BRAND EXPERIENCES IN THEDIGITAL WORLD: BIG IDEAS & RELEVANT TRENDS FROM SXSW AND BEYOND

DIGITAL EXPERIENCE: A POV

THE WEB IS READY FOR ITS CLOSE-UP

THE NEXT BIG THING? CONTROLLING CHANCE

GAME ON! AND THEN YOU DIE, AGAIN & AGAIN

MOBILE PAYMENTS: FIX THIS EXPERIENCE

EXPERIENCE THIS! SOCIAL+LOCAL+MOBILE+LIVE

THE BIG DEAL ABOUT BIG DATA

CREATING SOCIAL RELATIONSHIPS

LEARN MORE

TABLE OF CONTENTS

“Loyalty counts more and costs less than awareness.” I read that in the Harvard Business Review in 2001. At the risk of snarky comments about aging HBR readers, I’d like to use it to set the stage for the following articles on key trends in digital brand experience in 2012, at SXSW and beyond, because it still gets at a fundamental issue.

When Kristen D. Sandberg wrote this 11 years ago, I believe she meant that marketers would get more bang for their buck by making customers love them than by spending lots of money to generate awareness. It’s an argument for depth of engagement over breadth of impressions.

Lots has changed in 11 years. In 2001, “awareness” meant traditional advertising, which was and still is expensive. In 2001, there was no Facebook, YouTube or Twitter; Google was still a private company run by 20-somethings. Mobile devices—fundamental to most of what we talk about at places like SXSW—were simply something to call home with.

Now, in 2012, “awareness” has become seemingly cheap-thanks precisely to all these inventions. P&G, the world’s biggest ad spender, announced it will reduce billions in its marketing spend by shifting its emphasis to digital marketing. The perception is that if brands just go digital they can tick off the awareness box at a discount. It’s tempting to simply replace one form of awareness with another and move from an expensive traditional model to an inexpensive digital one.

But that would be a mistake.

DIGITAL EXPERIENCE: A POVWhat we believe is absolutely critical for brands investing in the digital space—and that’s everyone, right?—is to build their digital strategy through the lens of experience. By “experience” we mean creating something that stands out, that’s special and memorable. It could mean a compelling use of a digital platform to enhance consumers’ experience of the brand. It could mean designing a new experience in the digital space that’s never been done before.

But it shouldn’t  just mean creating a video or attempting to “go viral”. In a world where consumers’ time and attention is more precious than ever, it is more important than ever to treat every touchpoint as special. Our own research shows 75% of consumers globally say “if a brand wants to get my attention it has to do something special”.

So yes, what I read all those years back is still true—though I might tweak it to say “Engagement counts more and costs less than awareness”. It’s even more true now, in a more digital world: making people love you not only keeps current customers sticky but also inspires admirers to talk about you.

Ultimately, digital brand experiences—and every brand experience is at least partially digital now—should be an answer to the question, “Am I making people love my brand?”

Liz Bigham is SVP, Director of Brand Marketing.

In a world where consumers’ time and attention is more precious than ever, it is more important than ever to treat every touchpoint as special.

THE WEB IS READY FOR ITS CLOSE-UP“We need an app.” If there's one phrase that throws me into a tizzy (like Madelyn Kahn in "Clue") it's this. Because 90% of the time you don’t (see footnote).

But while this app craze has at times made my job harder, I do think it has done something that is fundamentally great for the web: It has made people used to—nay, come to expect—simple, elegant and easy-to-use digital interfaces. And it is spreading into the platforms and sites we use on a daily basis.

Look at the most recent web success stories. Pinterest: visual, elegant simplicity. Instagram: it makes everyday moments look like high art with the simple touch of a "tree". About.me: it gives everyone an online portfolio Tyra Banks would smize over. Even Facebook, arguably one of the most non-aesthetic places on the web, added a timeline that puts the photos in your life at the forefront.

As a person who follows the KISS approach to UX design (keep it simple stupid), this is an exciting time for the web. I feel it must be like when (insert smart yet relevant analogy to architecture or art). 

