WHITE PAPER: New guest experience is within proximity - the next frontier in marketing & guest engagement

INTRODUCTION
Mobile phones and tablets have become the average traveler’s essential companions, whether it is to get driving directions, flash a boarding pass, find the best places to eat nearby, make hotel/restaurant reservations, shop online, or watch movies... Mobile technology is ubiquitous; it has changed the way we live and conduct our day-to-day personal business.

By embracing this shift to mobile technology, hoteliers can better understand and address the needs of their guests and engage them in more personalized, relevant and contextual ways.

With this whitepaper, our intent is to explore new solutions for proximity-driven mobile engagement, and educate hoteliers on how these solutions can be adopted to drive direct value (engaged guests tend to spend more) as well as indirect value (through increased customer loyalty).

PICTURE THE SCENE
Melanie, a 35 year-old mother-of-two and marketing executive in a large Midwest appliance company is flying to Seattle for an industry trade show to meet with customers. She has decided for once to arrive a day early and take a “day off” to unwind before this big conference.

She is glad she was able to confirm her arrival time 24-hours ahead in the hopes that her room would be ready as she gets in. When her plane lands mid-morning in Seattle, she wonders if she will be able to get into her room that early. As she hails a taxi, she gets a text message advising her that her room is ready.

She enters the hotel lobby and notices the long check-in line at the front desk. She smiles as her hotel app automatically detects her presence and checks her in right away, allowing her to skip the front desk and go straight to her room – only using her mobile phone as a key. As she opens her room door, she feels almost at home as the lighting and temperature are set to her likings, based on her preferences she set in her app profile. Even a bottle of Perrier is waiting for her in an ice bucket, as she had requested via the app the day before. Away from home and the family, but still in a personalized setting...

After a few hours of work to prepare for the conference starting in two days, she decides to go out for dinner, starving for local seafood. Having never been to Seattle before, she checks online quickly and finds a nearby seafood chain restaurant, unaware that at the back of the hotel is a hotel-run seafood restaurant with much better food and similar prices. As she is walking through the lobby, she receives a text message from the hotel about a special offer at the in-house restaurant. She decides to give it a try. She could have missed out an experience unique to the property.

The following morning, she decides to do some shopping and heads to the nearby mall. As she browses through stores, she notices a small pop-up massage store offering a 15-minute neck massage for a good price, which reminds her of the discount the hotel’s spa extended to her earlier through the app. As she heads back to the hotel, she makes an appointment at the spa for the afternoon from her phone app.

The hospitality industry is missing out on many opportunities to better engage their guests on property through direct, simple marketing and communication channels...

To read the full white paper, click here.

What does it take to define your brand experience?

The old adage said that companies defined their brands, and through simple advertising and marketing, customers embraced the brands and bought products.

As a matter of fact, customers – not companies – define brands. Brands are only relevant if they resonate with customers. It’s no longer the brand who spends the most money in advertising and marketing that gets customers’ buy-in. In today’s advanced technological world, customers are not brand loyal anymore, or at least they are loyal to a brand as long as the brand remains relevant to them, which can be a few weeks, or a few seconds at the speed of the click of a button on their mobile phones or tablets.

Brand experience draws customers to connect with the brand and buy products, but only if the brand delivers on its promise. Brand experience must be simple, contextual (engage with the audience at the right time and place), and personalized.

So, what does it take to define the brand experience?

Company leadership must be committed and lead the definition of the brand experience.
Leadership sets the vision, the purpose of being in business. Selling products and making money is a consequence of doing business, not the purpose. What are the customers’ needs that you can satisfy and how do you create an emotional connection with your customers so that they believe in and adhere to your value proposition?

Show empathy.
The brand’s purpose is not defined by what you do for your customers. It is defined by why what you do matters to your customers. By focusing on the why (watch Simon Sinek’s video on why/how/what), you show empathy to your customers.

Not only do you understand their needs (which leads to innovation and new product ideas), but you also understand their emotional journey (which leads to defining a roadmap of the customer experience, the foundation for your brand strategy).

