Experience Manifesto

Brand Experience Lab: Creating a Branded Retail Experience | Flooring The Consumer

Christine (C. B.) Whittemore found an old post from when she first met me during a program for POPAI at the Lab about 4 years ago. Glad to see she was paying attention during the presentation! I've put some highlights here and agree that some of our conversation is even more relevant in a down economy. I can't find the original presentation, but you can click here to download the BEL POV Overview and see how we think. And, if you're not reading CB's blog, you should be!

In preparing for Social Media Series: David Polinchock on Bridging New & Old, I came across notes I took while first listening to David and experiencing the Brand Experience Lab. I thought I would share them with you here as they seem as relevant today - if not more so - as they did four years ago.

Here goes.

I participated in a fascinating seminar at the Brand Experience Lab + walking tour of SoHo on May 5, 2005 to discuss how to build a branded retail experience. This program was sponsored by POPAI [point of purchase advertising international]. The premise is that of the $900+ billion spent on marketing, $18B is spent at retail because traditional advertising no longer works. Power has shifted to the consumer, and the consumer is responding at the point of purchase, where the brand experience becomes critical for success.

• Many products/services are becoming commodities;
• The consumer has become increasingly knowledgeable, and comfortable making purchasing decisions, relying less on traditional marketing and sales efforts;
• It takes more effort/resources/etc. today to create a compelling brand identity.
• Challenge is how to ignite passion, inspire loyalty for your brand?

Components of compelling brand experience include:

• Culture - need to thoroughly understand cultural trends, customer needs, and knowledge of what is coming in the future
• Creativity - take your customers beyond your brand's features/benefits to create a visceral connection via storytelling
• Technology - audience is accustomed to using technology is daily life; so find relevant new technology to help tell your brand story better

Defining brand experience:

• A product/service is nothing more than an artifact or act around which customers have experiences. Over time, your brand will be defined by a total impression of those experiences rather than the products or services themselves.
• The right experience set creates a strong, emotional and consistent connection with the consumer. This is a force that captivates your audience and arouses anticipation of benefit upon brand recognition. Various elements such as advertising and marketing contribute to this group of experiences, however they are rarely the sum total of brand identity.
• Never underestimate the degree to which your customers and consumers will go out of their way for a better experience. Similarly, never underestimate the degree to which one bad experience can undo all other positive efforts.

Brand Experience Lab: Creating a Branded Retail Experience | Flooring The Consumer.

Location Based Branding, Inc. (Oneline Brand Experiences)

Going through some old files today and found the first newsletter I wrote for Location Based Branding, my previous company, back in July of 2001. If you don't mind me giving myself a little credit, I was saying the same things in 2001 that I'm saying today. How's that for a consistent message. So, as we head into 2009 and such a bleak economy, remember the points below. As I've walked around the malls the last few days, one thing stood out. Companies were busy for one of two reasons:

They had a great experience and/or product. For example, Build-A-Bear and Apple are almost always busy, no matter what the rest of the stores were doing.

They were having great sales. And, while as a consumer I love great sales, it erodes brand value and profit margins and I'm not sure it always creates any lasting value.
Maybe this economy will get us back to basics of creating great products, that people really want and wrapping it in a great experience. That's my holiday wish for brands!

In our work with clients, we focus on several issues:

Brand Storytelling. It's not about the technology; it's about the story you tell. As long as you are true to who you are and what you stand for, you can build a compelling story and/or experience to reach your audience. One of the exercises that I use is to have people describe their company as if it was a blind date. What would they like? Where would they want me to take them? What kind of people would they hang out with? This really helps people focus on who their company is.

Authenticity. Create authentic experience for your audience. Having cookies simply recording what people are doing online and then regurgitating that information back to them does not create a real experience. Look at the impact aspects of offline experiences and determine how you can reposition those elements in the online experience.

