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Brand experience Posts
Be wary of creating a caring face
December 14th, 2009
Next month, Bulgari’s 11-city touring jewellery exhibition, Between Eternity and History, will end with a start-studded auction at Christie’s in New York with the aim of raising $10m for Save the Children’s Rewrite the Future campaign. So writes the Financial Times in their Asian international edition (http://www.ft.com/home/asia).
The great and the good will be there – Ben Stiller, Sting, Willem Defoe and Julianne Moore, with the New York event culminating in an event that has taken in cities such as Rome, London and Beijing.
Charity has become a tried and tested way to ease consumer malaise at spending on conspicuous luxury, whilst reinforcing brand credentials as being caring and responsible.
But is the consumer becoming more cynical?
Look at Montblanc. Last month the company caused international controversy with the launch of a $23,000 18-carat pen to celebrate the 140th anniversary of the of birth of Mahatma Ghandi. Montblanc was (rightly in my opinion) accused of exploiting Ghandi – liberator, champion of egalitarianism and simple living – in order to enter the Indian luxury market. Despite Ghandi’s grandson endorsing the promotion and Montblanc donating $148,000 too build a shelter for rescued children, the anger was widespread.
And did nothing to enhance the brand worldwide.
Is this the new ‘caring face’ of luxury?
This is sector I know well but frankly I am a cynic on this line of marketing. Last month Gucci paired with Mary J Blige to launch a Center for Women, Jimmy Choo created Project PEP, selling a range of handbags to support Elton John’s Aids Foundation, and Naomi Campbell paired with Louis Vuitton to launch a handbag in support of the White Ribbon Alliance.
Mmmmm. I remain a cynic.
Innovation of the year! Is this a post recession trend?
August 24th, 2009
It all started when I was handed a flyer when rushing for the Tube (subway, metro) near to where I live in West London. Some guys were strategically standing in my path (the same way as ‘chuggers’ do) giving out flyers. My first reaction was, as always, to avoid them and (in a very London way) to keep my eyes down, avoid any eye contact whatsover and get to the Tube by the shortest possible route.
I could’t avoid the flyer though and just pushed it in my pocket. I short while later, when looking for something else, I found the (offending) flyer. Zipcar.
Hmmm.
Later that evening I rushed past the same guys still handing out flyers, again doing my best at avoiding them and making eye contact. On my walk home I passed a smart VW Golf with a small sign next to it which said simply ‘ZipCars live here’.
My interest was tweaked, so I got online to find out more.
Well, the net result is that I no longer have my gleaming Beamer but have chosen to use ZipCar instead. It’s brilliant. And I am sure that this recession will lead to a lot more people doing the same as me. I save a fortune AND I become a carbon footprint saint….
Just think – you find a car very near to where you live using the Zipcar website, access the car using a credit card type devise, find the key, use it by the hour, day or longer and just return it to where you left it. No insurance, no lease, no congestion charge to pay, no tax disc or residents permit. No searching for a parking space late at night. AND just think of the environment!
So when I realised how much I was paying for NOT using my car, ZipCar made complete sense.
I think it’s a great innovation that can only be a winner – in fact everyone seems to win. Obviously it’s of no use to someone living out in the country or miles from anywhere, but for city dweller it’s perfect.
I see this as a very real post recession trend. I wonder if it’s taking off elsewhere. It deserves to.
Wake up and smell the coffee
July 5th, 2009
When you first came across your favourite coffee shop, you loved it. It made you feel cosy and warm. You loved the smells and the atmosphere.
Those beautiful creamy cappuccinos; those smooth lattes; those pick-me-up espresso shots.
You grew used to hugging the cup – the feel of the cardboard insulator, snuggling into leather sofas in the shop as you drank it.
And then the coffee company got greedy.
They decided to push revenue by by putting a branded coffee machine in your office.
And you went to the machine. And put a paper cup under it. And pressed the dispense button.
But there were no cardboard insulators. And so when you picked up the cup it burned you.
And the milk in the fridge wasn’t quite fresh. So the drink didn’t taste as good as it had done before.
And then you realised that the stuff in the cup was in fact just coffee. No different from the granules in your kitchen.
And the brand experience you used to love began to fade.
Brand experience is about EVERYTHING you do.
www.leaptomorrow.com
Air travel hell
July 1st, 2009
Let’s face it, travelling by air used to be glamarous. The first time I flew on a plane when I was 8, my parents made me put on my shorts, jacket and tie. There was an real excitement about going to the airport and experiencing the thrill of flying.
Now it’s absolute hell.
And Heathrow, my local airport, leads the way. Certainly terminals 1-4 do anyway.
In the post 9/11 landscape the airport authorities seem to think we will put up with anything. The airlines have a tendency to put the blame for all airport problems on airport management, hoping that passengers will absolve the airline responsibility for delays, broken gates and incompetent baggage handling.
But that’s not the way the consumer thinks.
There’s always a market researcher lurking around the next corner asking for our opinions – hoping they will be favourable responses.
They should add the following questions:
- ‘Do you find the airport that we are so proud of ‘pleasant’ … or an overcrowded filthy hellhole’?
- ‘Was the queue at security ‘long’ or ‘very long’?
- ‘Did you tolerate a customer service from airline/airport employees that you would normally find unacceptable?’
And the same questions for business travellers:
- ‘Was the ‘fast track’ lane faster than the regular lane? Or was it in fact slower?
- ‘Is the frequent flyer programme operating on a different planet’?
- ‘Was the business/frequent flyer lounge jammed full or simply ‘over capacity’?
The airline brand experience begins THE MOMENT YOU LEAVE HOME. Everthing you experience – positive and negative, will affect the brand.
Virgin Atlantic are masters of getting it right – at least in Upper Class, where you are picked up by a chauffeur from home, whisked to the airport, move seamlessly through check in and arrive 10 minutes later in a luxurious lounge and handed a glass of champagne.
It’s a pity for Virgin that the rest of us at the back of the plane have to endure the stress of just getting checked in and to the other side of security, where we are penned into a ‘holding bay’ with 1000’s of others that is termed ‘airside’.