Insights.
Many companies develop their products on what the CEO thinks his wife or children (or even himself) would want; on what the R&D team or Software development team think is cool to create based on the engineering complexity of it; or simply on the principle of what-competitors-do-and-we-can-do-it-cheaper-or-better. It sometimes works, at least in the short time, often time it does not.

That’s why consumer research and consumer insights are so important to uncover unmet needs, understand customers’ behaviors, and define the customer journey. If you don’t focus on customers, customers won’t focus on your brand. Your brand will mean nothing to them.

Brand promise, internal buy-in and collaboration.

Once you’ve identified and segmented your key audiences, it is important to define what messages you want to convey to them, what your brand promise is. What companies often miss is that if there is no internal buy-in on the brand promise, it is hard to define and convey these key messages to your audiences.

Painting your brand promise on a wall, or repeating it at every staff meeting doesn’t do it. Internal buy-in is critical because you want to stimulate, inspire your employees to develop innovative products, create engaging marketing campaigns, provide great customer support, etc.

How you get employees’ buy-in is by getting them involved in defining and carrying that brand promise. R&D, marketing, sales, customer support, finance should not work in silos. You must encourage, foster collaboration between teams. R&D can’t make products customers really want to buy if marketing does not tell R&D what customers want. Sales can’t sell if they don’t understand how the product works, or if the product is too expensive because of its engineering complexity while customers want just a simpler and cheaper version, etc.

Communication between teams is important, but what’s more important is to get teams work together on projects. By bring together engineers, software developers, marketers, finance guys, customer support experts, you get different perspectives, you confront ideas…

Collaboration, internal buy-in not only help define your brand promise, but more importantly collaboration keeps it alive. Your employees are your first brand ambassadors.

Keep delivering on your promise.
Gone are the days when once your brand was established, it was in the customers’ minds for the long run. Now customers are more versatile then ever, brand loyalty is a matter of seconds, or best of a few days, before they switch to a different brand. What’s critical is for your brand to STAY relevant.

You’ve got to ask yourself these questions over and over again.
- is your brand deeply focused on what drives experience within the market? You can no longer rely on the market research you did 5 years ago, because it’s no longer relevant.
- are your marketing messages in sync with the customer experience? As agile process and design thinking work for product development, it also works for marketing. Customers’ needs evolve constantly, thanks to the simplicity of buying products anywhere at anytime, the plethora of similar products available, the convenience of buying online vs. in stores, the technological improvements that make an iPhone 6S obsolete in 3 months, etc.
- do customers (still) share your view of who you are and what you want to be? Think of the Apple brand which in its early years meant that the buyers were the mavericks, the anti (PC) system, the rebels. Think of the Apple brand today, mass-market, ubiquitous, mainstream, to the point that many early Apple adopters have gone away because they’ve lost the connection with the brand (“too mainstream”, “now, everyone has an Apple”, etc.). Worst cases: Kodak, Nokia, Borders…
- are your products easy to use? If you make a product that is too complex to use, doesn’t provide a gain in time, is not convenient to use, you won’t succeed.
- what’s your roadmap for new products? You can’t rely on your laurels and your cash-cow product. You must always look for what’s next, what are the customer needs that we haven’t met yet. Innovation is key to keep delivering on your brand promise.


Do you want to be the next Kodak, the next Apple or the next Uber?

Things that still surprise me after 13 years in the US.

This week will mark my 8th anniversary of becoming a US citizen, and I’m proud of that.
However, while planning a trip to France next year and recalling our last family trip to my (former) home country, I realize that after all this time in the US (13 years), there still are many things that either surprise me, or simply irritate me.

1. Air conditioning. Although I do appreciate the fact that I don’t have to sweat every time I lift even one finger thanks to a full-blown air conditioned indoor environment (unlike in France on hot summer days where the only way to stay cool is to put a full ice pack under my armpits), I still have to fight with co-workers over thermostat control for who gets the right (humanly livable) temperature. Every time I go to see a movie, I need to bring my ski jacket because I feel like I’m in Antarctica.

