Experience the Message

CHOOSE YOUR OWN SHOW

My friend Bruno Scartozzoni, who is one-third of a Sao Paulo-based new marketing agency called Storytellers and author of Stories We Like (in Portuguese), sent me this great post from Josh Spear. In short:

The most delicate challenge that all music festivals organizers have to overcome is putting together a lineup that pleases a large enough number of John and Jane Musicfans, but also convinces them the ticket is worth the price. It’s a make-it or break-it deal and determines whether the festival will be staged again in the future.

But let’s say you got to play curator and put together your own show befitting your tastes — seems like a shoe-in success, right? That’s precisely the approach the promoters of Sao Paulo’s annual Skol Beats electronic music fest is taking for this year’s event, set to take place at the end of September. It could set a regular concept into motion for other music fests.

Skol Beats just opened a special forum on their site this week to let the public discuss potential headliners and other supporting acts (even options for VJs and possible formats like indoor/outdoor, hours and venue). Fans are already excited about the idea of Justice, Erlend Oye and Air adding their names to the roster for an event that, in the past, has included acts like The Prodigy and Sao Paulo’s own DJ Marky. Skol Beats will present a shortlist of artists culled from the discussion for a final vote later, with results to be shared on August 22.

How cool is that?

THE EXPERIENCE IS THE PRODUCT

This quite fantastic post by Peter Merholz describes how the founder of Kodak revolutionized photography by simplifying the process, and in turn, looking at the Kodak camera as a service rather than a product.

This is fundamentally an experiential approach, one that is seemingly being ignored by plethora of "leading" brands and companies. So it is apt to share this excerpt from Merholz's awesome article:

"Why is it that what Eastman figured out over 100 years ago seems forgotten today? Why do so few products seem concerned with how they fit into the lives of their customers? (Been to a consumer electronics event recently?) Why is it that people still approach products as isolated entities, unconnected with the world around them?

A comment that sheds light on this comes from Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple:

When you start looking at a problem and it seems really simple, you don't really understand the complexity of the problem. Then you get into the problem, and you see that it's really complicated, and you come up with all these convoluted solutions. That's sort of the middle, and that's where most people stop....

But the really great person will keep on going and find the key, the underlying principle of the problem—and come up with an elegant, really beautiful solution that works.

That's what we wanted to do with Mac.
—from Insanely Great, written by Steven Levy

Until the last sentence, you might have thought he was taking about the iPod or even the iPhone. But the quote came from 1984, and demonstrates that transcendent product design is a matter of philosophy and approach. The reason product development has gone wrong is that people stop at the worst time—when the solutions are most convoluted.

What Eastman knew, what Jobs knows, is that you have to go beyond; you have to think about the experience people are having."

The post goes on to talk about an increasingly complex but integral aspect of modern marketing and branding: experience design.

Great read. Click here now.

Will measurability and misperception spook experiential marketing?

Here's a well-written and well-reasoned article on the measurability of experiential marketing, and I'm not just saying that because I'm quoted in it.

I think it is a good estimation of some of the leading thinking around the subject, one which is bound to get people talking for some time to come. In fact, if the nut of measurability is cracked soon, then experiential marketing will help to augur in a completely new mindset for marketing and advertising. (But they said the same thin about traditional media advertising and its capacity for engagement and effectiveness, and we all know the jury is still out on that.)

Here's my favorite part of the article (and yes, it's because I said it.):

But there are others, however, that believe that the concept of measuring ROI isn't even applicable to experiential marketing. Lenderman, for instance, views present ROI measurement as obsolete and archaic; a short-term measurement that is largely based upon the sales that occur after a campaign runs.

"There is a common misperception that experiential marketing has to be tactile in nature. What they don't understand is that experiential is a methodology that is applied equally to every media. So asking for ROI on experiential is an impossible question."

Lenderman highlights the studies of retail specialist Paco Underhill, who has demonstrated that two-thirds of retail purchases are unplanned. "Two-thirds of purchases have nothing to do with that ad that you ran - but still traditional advertisers and marketers are saying that if they see a blip on the screen in sales after their ad runs then that is their ROI!" Lenderman explains.

"We are not Pavlovian dogs nor trained monkeys," he continues. "We tend to internalise messages and make a concerted and rational decision at a later time." As such, Lenderman proposes a new term on which experiential firms base their measurement: return on experience (ROE).