The Experience. Technology must enhance the brand experience from the customers' point of view, not the companies. We've all dealt with endless voicemail and voice recognition systems, only to never be allowed to speak to a person. New CRM technologies should be outlawed if it is only being used to lower costs and add to the bottom line. They should only be used to enhance what the human staff can do to help customers.

Technology. Our work with a number of topline facilities, most notably the Entertainment Technology Center at CMU, gives us a great look into the possible futures of interactive technologies, especially as they relate to brand storytelling. Knowing what is possible will help identify paths that clients should be taking. However, there is a big difference between telling your story with technology and substituting technology for the story. Understand how technology can speak for your brand and when it will speak against your brand as well.

Sociability. No matter what we in the industry think or what technology will be able to do, nothing will ever replace our need to have real social experiences. Just look at the Internet industry -- we have more cocktail parties then any other industry on the planet! Why, because we like to actually speak to people; shake their hands; see their reactions. That's not changing in the near future!

Our Human Nature. Despite all of the tremendous strides that technology has taken in the last few decades, human nature just doesn't change that fast. Stop thinking that the technologies that we are creating today will change people tomorrow. Yes, they will eventually make changes in human nature, but those changes take a long time. I'm not sure that I cam come up with any really massive changes in basic human nature that have been caused by the Internet.

Online Privacy and Consumer information. Who doesn't like to go to a store or restaurant where "everyone knows your name?" In fact, how many times have you paid more for something or driven further to get it, just because a particular place gives you better service by "invading your privacy?" Don't we consider this a positive experience in the offline world? In fact, we get such a warm feeling from the invasion of privacy, that we usually make sure that we take our friends there, just so they can be impressed when the bartender or store clerk knows our name!

We should be focusing our efforts on how can we bring a value to the consumer that translates into a better online experience? What will make the consumer feel as though everyone just called their name when they walked in? How can we create an experience where the 'owner' comes out to greet each visitor and thanks them for being there, while pointing out that they know what the consumer likes?

You see, all too frequently, branding is screaming and yelling "Hey, you gotta' use us, we're the best!" and all too infrequently on creating involving experiences that that make people really want to be with our brand. And more and more today, we¹re letting technology take the place of an engaging experience. The more we lose real touch with our consumers and replace it with "data mining," the more we risk losing the brand completely. After all, many items we consume today are commodities, only separated by the experiences that surround that product. If we homogenize the experience, we can't help but devalue the brand through that homogenization as well. (Note, this is a very frequent theme of ours and something we're still saying today!)

So, start looking at your company or brand as a blind date and decide why one of your friends would be interested in going out with them. Make colleagues in your company take the "Blind Date Challenge" and see if everyone is describing the same person! Then have a few customers do it as well. Once you know who you are, then you can truly build involving experiences both online and offline, that will truly bring your brand to life, engage your audience and create the brand loyalty that is so frequently lost today.

Location Based Branding, Inc. (Oneline Brand Experiences).

Sorry It's Been So Quiet!

Sorry that it's been so quiet lately. I've been on the road in Poland since the 1st, getting ready to a program launch last week. It's been a city a day doing the installation, with up to an eight hour drive between locations. Days are starting at 7 AM and ending late -- last night was after 2 AM. Of course, that's because I went out in Wrocław and finally saw a little bit of at least one city! I feel like I'm remaking If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium except for being in Poland! I'll be able to talk more about what I'm doing next week and I've been keeping a little travelogue going of the journey. It's been a little like being on a rock & roll tour, without the rock & roll. 6 of us on a bus, watching video's, eating junk food (not that that's anything new for me) and driving though the night to get to the next city. So far we've been to:

Warsaw

Łódź

Gdańsk

Poznań

And now we're in Wrocław before heading to Katowice & Krakow. We're back in warsaw next week and hopefully I'll get caught up on my writing then. I've missed so much in the States this past week, I can't wait to get back! More soon, I promise!