2. The non-metric system. After all this time, I just can’t figure out the way we, in America, calculate distances or volumes. There are 16 ounces in 1 liter, there are 3 feet in 1 meter, there are 2.6 cm in 1 inch… What the heck? Why can’t Americans use the metric system like British drive on the right size of the road? Whazza?

3. How are you doing? I love the lack of formality in the US. You can call (almost) everybody by their first name even if you’ve never met them before. Maybe the fact that there is only one “you” (unlike the “tu” and the “vous” in French) makes it easier. In the French language and century-long social etiquette, you have to remember that you say “vous” to a woman you’ve never met before if she is older than you, but also younger than you if you’re much older, but it depends on the context and if you’re in social or professional setting, but also if you’re with a group of friends or colleagues that are more casual or more traditional... WTF?I’m still amazed that people in the US ask me how I’m doing, with no expectation for an answer. Sometimes, just for the fun of it, I like to respond “I feel terrible, my dog just died and my house got on fire”, because often times people don’t listen to my answer and reply “wonderful”, if they reply at all.

4. Clothes sizes. Maybe it goes with not using the metric system, but I used to wear XL or L when I lived in France, and now in the US I wear M or S, if not going to the kids section to find a pair of shorts and a T-shirt that is “fitting”. At the same time, everything is XXL in the US: cars, houses, meals… 

5. “You’re gonna love the way you look, I guarantee you”. I recall being in France and dressing up to go to the supermarket or just down the street to buy a baguette. French people are very conscious about their appearance. It’s almost like you have to wear a tie and jacket to be allowed to “enter” a bakery to buy your baguette. But I have to admit I still am picky about clothes. I rarely buy pants or suits in the US because I don’t like the style. I buy clothes every time I go to Europe.I like the fact that I can wear a T, shorts and sandals to go to the restaurant in the US, especially when it’s bloody hot and humid outside and that if I had to wear a suit and tie just to go to dinner, I would need a second set just to change as soon as I get in the restaurant. Although I still have to remember to bring my ski jacket with me, in case the AC is way too high in the restaurant. Now, that’s very stylish: T, shorts, sandals and… ski jacket!The only thing I will never do though (I still have to maintain some French fashionable style after all) is to wear white socks all the way up to mid-calves, while wearing shorts and sandals. NEVER.

6. The customer is king. Speaking of dinner, I like the fact that service is expedited in the US. In France, you must wait for 20 minutes only to get a waiter greet you at your table and bring two slices of baguette and tap water (with no ice). I love the “customer service” focus in the US (maybe it is because tips are not included, unlike in France – this is probably why French waiters are so rude and don’t give a crap about you), although I have a hard time being interrupted every 5 minutes by a waiter “is everything OK” while I’m in the middle of a conversation or have a 4-pound juicy burger stuck in my mouth that I’m trying to chew without getting all the grease taint my T-shirt (luckily I don't wear a suit), and trying to answer the waiter “mmhmm, uh mmmhmmm uh”. That’s how I learned the sign language: thumbs up, big smile (no one cares to see bits of meat and fries stuck in your teeth – all that matters if that you, as the customer, are happy), and a nod of the head.

I’ve traveled a lot abroad since I moved to the US, and every time I am in another country (even in France), I just can’t wait to go back home (the US), and still be surprised or irritated by the same things that remind me how much I love this country. Cheers!

What your “space” tells about your brand.

In architecture and interior design, branded environments enhance the experience of a company’s brand. Whether it is in the physical space (retail, office, trade shows, museums, showrooms, etc.) or digital space (website, app), these branded environments instantly reinforce a company’s position, communicates its identity, and delivers the brand experience to customers.