Out: gradient metal sheens on over-animated sites. In: understated simplicity that allows people's lives and stories to take center stage. If you think about it, this is such a natural progression for our hyper-connected, global world. Not everyone speaks the same language, jargon, nomenclature, but we can all understand and be immediately affected by a photo.

Everything we do digitally has to play out across all our devices, therefore it has to be simple and visual. I won't take the time to read 100 words of copy on my phone, but I will get sucked in by clean design and powerful graphics.

Another exciting aspect of the beautification of the web: it levels the playing field. My (cough-cough) year-old mom and my four year-old daughter both use Instagram. They have different creative takes on the world, but it doesn’t matter. The beauty of this and all increasingly visual web experiences: it doesn't reward the most savvy or those with the most time on their hands; but the most passionate. And isn't that what we should always strive to do?

Leesa Wytock is VP, Digital Director.

Footnote: Instead of saying “I need an app,” what you really should be saying is “I need a mobile strategy”. An app is just one component of a larger campaign.

Everything we do digitally has to play out across all our devices, therefore it has to be simple and visual.

There’s a lot of buzz around the app Highlight coming out of SXSWi. It’s a clever combination of location-aware services tapping into social networks to help you see people physically nearby you might know or have something in common with. Other than abetting your voyeuristic streak, it’s trying to help you connect with other people, digitally and in-person.

It taps into a larger trend around managing serendipity that’s relevant online and at in-person events. We all love chance encounters with interesting people, or insights into our own world we get from learning about something totally unrelated. These chance encounters and connections are at the heart of innovation and creativity.

Where Highlight succeeds is by helping to manage and encourage those chance encounters. With a critical mass of socially-networked, app-downloading people (like at SXSW), you can use the app to meet new folks and have interesting conversations.

Some of the frustrations around this year’s SXSWi conference itself were precisely due to the feeling that there were fewer opportunities for chance encounters. For example, with so many focused “campuses,” it was much harder to jump from a session on user interface design to one on the neuroscience of marketing, without walking for 20 minutes and hoping you can get in.

We can’t control serendipity, but in our programs and experiences we certainly can embrace it.

Think about the experience, not your silos. It may be logical to organize content based on your internal organization, but it limits the breadth of the experience. Find ways of encouraging the cross-pollination of ideas. Create the space and opportunity for chance encounters. Physically and digitally in your marketing programs, create the space for the chance encounters to happen. If every minute of your program is mapped out in advance, you’re likely missing the opportunity to enrich the experience.

Use the tools that make sense for your audience. Not everyone has digital phones, nor is willing to give some app total access to their Facebook account. Let the interests and profiles of your audience guide which tools you embrace.

In short, we need to celebrate the context. Content is everywhere, and chances are your content could be accessed in other ways than your event or experience. The context around the content is what makes an experience so powerful—those chance encounters with new people, or different ideas. By incorporating serendipity into your planning, you’ll be taking advantage of the real opportunity your experience and program represents.

Tom Michael is a Senior Strategist.

THE NEXT BIG THING? CONTROLLING CHANCE

Physically and digitally in your marketing programs, create the space for the chance encounters to happen.

Marketing can’t ignore what some of us have known all along: that games are good for business. Now it’s a multi-billion-dollar industry.  Some of us have been competing our whole lives, and now it’s cool to be caught playing Words with Friends. We can point to large-scale studies to defend these once deemed “waste of time” activities.

And what about Minecraft, the amazingly simple block-building experience which has grown massively due to word of mouth? Underlying the success of Minecraft is something that we marketers have to keep in mind, and that’s the power of good storytelling. Some game experiences like Minecraft can tap into creativity, and innovative thinking. As a brand experience marketing engineer, those are the games we get excited by.

What's happened with gaming, as with photography, music and publishing, is that it has become totally accessible. All the pieces are in your pocket. Gaming is finally cool. We will soon have the study that proves that World of Warcraft staves-off early on-set dementia. That will be the day someone will have to shoot me, for real.

Our world is one big game, and we're all playing to win.

Steve Mooney is Managing Director of Jack Morton’s Boston office.  