"ROE is a much more long-term perspective," he explains. "After a consumer has participated in an experiential area, sure we can measure the first month, but why not measure the six months after that? Or a year? If it is a test drive, for instance, perhaps the customer wasn't even going to buy a car for a few months. Or maybe a year or two later they remember the great experience they had in the test drive. The measurement of ROI is focused on short-term, and that is a totally different mindset than when you are talking about marketing experiences."

And there are other points to consider in the experiential marketing business case according to Lenderman, not least that it contracts the purchase cycle. "Customers could have months and months of seeing the same TV ad before they go out and buy the goods but with experiential you are wowed at that moment and are more likely to buy it there on the spot," he emphasises. "The Smart car launch in North America is focused on test drives to allow people to buy it there and then and they are finding that 85% of people are intending to buy the car after the test drive. It shrinks the time it takes between marketing message and purchase. I think any CEO would be interested in something that contracts your purchasing cycle by 10-20%, rather than comparing how many widgets they sold before the campaign versus after."

THE CELLPHONE PANACEA

In my research for the next book, concerning marketing and innovation in BRIC countries, I have been struck by the importance of the mobile handset for not only commercial purposes but existential ones as well.

The so-called third screen is alive and well in countries at the bottom of the pyramid. And its use in countries like Ghana, India and Uzbekistan will be the primary roadmap for future products and services that we will soon be buying.

But the cellphone is also something more. It is a tool to not only communicate and connect. It is a tool to engage. This story in the New York Times Magazine is a must-read. Enjoy.

I'M SUCH A TOOL....

...but I'm going to drop a little bit of self-serving props with this. Sorry in advance, but it's not every day that one has the word "bible" attached to one's work.

I LOVE THIS IDEA

Old, but still awesome.

I LOVE THIS AD

Thanks to Erik Hauser for my enlightenment.

GUITAR HERO REDUX

Readers of this blog -- which I am remiss to update frequently (mea culpa) -- remember my post about the popular video game Guitar Hero.

It is no surprise, therefore, that my good friend Erik Hauser has written a better column (in Ad Rants, no less) on the subject.

His tidy but ADD-riddled missive about how Guitar Hero can help marketers understand the sweeping forces of the new, experience-based engagements is a must-read.

Hey, we know what consumers are demanding from their brands and services. The signs are popping up everywhere.

PS. Sorry for the dearth of posts. I'm in the throes of finishing my second book -- still untitled -- and time is at a premium.

EXPERIENTIAL MARKETING DELIVERS RESULTS

Here's more research to add to the fodder of XM success stories. Two articles today in major US publications point out that experience-based marketing is increasingly a go-to methodology for marketers.

The first survey published in Adweek points out that, among other results, "event marketing can increase a consumer's purchase intent by up to 52 percent." That's no number to ignore.

The second survey appears on CNN, from Jack Morton. As we in the industry already witness, experiential marketing is a growing business. Check out all the eye-opening results at www.jackmorton.com.

ETM 101: THREE ARTICLES OF NOTE

I'm not sure why I haven't posted this from AdWeek before. It's been on my desktop for a few weeks. It provides an ample round-up of some of the experiential work being done in the US. (Albeit, some of the examples are a bit dated.)

The second article from MediaPost is a bit more self-serving: I'm quoted in it. It deals with social networks and how brands are trying to cash in.

The third article is from Ad Age and presents a story about Unilever's major ad buy for the Super Bowl that came outside of it's traditional agencies. Interesting, indeed.

VIDEO (GAMES) KILLED THE RADIO STAR

I think the following says it all (although I've been saying it a lot lately):

In the two months since MTV Networks and Harmonix released the music-based videogame "Rock Band," players have purchased and downloaded more than 2.5 million additional songs made available after the game's initial distribution. Activision, meanwhile, said it has sold more than 5 million new songs via download for "Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock" since it began adding downloadable content in early November.

By comparison, it took wireless operator Sprint four months to sell 1 million songs on its over-the-air full-song download service. While new digital music services competing with iTunes and free peer-to-peer services have struggled to convince music fans to pay $1 for a single, downloadable tracks for games like "Rock Band" and "Guitar Hero" are flying off the digital shelves.

Is it any wonder that social networks developed from gaming will be the next killer app? Or widget? Or whatever the VC guys say it is?