In a digital space, the brand experience is achieved through UX and UI design, to make the platform as engaging, intuitive and user friendly as possible. Think of boring websites where you have a list of products listed as soda drinks are placed on a shelf in a supermarket, where you have new idea what/where/how to look for? On the contrary, think about how Amazon’s website is intuitive and friendly, prompting product suggestions based on what you are looking at, based on your purchase history, based on what other shoppers who purchased the product you’re looking at have also bought. Have I mentioned customer’s feedback available with the product description? 

In the physical space, a branded environment is the combination of many components such as architecture, layouts, finishing materials, lighting, environmental graphics, way-finding devices, signage, and décor elements that reflect and reinforce the personality of a business.

While particularly effective for retail, museum and exhibit design, branded environments can support the success of many organizational types, from corporate to institutional and educational. The designed environment can reflect or express the attributes of a community or the competitive advantages of a company’s product or service.

The benefits of a branding your environment are many. Internally, better environmental design leads to happier staff. Happier staff generally means higher retention rates, increased productivity, and a better understanding of your organization’s mission, vision and values. In other words, a branded environment engages employees.

Externally, it leads to improved position and communication, better customer recognition, differentiation from competitors, and higher perceived value from your customers, investors, partners, and the media.

Retailers such as PIRCH have partnered with experiential design agencies like Fitch to transform the shopping experiences. PIRCH stores offer customers the opportunity to test products and enjoy using them before purchasing - 'try before you buy’ becomes something new and powerfully branded. Shoppers enjoy the opportunity to cook with a real Chef while testing the kitchen’s appliances. For other, they can reserve a time at the “store’s spa” to test showers and bathtubs. After testing products, shoppers “can enter a 'dream room' to meet with a designer and plan their homes”.

The Robin Report delicately describes what the Apple or PIRCH experience is about. “These brands are not retailers. They are neurologically addictive experiences, co-created by the brand and their dopamine-addicted consumers”. The brick-and-mortar retail business has a bright future provided that it transforms its physical space into an experiential space. The Robin Report suggests that such retail brands stimulate their visitors’ dopamine. It is almost like a sport performance-enhancing drug, except in that case dopamine is “a chemical in the brain that gets released every time we have an elevated experience. It provides feelings of euphoria, self-satisfaction, wellbeing, and can lead to addiction. The dopamine-releasing brands headlining this report (and there are others) are such because the experience they have developed requires that the customer participate in creating or shaping that experience to satisfy their own personal desire at the moment they engage with the brand”.

No matter what happens in the physical or digital shopping experience, successful brands know that the key is to build brand loyalty. The store experience is an important component, among others. But the way brands communicate across various channels with their customers is critical. Loyalty requires communicating brand values that people want to be affiliated with. Consumers today have many options, and more than ever they choose particular brands to communicate something personal about their own beliefs and priorities. The best way to establish and reinforce common values is to create content so highly specific that it defines not only the brand, but the customer.

When organizations look at extending their brand experience to digital and physical “space”, many see the different platforms (or “spaces) in silos, whereas they should carry out the efforts in a symbiotic way. The customer experience should be the same whether (s)he is online shopping, in a store trying out outfits, at a car dealer’s buying a car, staying in a hotel after making an online reservation, etc.
Again, think of Amazon. Online retail, drone delivery, pick-up locations… 

The future of retail is about experiential and contextual marketing

14 years ago almost to this date, Apple changed the way retailers engage with their customers when the iconic brand opened its first two stores. Since then, successful retail brands have moved away from merely displaying lines of products on their stores’ shelves to creating show-room type experiential spaces.

The future of retail is all about the consumer. Consumers make the rules and now have total access to whatever they want, wherever and whenever they want it. The power has shifted away from retailers who long held it—and now the ball is in the consumer’s court. Brands and retailers are forced to play on the consumer’s terms to be successful. And the more brands can understand, connect and delight consumers instead of sell to them, the more long-term success and sustainability they will enjoy.