Some New AudienceGames Videos

There are two new video's about Audiencegames that we wanted to share. The first one is from our presentation during the SAWA session at Cannes (see MyDigitalCinema: Future of cinema advertising in Cannes for the full post) earlier this summer. Nothing like watching a group of jaded ad industry folks really having fun with AudienceGames!

The second is from my recent interview with Ad Age about the future of interactive cinema.

Our Beginnings

I've been going through lots of old files -- way too many -- and I've been running across the materials we put together when we first started BEL. Doesn't sound all that radical today, but 6+ years ago when we started, it was! Always like the visual image of advertising as the language of the hunt. So take a look at this mash-up of some of our previous language and let me know what you think. Still as necessary & important today as it was 6 years ago?

About the Brand Experience Lab

The Brand Experience Lab (BEL) is a new marketing and communications resources company. New, as in its establishment…new, as in its approach to consumer franchise development via communication…new, as in its commitment to experience marketing as a key to brand building…new, as in its use of emerging technologies for marketing and communications…new, as in the development of technology solutions to meet client needs.

Overview

It’s not just a cliché, it is a new world. The changes in the advertising world are like no other time in history. Never before have we been able to reach an audience in so many ways and places and never before has the audience had the power to turn off that advertisement in so many ways.

Listen to the language of advertising agencies, it sounds like they’re on a hunt. They look to capture audiences everywhere and claim that as success.

It’s time for a new language. One that speaks for the times and has learned from many years of experience.

A language of relevance, authenticity and transformation.

What does the Brand Experience Lab provide? Everything about advertising is used to drive people to a place where the transaction occurs and that is the one place that advertising has no control. BEL creates the compelling experiences that ARE transactions. We’re the connection place between advertising and transactions and not a single agency in the country is playing in that space. That is our unique selling proposition.

"Tell me and I will forget, Show me and I will remember, Involve me and I will understand!" Confucius

“Explore the Possible – Deliver the Practical”

The Brand Experience Lab believes that the key to brand building and brand loyalty involves developing a relationship the consumer. We seek to provide your brand, your service, and your business with the ability to entertain, engage, and involve your target audience by creating compelling and authentic brand experiences.

We believe that generating this engaging experience can be accomplished through an in-depth understanding of the brand’s objective and its’ consumer, using BEL’s creative and innovative experience marketing techniques.

We also believe – and what sets us apart from all others – is that carefully applied new/emerging technologies that are purposively exploited, can capture the consumers’ attention, engaging them within the experience and successfully create a powerful relationship.

We believe that this experience marketing can be accomplished through an in depth understanding of the brand’s objective and its consumer using creative and innovative experience marketing techniques.

The mission of the Brand Experience Lab is to:

Offer an “experience of creating an experience”

View, test, present, develop and discuss different concepts and technologies in branding, marketing, advertising and promotions.

Be an agency of the future in which marketing messages are paired with innovative, compelling mediums to engage consumers in the storytelling process.

In short, the Brand Experience Lab is a place to explore the next generation of tools and technologies needed to create compelling brand experiences.

The Blog Cuss-O-Meter - Do you cuss a lot in your blog or website?

UPDATE: It took a little work, but I've upped my score! Here's my latest ranking! How the fuck does it score me close to George Parker? Around 49.9% of the pages on your website contain cussing. This is 454% MORE than other websites who took this test.

I've always thought I curse a lot. I even made a joke about it last week when Sydney, my 7 year old daughter, was in the audience for the first time. But, now there's proof. I don't curse as much as George Parker over at AdScam/The Horror!, but hey, I curse 300% more then the other web sites who took the Cuss-O-Meter test. Shit, I'm only about 9 points behind George, so if I fuckin' work hard enough, maybe I can beat him! I wonder if they count comments?

Around 36% of the pages on your website contain cussing. This is 300% MORE than other websites who took this test.

Link: The Blog Cuss-O-Meter - Do you cuss a lot in your blog or website?.

Sorry for the Lack of Posts!

