experience signatures - nrf 2015

Experience Signatures Christian Davies, Executive Creative Director, Americas FITCH

So, we are here today to discuss the concept of Experience Signatures The undeniable future of all things retail

The next 45 minutes What is an Experience Signature? Why they matter Who does them well and who doesn’t How you can create your own Q&A (hopefully)

SO, WHAT IS AN EXPERIENCE SIGNATURE?

An Experience Signature is a higher order, unifying principle of retail branding

What i s i t?

higher order – ASPIRATIONAL unifying principle - HOLISTIC

What i s i t?

It informs, rationalizes and influences the ways in which a retail business presents itself to the world

What does i t do?

A unique combination of brand-led touchpoints that exist between a retailer and the people that shop its stores

What a re i t s ingred ien ts?

By an enhanced perception of a retailer ’s presence leading to increased loyalty, preference and sales

How is i t measured?

Every shopping journey is made up of touchpoints

And every retailer, simply by virtue of being in business, already has touchpoints between itself and its customers

Literally any point that shoppers touch the retailer, whether through physical, digital or human interactions

PEOPLE

PLACES

COMMS

TOOLS

EVENTS

SERVICES

WEB SOCIAL

GUEST

These moments of connection are all too often fractured, and only sporadically effective

PEOPLE

PLACES

COMMS

TOOLS SOCIAL

SERVICES

WEB

EVENTS

GUEST

PEOPLE

PLACES

COMMS

TOOLS

E V E N T S

SERVICES

WEB

SOCIAL

GUEST

PEOPLE

PLACES

COMMS

TOOLS

E V E N T S

SERVICES

WEB

SOCIAL

GUEST

The first step towards an Experience Signature lies in taking these sporadic moments, unifying them, and bringing them into harmony

PEOPLE PLACES

COMMS

TOOLS

EVENTS SERVICES

WEB

SOCIAL

PEOPLE PLACES

COMMS

TOOLS

EVENTS SERVICES

WEB

SOCIAL

GUEST

PARITY

DUPLICATION

PEOPLE PLACES

COMMS

TOOLS

EVENTS SERVICES

WEB

SOCIAL

BRAND

DISTINCTION

DIFFERENTIATION

Only with touchpoints working in harmony, and infused with the brand’s DNA can we be said to have achieved an Experience Signature

A way to express yourself to the world that both feels intuitively right and which simply couldn’t be someone else’s

WHAT AN EXPERIENCE SIGNATURE ISN’T

NOT YOUR BRAND

Your BRAND is who your are, what you stand for…it’s your story

If your brand is your ESSENCE, your Experience Signature is your PRESENCE

NOT YOUR PRODUCT

BRAND is who you are, PRODUCT is what you sell

Your Experience Signature enhances your products, reinforces why they exist, brings them to life and adds meaning to them

WHY DO EXPERIENCE SIGNATURES MATTER?

Because they lie at the heart of why one retailer differs from another in the minds of the people who shop there

An Experience Signature encapsulates all the things that a retailer is famous for

It encompasses the reasons we come back for more

The things we tell stories about, the things we tweet, blog and post

Most of all , an Experience Signature creates retail that is truly defensible over a lasting period of time

Or put another way, Retail’s Holy Grail

SOUNDS GREAT RIGHT?

Except for one thing

OTHERWISE KNOWN AS, THE PROBLEM

The number of retailers today who have achieved an Experience Signature is very small

OMNI-CHANNEL IN ACTION

Consumer Purchase

Multi-Channel Purchase Paths

And, in actuality, the number is shrinking as retail becomes more fragmented and complex

In certain categories Experience Signatures are not merely a rarity, they may be in danger of actually becoming extinct

THENCE, THE OPPORTUNITY

To tell shoppers who you are, what you are selling, why you exist and what you believe in

Most of all WHY YOU ARE DIFFERENT FROM THE OTHER GUYS!!!

And to do it at every touchpoint you have with your customers, every single day

SO, WHO IS DOING IT WELL?