Here's more context:

"With such a low installation base, we didn't think that there'd be 2 million songs sold in eight weeks," MTVN Music Group/Logo/Films division president Van Toffler said. "We live in a rough time around music where our audience struggles to pay $20 for a CD but don't hesitate to pay $50 for a game. The notion to pay 99 cents or $1.99 to have a song and repeatedly play with it apparently isn't a big hurdle."

The original "Rock Band" and "Guitar Hero" games shipped with more than 50 licensed songs each, a mix of master recordings and covers. Since then, "Rock Band" has made new music available every week as either singles or in three-pack bundles that can be added as new playable levels for between 99 cents and $5.50. "Guitar Hero III" did the same, focusing on three-song bundles of new music and music featured in previous versions of the game....

...MTVN already has plans to expand its outreach to artists, creating additional game expansions -- as both physical products and downloadable content -- around specific music genres and even artists.

"We are talking to tons of bands, from indie to the most established ... to release not necessarily their entire catalog, but maybe some of their classic albums and do special packages around that," Toffler said.

What's more, there's no reason for "Guitar Hero" and "Rock Band" to be the only videogames that sell music. It's only a matter of time before other games begin offering new downloadable soundtracks as well.

Titles like the "Madden" football series, the Tony Hawk skateboarding franchise and the venerable "Grand Theft Auto" games are well known for their extensive soundtracks. Offering gamers the ability to replace their soundtracks every few months after the initial release is not only technically possible with today's new-generation consoles, but also on the horizon.

Get ready, folks. It's a whole new (better) world out there.

MOST CONTAGIOUS

I love these guys. Especially since I have worked on a few of the campaigns they reference (no disclosure here!). Enjoy the read (in PDF).

THE NEW YEAR'S BEST SOCIAL MEDIA

I love this idea. Here's a piece about a form of social media that is wholly disregarding of technology (sort of) and social networks. All it takes is one ton of confetti.

Yeah, confetti. Messages and wishes for the new year from people around the world will float down on the New Year's Eve revelers in Times Square in New York City when the confetti is dropped.

For the first time, anyone can get a message printed on a piece of the multicolored confetti by visiting the Times Square Information Center or by using the Internet to type a message on a "Wishing Wall Online."

That's pretty cool! Talk about a message in a bottle.

The message-carrying pieces will be mixed among the more than one ton of confetti, organizers said. Messages can be serious or silly, said Tim Tompkins, a spokesman for the Times Square Alliance, which organizes the party.

So far, messages have included everything from wanting to be taller or having a smarter boss to healthy children and asking for the safe return of a child from Iraq, he said. "Peace in the World," reads one posted on the "virtual wishing wall."

"Another person wrote that they wanted their husband to get a green card so that they could join them here in the states," Tompkins told WABC-TV.

Here's to a great New Year!!!!! I wish the husband a green card.

WORST BRAND EXTENSIONS OF 2007

I believe that, done right, a brand can experientialize itself through a compelling and contextual line extension. One only has to look at the luxury goods market to see how brands like Gucci, Ferrari, Prada, Louis Vuitton, Ralph Lauren and Chanel have grown their business through smart (and sometimes not so smart) brand extensions. Can anyone deny that the iPhone (or even iPod) made Apple a more experiential brand?

I've also written on "branded brands" as well. Both methods offer up an enhanced experience, and therefore important in the field of experiential marketing.

But here comes a great article in Brandweek about bad brand extensions...really bad brand extensions. Something like this:

"...The most questionable food extension went to Hooters energy drink (32.5%), Bumble Bee Prime Fillet Chicken Breasts (21.9%) and Trump Steaks (21.1%).

Hooters has the dubious distinction of winning a worst brand extension category for the second time in the four years the survey has existed. Hooters Airline, which has since been grounded, was the other."

Study also looks at the best line extensions out there. What do we think of extensions like:

"The brands that did it right found a way to create innovative, successful extensions that are in harmony with the core brand. PetSmart PetsHotel was voted best brand extension by 34.3% of respondents. Huggies Little Swimmers sunscreen was second (29%) followed by Disney’s Fairy Tale wedding gowns (23.3%) and American Idol camp (13.4%)."

It's a fascinating read.

SO POWERFUL IT HURTS

This is why I got in this game. This is why I am proud to be an experiential marketer. When I first learned of this campaign, I actually shed a tear. Amazing stuff. I am so indebted to Ryan at Gigunda Group for creating this "campaign," in that not only has he and his team created something compelling and extraordinary, he has actually changed the world around us...for the better.