For as long as I can remember, games have been my reason to be. Now, finally, I feel vindicated: a recent set of studies (covered in the Wall Street Journal) suggest that gaming improves creativity, decision-making and perception.

So games are good for you. What took so long?

Maybe it’s that nobody was paying much attention until Mark Zuckerberg came along with the biggest gameboard ever. Gaming is the new black and all marketing must be gamified. Is gamification even a word?

These new studies tell just half of the story. Those of us who traded GPAs for capture the flag back in the analogue days can tell you that gaming impacts more than meets the eye—not just creativity and decision-making but also leadership and entrepreneurialism. And here’s my beef: what's missing from most of the recent wildly popular games is invention. We've lost the chaos of having to dream up a game from scratch. Technology makes everything too easy. Where's the iPad game where players have to invent the game first, and then play it? We hear about professed improvement in laparoscopic surgical technique due to pushing those buttons. But what happened to picking teams, devising a winning strategy, and dealing with changing situations like when Billy quits because his sister schooled him? Black Ops and Red Dead Redemption have nothing on a five-hour marathon game of Risk.

GAME ON AND THEN YOU DIE, AGAIN AND AGAIN

Gaming is the new black and all marketing must be gamified.

After almost 20 years of minimal consumer-facing innovation in the payments vertical, all the recent buzz has centered around the notion of mobile payments. Why carry a wallet full of credit cards when your phone can do the same job and also incorporate loyalty points, coupons, and send real-time offers from Macy’s the minute you walk into Bloomingdales? Near Field Communication (NFC) solutions like Isis and Google Wallet and Cloud-based products like LevelUp are making big bets that consumers agree.

So, then, why is that mobile payments technologies have yet to take off? It was almost two years ago that Verizon, T-Mobile, and AT&T announced that they were forming the joint venture known as Isis. Arguably the most important reason: mobile payments brands have yet to clearly articulate a real value proposition to consumers to drive adoption.  What’s the experience consumers are truly looking for?  It’s not convenience; they’re bringing their wallets with them anyway.

The real opportunity for mobile payments brands is to make their experience absolutely simple, intuitive, and easy for a consumer to adopt offers, pay for something, and get credit at their favorite merchant. Asking consumers to take their phone out, open an app, select a card, and then pay is too much—especially if you factor in the guy standing in line behind you at Starbucks who just wants to pay for his morning latte with cash.

Companies should look to Amex and foursquare. Simply link your Amex to your foursquare account and the

statement credits start rolling in when you check-in to places. No special phones and special readers at the point of sale. No slowing of the check-out process. Just a great customer experience.

Which brings us to another very important issue: until all merchants accept mobile payments, mass adoption will never happen. Brands need to take away pain points for merchants, not add to them. Asking a local merchant to invest in NFC or some other modification to their POS just is not realistic. And until all dry cleaners and coffee shops take mobile payments, customers won’t care.

So, what are mobile payments brands to do? For one, leverage the power of experience and one-to-one marketing. Empowering early adopters (like all of the hipsters at SXSW) to share their experiences with the masses not only helps to make consumers aware but also breaks down adoption anxiety. People listen to nerds, especially when they have something interesting to say. Give early adopters a platform to become evangelists for mobile payments technology and watch consumers and merchants hop on board.

Doug Wilber is Director of Business Strategy.

MOBILE PAYMENTS: FIX THIS EXPERIENCE

The real opportunity for mobile payments brands is to make their experience absolutely simple.

“SoLoMo”—AKA “social + local + mobile”—is not only a great buzzword, it’s a hugely valuable phenomenon for any brand seeking to engage people through live events and experiences. (I think that includes just about every brand.) In most cases, people at events are already on their mobile devices snapping pictures, tweeting and checking in. By adding social + local + mobile to these experiences, we have a chance to engage in a conversation with attendees on multiple platforms, combining the in-person experience with online in real time and beyond any single event.

Social makes it easy for your customers to broadcast any message in their own voice, but they have to have something to talk about. Think about your event in terms of telling your story in an interesting way, and what an attendee might see or want to share. Is there something remarkable or compelling about your product that is “must-share,” or could it be the activation itself where people to talk about a great experience they had?

