The Fleeting Illusion of Brand Experience
Traditional brand marketing is an effort to build perception around a desired business outcome (usually shareholder value). But the audience isn’t that interested in whether or not you make your numbers this quarter. In fact, every dollar spent on creating perception is a dollar that could have been spent improving the lives of your customers.
It’s the quality of the products, services, interactions with an organization that builds an authentic brand character. If this sounds radical, or if you’re still using marketing to try and manipulate perception, you are walking on thin ice. For your consumers and observers, there is no such thing as a “brand experience,” only a human experience which may be associated with a brand. The meaning of the interactions themselves must be addressed.
Take, for example, the notorious private security firm Blackwater Worldwide. Their stated mission is “empowering a talented collection of seasoned professionals from a wide range of disciplines, directing them to develop cost efficient and operationally effective solutions for the US Government and other clientele.” But after employees were accused of using excessive force resulting in the deaths of innocent Iraqi civilians, the company lost their U.S. government contract to operate in Iraq. The response? Blackwater rebranded itself under the new moniker Xe, an identity that Wired’s Noah Shachtman aptly calls “inscrutable and opaque.” Yet the lawsuits continue – families of seven more Iraqi civilians have filed suit against the company just this week.
Curated perception has long been a free-for-all land grab aimed squarely at focusing the attention of a market. Because information is now instantly and freely shared, those brands with the largest gaps between fabricated perception (traditional marketing) and the authentic character of their actions (products, services, human interactions) will be the quickest to sputter and implode. This is true no matter what new platforms are employed to manipulate awareness, or what tools we use to examine them. Brand experience is an illusion, human experience is real. The problem is not perception, but rather the consequences of human behavior. The solution is found through trying to change perception, but through creating more constructive human interactions and positive, authentic experiences.
Shakespeare’s message is more true today than ever – “the truth will out.”
Brad Nunnally Says:
June 4th, 2009 at 7:51 pmGreat post! You nailed it on why traditional marketing is finally going the way of the Dodo. I do have one thought to add though.
The final nail in the coffin for the 'brand experience' has been the rise of social media. No longer is the meaning and message of the brand controlled by the marketing or public relation departments. 'Word of mouth' is on the raise again and it is reaching farther than ever before.
jasonsack Says:
June 4th, 2009 at 8:11 pmHi Brad – I agree, the transparency we enjoy (and create) is the opposite of the “opacity” referred to with Xe.
kalisurfer Says:
June 4th, 2009 at 8:42 pmI think you're spot on, in terms of identifying action and transparency as core to success in this marketing era.
In terms of audience, I don't think they've ever cared about shareholder value whether they've been marketed traditionally or in some new transparent and social fandangle way.
I think the main driver of this change has been a move from scarcity to abundance. This has led to behavior changes where folks don't want to add to the stream of messaging they are already actively ignoring or trying to, but are looking for products/widgets/processes to simplify their life or at the very least integrate / or improve their life.
As far as social media, it's certainly a “succesful” tactic/strategy like TV was, but is it core to a product success these days?
If you like at Apple for example, they are driven by an incredibly good product line and user experience around every touchpoint, whether it's their store, product or customer service. Yet they have a non-existent social media strategy to speak of. At least to my knowledge. In terms of transparency, no one is more opaque than Steve Jobs.
The key to success IMHO is to focus on making a great and useful product, and focus focus focus on the experience.
jasonsack Says:
June 4th, 2009 at 8:49 pmAmen to that. I use the term social media as little as possible – what's happening there is important, but it's only an extension of how we use the interactive medium.
Sobre “Brand Experience” « Run, Motherfucker, run Says:
June 5th, 2009 at 3:28 pm[...] Posted in Uncategorized Do sempre sábio Adrian Ho. [...]
Rick Hardy Says:
June 9th, 2009 at 7:26 pmI get your point, and it's an important one, that the brand itself must be of high quality; that it's increasingly not about brand perception. But it's both. Take McDonald's. It's the brand perception that drives many to experience their product and products. The brand quality and experience once they arrive at the fast food restaurant must match what the perception is of McDonald's. In the best of situations, the brand perception–marketed by the company–creates a community of fans who are fans also because of the experience of using the product. McDonald's fits that, so does In and Out Burger, Meguiar's car products, Wahoo's Fish Taco, and many colleges and universities.
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jasonsack Says:
June 11th, 2009 at 3:13 pmI'm thinking about your comment. I guess it can get slippery, and certainly this is just one way to look at things. However, I would suggest that the brand perception of McDonald's is subservient (no pun intended) to the experience – which is delivering value on two primary fronts, speed and cost, and arguably, taste (especially if you like the feeling of fat dissipating from your pores). The drive-through is also an experience that pays off on speed; clearly that experience was a winner. However, the brand is still an illusion. Brands that have paid off on their core strategies are only higher-resolution illusions. Traditional advertising only tries to embellish, alter, or amplify the illusion. In the end the experience is the substance, and now we are all empowered to communicate quickly and globally about the substantial interactions.
Curated Perception « Alternative marketing thinking Says:
June 25th, 2009 at 12:59 am[...] Comment! Traditional brand marketing is an effort to build perception around a desired business outcome (usually shareholder value). But the audience isn’t that interested in whether or not you make your numbers this quarter. In fact, every dollar spent on creating perception is a dollar that could have been spent improving the lives of your customers. Curated perception has long been a free-for-all land grab aimed squarely at focusing the attention of a market. Because information is now instantly and freely shared, those brands with the largest gaps between fabricated perception (traditional marketing) and the authentic character of their actions (products, services, human interactions) will be the quickest to sputter and implode. This is true no matter what new platforms are employed to manipulate awareness, or what tools we use to examine them. Brand experience is an illusion, human experience is real. The problem is not perception, but rather the consequences of human behavior. The solution is found not through trying to change perception, but through creating more constructive human interactions and positive, authentic experiences. Jason Sack writing on the Zeus Jones blog [...]
Fortum Active Says:
June 30th, 2009 at 12:00 am[...] trabalha exatamente o a frase que o Jason Sack disse no seu último post do blog da Zeus jones, a frase é [...]
shorey Says:
July 10th, 2009 at 4:46 pmHi, I've only just 'found' your blog. And what a great find. I really enjoyed this article and your others on operations as marketing. I think a lot of companies will be forced to change their model significantly to accommodate consumers need for authenticity. It's changing the game completely. I think Seth Godin discusses this well in Meatball Sundae.
Your emphasis on human experience and interactions is so spot on. From a consumer perspective myself, I feel very negative towards brands that fail to put the experience first. One industry that I think faces a real challenge is airlines. I'm no expert on its economic model, but the low cost airlines in Europe are just abysmal. Yeah ok, they are 'low-cost' but they have moved so far away from the concept of creating a human experience (quite literally) in pursuit of low prices. I know so many people that would gladly play a decent price for a better flying experience. And yet they persist with pushing the pricing agenda. There's real opportunity for brands that get it right.
Anyway, sorry for the length of this post. Look forward to reading other articles
Thanks – Suzie
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facebook-696602562 Says:
November 9th, 2009 at 12:52 amI think this is great.
>The solution is found through trying to change perception, but through creating more constructive human interactions and positive, authentic experiences.
Is it possible there's a typo there? As in “found *not* through trying to change perception…”
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