Sorry that I've been so quiet lately. I'm spending more time out and about in Copenhagen, so that's a good thing! I've been taking notes about my trip and start getting them posted this week, I hope! Heading to Arhus tomorrow to get ready for the NORDIC EXCEPTIONAL TRENDSHOP and really looking forward to being a part of that program! I'll try to do some posting tonight & tomorrow and will certainly be blogging from the NEXT event on Friday.

Is AudienceGames a Social Media?

We were having a conversation at the office today about whether or not we could call AudienceGames (you can click here if you're not sure what I'm talking about) a social media. I know it probably doesn't fit the current definition of social media, but I had some good reasons for thinking it should be included in the social media discussion.

For one thing, it is a media, right? It usually falls under the advergaming category, sometimes the OOH grouping, but it's always media. Right there up on the big screen.

And it's certainly social. Hell, the game doesn't really play if there's only one person in the theater. Well, technically it does, but it sure isn't fun. If you've played AudienceGames or seen some of the video, you know what I mean. A group of people, in a social setting (the movie theater) playing a game. And let me tell you, when the audience is really into playing the game, you can feel the social energy in the room. In fact, I played AudienceGames at a conference in Amsterdam and someone come up to me that night at dinner to tell me how much the room changed, with a new energy and socialness in the room after we played the game.

Look at how AgencySpy talked about it:

It incorporates so many of the trends we babble on about here at AS. Let's see, there's gaming. Check. There's community. Check. There's new technology. Check.

So, if I'm right, when we complete the initial AudienceGames installation of 750 screens later this summer, we will have one damn big, social media network. And here's the cool thing. That network will be in front of the 33 million people who buy tickets in those theaters.

And this is where it got interesting to me. Most social networks tell you how many people sign up, but not how many people drop out or just stop using it. There's no figure for "churn." I haven't really been to my Facebook or myspace page since I set it up, but I'm still a registered user. But I'm far from an engaged user. So, do I really have value to advertisers? I'd say no.

But, when people come into the movie theater and experience AudienceGames, they're an engaged audience. Actively engaged. In fact, during the two month msnbc.com test, over 90% of the people we surveyed played the game and we had a 71% unaided recall rate. That's engagement, not just membership. And as we expand, our active, engaged user base goes up a lot! I mean, if we end up on just 5,000 (out of NCM's 17,000+ total) screens, that would give us an estimated audience of over 200 million. Active users.

Now, I'm not suggesting that AudienceGames can have as deep of an experience as a Facebook, myspace or whatever's next might deliver, but it'll sure deliver happy, social, engaged people.

So, could this be the start of an entirely new, social media experience? And what else could happen in this social media space that would deliver for the audience? Lastly, how could we connect the location based social media experience with the online social media experience? That's where I'm really excited to play!

So, I'm sending this to my social network and asking for your input. Is this a new form of social media? What else can we bring to the experience? How do we bring the online & offline elements together into a seamless social experience?

Looking forward to your thoughts!

Forget the Flak, Belwether, September 2003

I was going through some old files at home and came across a copy of our very first newsletter, from September, 2003. You can click on the link below to read the full piece, but I've copied our feature piece here. What's kinda' cool, if I do say so myself, is that much of what we wrote back then still is relevant today. We're still spending way to much time on the hunt and not nearly enough time on engagement.

I've always loved the visual of the seal hunt as a metaphor for what we do. We simply walk around looking to club the audience. We talk a good talk about the consumer being in control, but when they're not looking, we raise that club!

So, take a read and always, we welcome your thoughts and comments. Remember that in everything you do, if you're not putting the Audience First, then you're just part of the hunt.

Forget the Flak

Thousands. We’re talking thousands. You read in the lead article of this first issue of Belwether, today’s consumers are jammed with thousands of marketing messages per day. It’s gotten to the point that the practice of brand marketing has more in common with the hunt than the chase. After all, we speak in terms of capturing eyeballs, capturing audiences…capturing consumers anywhere and everywhere, as if the simple act of smacking them in the face with our message was going to produce the desired reaction — to get them to buy the product. The consumer has become the baby seal of the Twenty-first Century, and we are the mighty hunters.