I am moved beyond description every time I see this. I just presented the clip at a conference in Sydney, and I could literally feel the hearts and minds of the audience metaphorically sigh in empathy and sublime appreciation for being human.

HALO, MY NAME IS...

Okay, never mind that Halo 3 grossed over $300 million in its opening weekend (and $170 million inteh first 24 hours), sinking that Leo stinker Titanic as the best-selling piece of popular entertainment in the history of mankind.

I'm jaded enough not to doubt the power of a single video game to crush the dull-witted Hollywood product machine. (I've been in meetings where C-level execs have publicly marveled at the money generated by the Halo franchise, and Hollywood suits bemoan their box office deficits due solely to the countless hours of teens playing the game in the weeks following its launch.)

And I'm an ECD for an experiential agency, so you know I dig the marketing muscle behind the Halo 3 launch, too. It's on record. And now there's even more to dig on, baby.

A little feature in Halo 3 is, in my humble opinion, another one of those (r)evolutionary pieces of "gameplay" that can fundamentally alter how we view entertainment and content. It's called the Theater feature. According to this article in MediaPost by Shankar Gupta:

The Theater allows you to record your exploits in the "Halo 3" campaign or in multiplayer, play them back, screenshoot them, and then collect them from Bungie.com through your "Halo 3" Service Record. So, when you drive your ATV up onto a crane arm and jump on the back of a gigantic walking robot, you can record that moment and play it back again and again. This is an especially cool move by "Halo 3" developer Bungie because of the "Halo" franchise's history with the machinima community.

If you haven't heard of machinima, click through that Wikipedia link -- it'll give you some good background. One of the first breakout hits of the machinima genre was "Red vs. Blue," a comedy short series filmed using the Halo engine. The series went five seasons, and was enormously popular, attracting a million viewers per episode.

But the process of creating machinima isn't very easy, especially for the less technically inclined. By offering the Theater feature, Bungie has brought the possibility of these creations to a broader audience--something that few video game developers have ever bothered with. Although it's unlikely that any high culture will come from "Halo 3"'s Theater (the vast majority of videos probably feature people killing their friends in remarkably humiliating ways) bringing an element of content creation to an otherwise straightforward genre is definitely an innovative move.

This is the latest progression into truly democratic content production, in that the tools will be accessible on a much wider scale than they are today. I mean, you still need an expensive camera to create a sitcom. All the talk about CGM doesn't negate the necessary equipment to make it watchable or more.

But a video game that lets you create content from the video game itself...well, that's just freakin' brilliant. Couch junkies and game-heads unite! You are now a collective Stanley Kubrik. And I mean this as a good thing.

I'm surprised how little attention this little feature has received from marketers and creatives. We've all seen the Coke/Grand Theft Auto work. When is Master Chief going to shill for Zune? Or at least star in the next Saturday Night Live skit?

A bit more here.

PRODUCT PLACEMENT GETS EXPERIENTIAL

Readers of this blog will know my interest in product placement. It stems from my experiential bent for engagement and context. There's nothing worse than bad product placement -- overt and reeking of commercialism. It's eyeball hunting at its worst.

However, contextual product placement is a different matter altogether. It espouses engagement, and in doing so, is adopted by the viewer as a benefit rather than a detraction to the viewing experience. Marketing messages therefore are welcome, because they are embedded when and where the viewer is most responsive and receptive to them.

This story from MediaPost describes an evolution of product placement, one that is quite experiential in nature:

"Storyline placements are growing as the industry becomes more sophisticated about product integration deals," says Annie Touliatos, director of product development, Nielsen Product Placement. "Meanwhile, we're seeing a steady decline in background placements."

Nielsen's first-half product placement data demonstrate these trends, at least on cable networks, which accounted for 82% of the nearly 249,000 total TV placement occurrences logged by Nielsen.

Products being incorporated in the storyline accounted for 3,500, or just 2%, of the 204,000 total placements on the five cable networks tracked (A&E, Bravo, HGTV, MTV and TLC). But that represented a leap of 143% for the period, compared to first-half 06.

Foreground placements, representing 24% of the total, jumped 29%, to 49,181. Getting a brand shown on a T-shirt or other piece of wardrobe was the most prevalent tactic, accounting for 54,973, or 27%, of occurrences (up 4%).