One of the stand-outs at SXSW 2012 was Chevy, which did a great job of amplifying and extending their reach by offering attendees a brand experience that addressed a real need: finding a ride around town. SXSW is spread out over dozens of Austin locations, and getting back and forth between venues can be a challenge. Brand ambassadors drove branded Chevy vehicles around the streets of downtown, offering free rides to any attendee. Attendees flagged down available cars and were taken wherever they needed to go.

It wasn’t a hard sell but a genuine experience with a product that solved a problem. Online response was tremendous, with thousands of tweets, photos and check-ins posted from in and around these mobile brand experiences.

If you want to make your live experience resonate SoLoMo style, think about how your activation fits a customer’s need or interest at a particular place and point in time. Facilitate the conversation: let it be natural and in your customer’s voice, but make sure you are giving them compelling reasons to talk beyond your brand or product message. Use technology to help measure and monitor the conversation, and participate in the conversation to maximize the impact and turn a point in time into an ongoing relationship.

Madelyn Varella is VP of Digital Strategy.

EXPERIENCE THIS! SOCIAL+LOCAL+MOBILE+LIVE

Think about your event in terms of telling your story in an interesting way, and what an attendee might see or want to share.

The old adage goes, “I know half my advertising dollars are wasted; I just don't know which half.” If you are ready to get a better idea, get ready to embrace Big Data. Slated to be a $50 billion industry by 2017, Big Data represents the unthinkably vast but now vastly less unwieldy mass of data available to companies to better understand their business, their customers and how to optimize their brand experience.

That, in a nutshell, is why Gartner predicts that by 2017 CMOs will outspend CIOs on information technology: because data can help them design better customer experiences and derive better marketing ROI. Smart marketers and their partners can turn mounds of data into actionable insights.

Here are three ways brands can leverage Big Data to design a better customer experience:

#1: Personalize to profitGrocery stores and online retailers have long used purchase history and basic demographic information to generate tailored offers for customers, but today’s targeting can go far beyond straightforward suggestive selling. Brands can personalize in-store experiences by providing sales associates with guidance to recommend products to shoppers. Facial recognition technology can trigger a customer’s favorite music to play in a dressing room. Purchase history can trigger outbound communications to customers with personalized offers. New information captured ensures that brand experiences get more personal every time.

#2: Accurate multichannel analyticsAs marketing channels continue to fragment across owned, earned and paid media, marketers are seeking new ways to show ROI. Big Data, when analyzed properly, provides a clearer picture of which brand experiences contribute the most to the brand’s bottom line and long term viability.

Accurate multichannel analytics can also help brands be more strategic in their marketing spends based on profiles audience’s initiatives resonate with most. Such analysis can determine key metrics regarding customer value: how much it costs to acquire customers and what budget must be allocated to retain them.

#3: Predictive analysisBetween sky-high distribution costs, an increasingly competitive market, and a digital landscape that enables consumers to make more informed decisions than ever, there’s never been a better reason for brands to get ahead of their consumers. Leveraging predictive analysis through Big Data is helping Walmart anticipate demand for water bottles before tornadoes hit and ADP call its business customers when the time is right to close a sale. Beyond increased sales and reduced operating costs, Big Data is helping companies like Walmart and ADP provide more relevant and value-laden brand experiences that consumers will seek out.

Ben Grossman is a Digital Strategist.

THE BIG DEAL ABOUT BIG DATA

Smart marketers and their partners can turn mounds of data into actionable insights.

No one has ever said, "I'm in a relationship with your brand." But the truth is, they are.

Psychologist Robert Sternberg identifies eight kinds of love based on three elements foundational to human relationships: Intimacy, Passion and Commitment. I hypothesize the relationship between a person and a brand can range from "Nonlove" (the absence of all three elements) and "Companionate Love" (which includes Intimacy and Commitment) to “Loyal Brand Advocates” (the best kind).

Psychology also teaches us that both human and brand relationships—good ones, that is—are based on similar values: transparency, communication, engagement, interaction, respect and authenticity. Interestingly, these same elements are applied to the social space by the most effective brand-driven experiences. Those brands that fail at activating the social media channel largely ignore these principles in their approach.

