platforms.

It is worth getting it right because it can be a smart way to deliver brand experiences that will delight consumers and thereby drive loyalty and advocacy.

However, get it wrong and consumers will desert you and may even become detractors who use social media to rapidly spread bad news about your brand.

My advice is simple. Start to test and learn as soon as you can.

Zapposication - the new marketing goal

I rave about Zappos all the time. [See example post]

It is therefore of no surprise to me to see this recent post by CustomerThink.com, that shows Zappos at the top for customer service:

1. Zappos
2. Expedia
3. Apple (Computers)
4. Acer /Samsung
5. Kindle
6. Discover/ American Express
7. Apple (Smartphones)
8. Fed Ex
9. McDonald’s
10. HP/ Samsung

How do they come top?

Simple...they focus on delighting consumers. They ensure they whole organisation understands the focus by publishing, training and living their core values.

All marketers should take note as winning in marketing in this day and age is not about creating great advertising (although that is important). It is about delivering an overall brand experience that delight. A great customer service is integral to that goal.

Learning about in-store success from luxury brands

Here are two highly effective ways to build a great in-store brand experience (see Sparxoo article about luxury brand in-store experience).

Make consumers feel comfortable and special.

Sure, this is obvious, but the article highlights two good ways to help deliver this successfully combination:

Personalise tech

“….one innovative way luxury brands are adding a touch of special is through mobile technology. In-store sales people can deliver better service with the aid of mobile devices, such as the iPad. “Mobile devices combine personalization efficiency and effectiveness with an unprecedented touch of caring and nurturing”

Invest in kind human capital

“..the stuffy, know-it-all, sometimes condescending sales associate is certainly a big turn-off for customers at luxury stores. LI takes example of superior customer service from the online retailer, Zappos. Taking a cue from the extremely polite, considerate and genuine customer service reps at Zappos, “putting polite, informed and well-groomed sales personnel on the floor is just the start, but done well it can be a true differentiator”

The iPad idea is fabulous. It seems kinda obvious but I have yet to see any retailer use the ipad to help improve the shopping experience.

Zappos is a brand I love. I have written about them many times because they know ho to WOW consumers with their great approach to customer service.

So, if you are responsible for in-store delivery of brand experience then look into: a) how iPads can be used as a staff tool to delight consumers and b) at Zappos for ideas about creating values that direct staff on how behave in a way that will delight consumers.

Elle Magazine brings Brand Experience to Life

I just read that Elle are opening a branded spa inside the Eden Roc Renaissance Miami Beach hotel.

This is what I would do if I ran a successful magazine like Elle.

Build an experience that enables readers to engage deeply with and delight in the brand.

It seems in the publishing world a lot of magazines are struggling trying to work out how to survive and thrive in the new always on internet world we now live in.

A few are having success bringing their brands to life on-line.

Others are cutting cost in journalists, cutting costs in product development and as a result losing circulations fast.

Most have forgotten that one sure fire way to win over the hearts and minds of their readers is to deliver a brand experience that brings the brand to life and delights and excites.

This Elle spa look like it will do just that – deliver a winning brand experience - and no doubt make some good incremental revenues.

Others magazines should look at similar ideas.

Have O2 delivered the ultimate brand experience?

This must have been a fabulous brand experience for this very lucky O2 customer.

Imagine it.

Katie hobbs (random O2 customer) gets a ticket to an exclusive Tinie Tempah concert.

The big night arrives.

Tinie appears on stage.

Shortly after the gig kicks off the floor clears and Katie has her your own one-on-one performance from Tinie.

Wow. As she says, she will never forget it.

I love his idea from those clever people at O2.

They delivered a brand experience that absolutely delighted a customer. That in its own right would not deliver a great return on effort and investment, however, the interest in the story and the number of You Tube hits definitely do a good job presenting O2 as a brand that really knows how to delight it’s customers.

Nice one.

Great experiences drive word of mouth

Amazon.com: the Hidden Empire

View more presentations from faberNovel

Thank you Gerd Leonhard for pointing me towards this very interesting deck about Amazon.

I have long been an admirer of Jeff Bezos and, as I have posted before, I thought his purchase of Zappos was smart.

This is my favourite quote in this deck (and there are many great quotes, not to mention loads of great tips about how to build an extremely successful digital based business):

"If you do build a great experience, customers will tell each other about that. Word of mouth is powerful."

Absolutely. This is what my Promise Deliver Delight framework is all about. Deliver and delight and consumers are more likely to buy again and tell their friends.

Amazon deliver $34bn revenues annually. Need I say more?

Three Top Packaging Tips

Brand organisations know that delivering a fabulous in-store brand experience is critical to ensure consumers buy their brand.

Packaging is clearly one of the most important components, given the role it plays at the first moment of truth. I have written about this before.

Retail Customer Experience have just written a useful article covering three ways packaging can improve, impact the retail experience.

Whilst every category and brand has different strategy there are three common packaging considerations that are becoming more essential to ensure the brand deliver a positive in-store experience for consumers.

Here are the article highlights. (These tips seem obvious but I find it surprising that many brands get it wrong.)

1. It needs to stand-out and differentiate

It has to get attention and convey what the brand is all about.

2. It's secure but possible to open with too much hassle

It needs to keep the content secure but not be a nightmare to open.

3. It's sustainable

Consumers care about the environment and don't like it when brands are wasteful.

If consumers notice and like what they see there is a far greater chance they will buy. When a consumer buys a brand and it delivers - and ideally delights - them then the brand will succeed. Packaging is an important part of that equation.

The Role of Enchantment

I just bought Enchantment - a new book by Guy Kawasaki - in which Guy defines enchantment as the process of delighting people with a product, service, organisation, or idea. The outcome of enchantment is voluntary and long lasting support that is mutually beneficial.

This fits very closely with my thinking.

Enchantment plays a key role because to win brand organisations need to deliver brand experiences that:

• Start by making a Promise (via marketing activity).
• Then Deliver (the promise).
• Then Delight (WOW consumers by exceeding the promise).

Delighting consumers requires focus and resource but will increase loyalty and advocacy - so worth it (see mutually beneficial comment above).

I will read Guy's book with interest.

Nissan force a test drive and deliver a powerful brand experience

One of the most powerful ways to deliver a compelling brand experience is force potential consumers to use (key stage of Path to Advocacy) the brand.

I came across this idea by Arabian Automobiles (exclusive Nissan distributors in Dubai) at creamglobal.com.

It is very simple.

Block in SUV vehicles with a Nissan Patrol leaving keys and a note encouraging them to move the Nissan.

Once the Nissan starts up a message tells them what is going on and suggests that the driver goes for a spin.

As a result of 7 out of 10 people signed-up for a test drive.

What a great idea that will drive usage and get talked about.

Cebu Pacific deliver a Gaga brand experience

Airlines are always looking for fun ways to deliver brand experiences that to get noticed.

Check out my previous articles Spanair, Air New Zealand, South West Airlines (twice) and Virgin.

This example from Cebu Pacific airline is one of my favourites.

Apparently they only did this on 2 domestic flights but millions have seen it on You Tube.

A great example of a brand experience that people will talk about.

Nice one.