The problem is, those baby seals have found a way to turn the clubs on us. How? By ignoring us. By turning on the TiVO, ripping the heavy-stockpaper ads out of Vanity Fair, tearing the logos off the apparel. And why not? I mean after all, I guess I look at the ads above the urinal, but I can’t say they they’ve ever influenced me to purchase. I mean, just because my eyes needed a place to focus doesn’t mean my mind wanted to.

During the last decade, I have read business plans and heard pitches for a variety of new media formats—the aforemen-tioned advertising in bathroom stalls; advertising on postal trucks; advertising on ATM machines and at gas pumps. The ideas range from the ridiculous to the outrageous. What makes this even more bewildering is that in a time of media uncertainty (increased fragmentation, declining viewership) costs are going up while frequency and reach are going down.

The fact is, audiences have changed, and the delivery of the message needs to change with them. During World War II, when bombing raids were run, defenders would shootloads of flak into the air—not with any specific, focused target; just with the hope that something would run into it and fall from the sky. You want to cut through the clutter? Then stop creating it. No more flak marketing. Focus on what your audience is asking for: a real relationship withyour product. Stop the catchy slogans and the clever jingles,and wrap your arm around the consumer with a real experience of who you are and what you stand for. Let them experience your story.

At Brand Experience Lab, we believe there are three attributes to a great story: people want to hear it; people want to tell it; and people want to participate in it.

One of the best presentations I’ve heard on creating anauthentic, compelling experience based on story was done by Larry Keeley of The Doblin Group. He offered the following guidelines:

Is the experience well defined? Is there a narrative story that the audience understands–or frankly, is there a narrative at all? What is the story you tell to your customers every day? Could you define it? More importantly, can your audience?

Is it fresh? We live in such a ‘me too’ world that it is often very easy to just copy what other people are doing, but that certainly doesn’t create a sustainable difference for your product orbrand. And that leaves you to compete simply on price. Great brands are never built from price alone.

Is it immersive – can you lose yourself in the experience? Are there things that constantly pull you out of the brand experience? Think of how many times you’ve seen some piece of technology – even simple things like a 13” comboVCR/TV – not working at an event or retail location. Or employees more interested in what’s important for them and not the customer. All of this prevents customers from truly being immersed and engaged in your brand experience.

Is it accessible? Is it easy to follow? Is it significant? Does the experience offer the opportunity for it to get better the second—and third, fourth and fifth—time around? Is the experience transformative?

Will the consumer remember, think, grow? Without these attributes, your message is static. And static is death.

Forget the flak. Put down the club. Transform your story, transform your customer. Transform your success.

Click here to download our very first newsletter from 2003 to see how are thinking started.

The Purple List

We're very happy that they accepted our application to be a part of the Purple List, but we would have written about it anyway. No, really, we would have! It's a great idea and another fantastic resource from PSFK. If you're not visiting them every day or getting their newsletters, you should be! I've been going through the other folks on the Purple List and there's some very cool people there! I'd love to have drinks with everyone of them! Maybe I'll throw a Purple List Happy hour at the Lab....hmmmm, that would be fun!

At PSFK, we're trying to find more ways to spread inspiration to help companies change to make things better. One way is to help them find the right people in the right place for the right job.

Introducing The Purple List - a network of 100 of our trusted contacts. The Purple List is a community of trends and innovation professionals who can help you with projects big and small, full time or ad-hoc.

There's no longer a need to find inspiration from the other side of the world by hiring a big local agency - simply contact a member of The Purple List.

Link: The Purple List.

Link: The Purple List : Update & Call For RFPs on PSFK.

Link: David Polinchock's Page - The Purple List