Getting social right is imperative to brand success. Why? According to recent research (from Chadwick, Martin & Bailey), "50% of consumers will purchase your brand after 'Liking' it on Facebook" and "51% of consumers will recommend your brand after 'Liking' it on Facebook." According to Erik Qualman's “Socialnomics,” only "14% of consumers trust advertising" whereas "90% of consumers trust peer recommendations".

Relationships are also based on experiences. Social media isn’t one and done.

Brands must create  true social experiences in order to activate relationships with their audiences. These experiences can range from brilliant hands-on product introductions to excellent customer service interactions. No one ever bought a multi-million dollar business solution because of a billboard. The same holds true for simply creating a Facebook page, Youtube channel or Twitter feed.

Social media is a relationship building platform. Experiences are different. Effective experiences tell a story, they are immersive, engaging, interactive, intimate, personal, authentic, the list goes on. Make sure your brand's social media presence is experience-based, not broadcast-based.

Finally, think in terms of ecosystem, not singular destinations. The tools and platforms available to us are incredible. Each one of these gives us a new way to engage with our audiences to build experiences which result in relationships. How are you using the latest Sharing, Playing, Networking, Buying and Localization tools in your ecosystem to create social media experiences for your audiences?  In the words of Deb Schultz, "Technology Changes, Human's Don't." Remember this as you build and manage your ecosystem. It's not about the platform. It's about the experience and ultimately, the relationship with your audiences.

Ian McGonnigal is SVP, Client Strategy and Brand Performance.

CREATING SOCIAL RELATIONSHIPS

Brands must create true social experiences in order to activate relationships with their audiences.

Like anyone I’m constantly changing the lenses through which I view brands and experiences. Expectations—what I think an experience is going to be like—are a massively distorting lens. If I’m expecting something to be great, and it’s merely pretty good, I see it through a lens of “disappointing”.

I had high expectations visiting SXSWi for the first time in 2012. I’ve attended scores of massively large-scale global-sized events in my time, so I felt well equipped to make assessments of the SXSW experience. I landed and was reminded I haven’t experienced everything.

Visiting the festival to see what brands were doing was the equivalent of people watching beach-goers at the first sign of spring. The spectacle was overwhelming. From the moment I landed, brands were clamoring to be the first to greet and welcome me to the beautiful city of Austin. I came prepared with my SXSW app along with the tech tips-and-tricks to finding what I needed while visiting. Even on my smartphone, brands were sneaking their way into the titles of sessions. It was apparent brands were desperately trying to be everything to everyone, everywhere.

Chevy did a great job at activating their sponsorship by tying their objectives to what attendees need; power stations everywhere for their electronics and free transportation in and around Austin. On the other hand, I knew that Miller Lite was a title sponsor, but I saw very little on-the-ground or technology-inclusion from their activation. And AMEX’s Jay-Z concert was amazing, but under-promoted (really).

As a brand experience agency, we collaborate with our clients to help them understand it’s not always wise to try and boil the ocean. At whatever level brands want to get involved, they should do it with strategy and purpose and make the most of it. It’s unwise to come to the beach without the right bottle of SPF tanning lotion.

Robb Trost is Director of Client Services.

SXSW: LIFE’S A BEACH

[At SXSW] brands were desperately trying to be everything to everyone, everywhere.

JACK MORTON WORLDWIDE is a global brand experience agency. We create experiences that strengthen relationships between brands and the people who matter most to them–thereby helping our clients become talked-about experience brands. Rated among the top marketing service agencies worldwide, we integrate live and online experiences, digital and social media, and branded 3D environments that engage and inspire consumers, business partners and employees. Jack Morton has a staff of 500 employees in the US, Europe and Asia-Pacific that drive our idea-led agency culture and is part of the Interpublic Group of Companies, Inc. (NYSE: IPG).

To join our conversation about how experience brands behave in the digital world, please connect with us online:

Web site: http://www.jackmorton.com/Blog: http://blog.jackmorton.com/Twitter: http://twitter.com/jackmorton

Learn More