When you get it right TV delivers a powerful brand experience

This Kevin Roberts (CEO Saatchi & Saatchi) favourite ad [click here to see his recent post and Fox interview].

A clear demonstration of the power of television and it's ability to deliver a highly emotional brand experience.

It is hard not to be affected by it.

Happy Christmas e-card idea

Hot on the heels of writing about BMW yesterday, thanks to Paul Flanigan, I came across this clever interactive Christmas card thingy.

I thought it would be a bit of fun. A great brand experience that will encourage a bit of viral (but not quite advocacy)

Here's my version [click here for link].

It is almost an example of the customer becoming the ad agency.

Mobile help brands win in-store

This short video has some great food for thought around retail and mobile from Andy Murray (CEO Saatch X).

He says that the real retail innovation around mobile is 'on the fringe' in Korea and Japan.

To be clear, these countries are not on the fringe, but the points he makes are extremely interesting.

"In Korea the mobile phone is an integral part of the brand experience let alone the shopper communications and connections"

"In parts of Japan shoppers can scan a packet of meat with their phone and it will show where it came from and a picture of the cow."

As I have said before, mobile is fast becoming an increasingly important part of brand experience, particularly at the buy stage of the path to advocacy.

My advice is to be testing and learning how to execute it now.

BMW experience that will get noticed

This is an interesting approach by BMW. It is a legitimate form of the famous Coke subliminal advertising.

What better way to deliver a brand experience that will get noticed than to create an 'after image' (on the inside of viewers eyelids) effect of the brand logo during an ad?

As they say in this film...it generates a "more intensive connection with the target."

This is clearly not a experience that is scalable but this film has by 300,000+ hits so it is getting BMW noticed.

Nice one.

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.