In that regards, retailers such as PIRCH have partnered with experiential design agencies like Fitch to transform the shopping experiences. PIRCH stores offer customers the opportunity to test products and enjoy using them before purchasing - 'try before you buy’ becomes something new and powerfully branded. Shoppers enjoy the opportunity to cook with a real Chef while testing the kitchen’s appliances. For other, they can reserve a time at the “store’s spa” to test showers and bathtubs. After testing products, shoppers “can enter a 'dream room' to meet with a designer and plan their homes”.

The Robin Report delicately describes what the Apple or PIRCH experience is about. “These brands are not retailers. They are neurologically addictive experiences, co-created by the brand and their dopamine-addicted consumers”. The brick-and-mortar retail business has a bright future provided that it transforms its physical space into an experiential space. The Robin Report suggests that such retail brands stimulate their visitors’ dopamine. It is almost like a sport performance-enhancing drug, except in that case dopamine is “a chemical in the brain that gets released every time we have an elevated experience. It provides feelings of euphoria, self-satisfaction, wellbeing, and can lead to addiction. The dopamine-releasing brands headlining this report (and there are others) are such because the experience they have developed requires that the customer participate in creating or shaping that experience to satisfy their own personal desire at the moment they engage with the brand”.

No matter what happens in the physical or digital shopping experience, successful brands know that the key is to build brand loyalty. The store experience is an important component, among others. But the way brands communicate across various channels with their customers is critical. Loyalty requires communicating brand values that people want to be affiliated with. Consumers today have many options, and more than ever they choose particular brands to communicate something personal about their own beliefs and priorities. The best way to establish and reinforce common values is to create content so highly specific that it defines not only the brand, but the customer.

To do so, many brands invest in original content to communicate with their customers on a more personal and emotional level... to build brand loyalty. Now that the vast majority of the population is connected 24/7/365 through their mobile devices, the solution to creating a branded content experience that delivers results lies in a centralized mobile content marketing strategy. By integrating content channels and reaching all consumer touch points, brands can maintain open access to content assets, encourage ongoing engagement, and build affinity.

“Location-based marketing is an effective new way to deliver timely and relevant messages to consumers”, states Alliance Data Retail in their report on Geofencing technology. The key is context: reaching them precisely where and when they’re most likely to engage with a brand. Content is important for brands to engage with their customers at a personal level, but content mostly remains generic of time and location. “With the mobile economy here to stay – and the cost of ignoring it unrecoverable – location-based communications are a very attractive next step in marketing. Geofencing technology enables timely, relevant and powerful messages to modern consumers at the right place, at the right time, and in the right way”, according to the report.

Apple is very well known for transforming the way we live. After all, this is Apple’s brand promise. Their latest initiative, “Proactive” is going to redefine the brand experience. This is taking location-based marketing to the next level. The augmented reality feature will allow a user to hold up her iPhone in the Maps application, and point her camera toward a particular business or an area. Pointed towards a cafe, for example, the screen could show a virtual view of menu items or daily specials. If the user points her phone toward a street, a virtual outline of local businesses, restaurants, shopping stores, or coffee shops could appear. In return, businesses will be able to communicate back to the user with a personalized offer.

Today’s technology has redefined the way brands can interact with their consumers. Content and context are intertwined, and brands’ mobility and agility are key to provide a unique and ongoing experience.

Mobility and agility are key differentiators to the brand experience.

We all know of brands that evoke strong feelings and fond associations, such as a special treat from childhood (Nutella, anybody???) or Apple’s latest release (Apple watch???). These positive brand experiences are what keep us coming back and wanting more. Like Coca Cola’s secret recipe, it is a magical formula that companies try to achieve.

According to statistics from Havas Media, “only 20% of brands worldwide make a significant, positive effect on people’s well-being. Most people worldwide would not care if more than 73% of brands disappeared.” It’s easy to see how cultivating a unique and meaningful brand experience is a large and necessary order.

There are seemingly infinite factors to take into account when creating a unique brand experience. Not one thing defines the way a brand is received by consumers. But, every element of a brand experience should move together in a well choreographed dance that excites and delights.