The first things to say is that non-retailers are, for the most part, doing this much better than retailers

Virgin

But there are retailers which own best in class Experience Signatures - perhaps unsurprisingly they also represent best in class retail . Period

A BETTER EVERYDAY LIFE FOR THE MANY PEOPLE

TOOL

$0

COMMS

BOOKBOOK COMMS

SOCIAL

COMMS SOCIAL

EVENTS

EVENTS

WEB

TOOLS

TOOLS

PEOPLE

SPACES

SPACES

SPACES

SERVICES

SERVICES

BALLS O MEAT

WITH GRAVY

(AND LINGONBERRY JAM)

LITTLE TOUCHES

PEOPLE PLACES

COMMS

TOOLS

EVENTS SERVICES

WEB

SOCIAL

IKEA

And their masterstroke? I just described a completely unique retail ecosystem. And I didn’t mention the product once.

OK, SO WE SHOULD JUST GO BE IKEA?

IKEA Only sells its own products Which they also design and manufacture It only has one voice – its own And it only sells in its own stores

IKEA, Nike, Lego et al are stil l doing things amazingly well. But a Signature can be harder when you are a multi-category/brand retailer

And yet, the best retailers in the world have figured it out

SO, HOW DO WE GET THERE?

To achieve an Experience Signature you literally have to activate every touchpoint and infuse it with purpose, meaning and character

And while an Experience Signature isn’t the same thing as your brand, developing one begins with your brand

If you don’t know who you are or what you stand for, nothing else will work

It also begins with knowing your customers. At FITCH we plot the touchpoints leading to an Experience Signature against 3 shopper mindstates

D E L

Exploring Purchase intent in the category

Locating Specific product or service

Dreaming No specific purchase intent

Being inspired Learning

Having fun

Browse easily More information Narrow choices

Easy to find Useful reminders

Reassurance

PHD

Physical: The tangible – from objects that can be touched to settings that can be experienced

Human: Dynamic interactions – with individuals, employees and social groups

Digital: Electronic Tools – technologies that talk to everyone, or just talk to me

PHD

D E L

Through PHD/DEL we audit our client’s and their competitor ’s touchpoints, brainstorm new concepts and uncover opportunities

PHD

D E L

IN CLOSING…

100 years ago, at the birth of modern-day retail , Experience Signatures were the norm

Fueled by founders, who infused the retail brands they created with their heart and their soul

Guys like this guy

Exceptional service, selection and quality

Or this guy

Pile it high, sell it low

Or this guy

Or this guy

Or this guy

The theater of retail

But over time, we have lost our way, becoming more obsessed with the size of our operations, than what we stand for, or how we behave

We talked ourselves into the idea that size really does matter, and brawn has beaten out brain

But no-one falls in love with scale. They fall in love with brands that make shopping a delight every time. They fall in love with experience

The sort of experiences those early pioneers were all about, and which today’s retailers must rediscover, or risk becoming irrelevant

And that’s where we find ourselves today. Shelf after shelf of me-too products at discount prices and foot traffic fall ing at an alarming rate

To that end look at the impact of the decline of meaningful Experience Signatures on a single touchpoint - physical spaces

November and December Foot Traf f ic 40 bil l ion visits 30 20 10

Source:The Wall Street Journal

17.6 BILLION

2010

2011

2012

2013

November and December Foot Traf f ic 40 bil l ion visits 30 20 10

Source:The Wall Street Journal

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

Why does this decline in relevance of the physical space concern us so much?

Because in many ways physical stores remain the most robust of all the channels when it comes to meaningful and powerful touchpoints

Clearly, opportunities continue to be missed

Its time to reverse the tide. But, you will need an internal champion if you ever hope to achieve this aspirational goal we have discussed today

These guys were all over it

This guy is all over it today

A Champion

CEO

A Champion

Chief Experience Officer

Only then will this amazing industry called retail get the future it deserves And only then will those that shop our stores get the experiences that they yearn for

THANK-YOU

www.fitch.com