Today, consumers are more volatile and mobile than ever before. With a plethora of online and offline offers, 24/7/365 connectivity, consumers are in control on how and where they want to engage with brands.

64% of American adults now own a smartphone. According to a recent report from Dunnhumby, 17% of North American consumers use their mobile to buy goods and services (42% in Asia Pacific and 24% in Europe). The trend is growing at a massive pace.

Developing a unique experience is a key differentiator for brands to engage with their consumers. What’s more important for brands is to follow consumers wherever they go and engage them in the context of time and location. Content is king, context is god.
People now use powerful mini-computers in their hands to pretty much do anything (read, listen to music, watch movies, communicate, shop…). This means they can be reached anytime anywhere. Companies must think of mobile devices as two-way communication platforms, where they can engage with their consumers in a instant and genuine conversation. I’m not talking just about sending push notifications about your latest sales, but about creating an ongoing and personalized experience.

Many start-ups use an agile model to develop and test products in an ultra-competitive market to get instant feedback from the market, and make enhancements on the fly to their products.
This agility must also be used with how brands interact with their consumers. Companies like Apple, y!kes and others have developed devices (beacons) that locate where consumers are in a defined perimeter to allow businesses to communicate with their consumers in context of time and location. Based on geo-location and proximity awareness, brands can now create content that is specific to each individual at a given time and place, and alter this content as consumers move along. Mobility and agility meet content and context.

Disney launched its magical wristband, making their Disney park experience frictionless to their customers. A company like Geofeedia offers a location-based social media monitoring platform which helps organizations join the social conversation in real-time at locations of interest around the world.

Today’s technology has redefined the way brands can interact with their consumers. Content and context are intertwined, and brands’ mobility and agility are key to provide a unique and ongoing experience.

What’s your brand experience like?

Don’t overlook the power of your 3-dimensional brand environment

Most companies spend their “branding budget” on their website, print/digital ads, marketing collaterals (we’ll call this their “2D environment”), completely or partially overlooking their 3D environment.

The 3D is an often overlooked aspect of reinforcing brand in both the corporate and professional environments.

What is branding through 3D design?

Branding through 3D design, (also known as the branded environment) is the process of transforming an office environment, an exhibit booth, a pavilion, or a retail store into a three-dimensional embodiment of a brand. One that instantly reinforces a company’s position, communicates its identity, unifies its culture, and delivers the brand experience to customers.

Think of this…

Does your office design energize your staff? Strengthen your brand? Reinforce your position?
Does your exhibit booth create a unique experience where your customers connect emotionally with your brand?

Does your store convey a welcoming and engaging environment where customers feel compelled to buy your products because your brand resonates with their values?

By integrating your brand strategy into the 3D design process, you can create an environment that helps employees, customers, and business associates better understand your company’s mission, vision, and values.

A “space” is not just a place with shelves to display your products or with a bunch of tablets and flat TVs to show your latest cool video or interactive presentation. Although those are important, they are only one aspect of that space. They convey your message, not your brand experience.

A product fits a customer’s need; a brand experience fits a customer’s beliefs.

What’s included in a branded environment?

A branded environment is the combination of many components such as architecture, layouts, finishing materials, lighting, environmental graphics, way-finding devices, signage, and décor elements that reflect and reinforce the personality of a business.

All of these elements work together to create a physical and sensory relationship with the customer. When implemented correctly the 3D design communicates your brand’s message and it lets people touch, explore, and engage with your brand in the physical space. Your branded environment enables your brand to be experienced beyond print, web, advertisements, and television.

Why is the “experience” important? What are the benefits of branding your environment?

The benefits of a branding your environment are many. Internally, better environmental design leads to happier staff. Happier staff generally means higher retention rates, increased productivity, and a better understanding of your organization’s mission, vision and values. In other words, a branded environment engages employees.

Externally, it leads to improved position and communication, better customer recognition, differentiation from competitors, and higher perceived value from your customers, investors, partners, and the media.

Is your office space engaging? What’s your favorite retail branded environment?