Okay, other than the fact that the most popular tactic is probably the most lazy one, the rise in storyline product placement only strengthens the argument that marketing must add to the experience, not detract from it. Also, marketers have to work harder. Storyline placement is leaps and bounds beyond t-shirt placement in terms of sophistication, engagement and context.

And another quick note:

Overall, however, incidences of placements were down 7% on cable but up 40% on broadcast.

Is it no surprise that viewers are flocking to cable?

YOU DON'T HAVE TO TOUCH IT TO FEEL IT

Hey folks, sorry for the no-posts. The travel and client demands really add up. Blah!

Anyway, I wanted to share with you a piece of work that EMF's Erik Hauser has put together to drive home his latest message about experiential marketing: it doesn't have to be a sampling or event thing. It doesn't have to be tactile. (I'm on the fence with this point.)

Experiential marketing can encompass everything, including TV. He uses this video to prove the point. Is the clip experiential? You decide.

It's Too Cheese

So here's a campaign for Saputo Cheese. Write-up says it all:

Saputo Cheese USA Inc. is partnering with Crayola for an on-pack promotion with its Frigo Cheese Heads brand.

Eight million specially marked packages of Frigo Cheese Heads string cheese will carry an offer for a free 16-pack of Crayola Pip-Squeaks washable markers with three proofs of purchase and $1 shipping and handling. Riddles and jokes will appear on each individual cheese stick wrapper.

A full-page FSI with $2 off coupons drops Oct. 7 to 28 million households.

A microsite at frigocheeseheads.com visitors can play games and download pictures to color. People can also find nutrition information about their favorite Frigo string cheese product on the site.

P-O-P, in-store signage and online marketing also support the promotion.

Great. Standard promotion. But why wouldn't the brand manager make it experiential? Why not package each cheese stick as a crayon, instead of just dropping a logo on the package? I mean, string cheese looks like a crayon. How experiential would it be to make each single-serve of cheese to look like a crayon? It's simple: instead of a regular standard promotion, why would you not experientialize it?

Just my $.02.

TAKE THE EXPERIENTIAL FORUM GLOBAL SURVEY!!!!

I strongly urge all to go to this link and complete the short global survey on experiential marketing, sponsored by the IXMA and Brandweek / Adweek.

Erik Hauser and his panel of advisers (Barbara, Robert, Bud, etc.) at the IXMA have done a fabulous job putting this survey together and forging an alliance with authoritative pubs like Brandweek and Adweek. Kudos!

TAKE THE SURVEY!!!!!

POP-UP CUISINE

I've been a huge proponent of pop-up retail and store-front experiences. So it is great to hear of the concept taking root in fine dining as well.

According to this bit on PSFK, there is a pop-up restaurant in Australia that is refining the concept to new heights:

The “gypsy kitchen” has no fixed location and their menu changes each week. If you book a reservation now, you will be on a waiting list of 4000. If you do get in, only the night before will you get the email or text message telling you exactly where you’ll be eating.

Still interested? Zingara Cucina, Melbourne’s biggest culinary mystery, is a fine-dining experience housed in obscure locations that has won the kind of word-of-mouth accolades most legitimate establishments only dream about.

It began almost three years ago when dinner parties held for friends by the operator and chef developed a cult following. Now, Zingara has developed into a weekly dining experience, roaming inner-city locations from car parks to lanes, rooftops, bridges, beaches and galleries.

The chef will not reveal his identity except to say he is not a professional, was taught to cook by his Italian grandmother and mother, and works in an advertising agency during the day. He says that “fine dining has become boring.”

The cuisine is Italian casalinga (home style) and customers pay as they see fit.

I love it! An ad man who doesn't demand fees! Is it all crazy out there down under?

Blowing In the Wind

Well, the Internet has finally surpassed radio. According to this article:

eMarketer, a firm that tracks and analyzes spending trends across various media, is pegging Internet ad spending at $21.7 billion, compared to $20.4 billion for radio. eMarketer's report comes as the Internet already has surpassed outdoor ad spending, and as a recent report from equity firm Veronis Suhler Stevenson predicts that the Internet will displace television as the No. 1 ad medium by 2011.

In other non-related but equally telling news:

New consumer research from Leichtman Research Group, Inc. based on a survey of 1,300 households throughout the United States, found that over one in every five households in the United States now have a Digital Video Recorder, up from about one in every thirteen households just two years ago.

Other key findings include:

The mean household income of DVR owners is 33% above average
53% of DVR owners say that they have an HDTV set
45% of DVR owners record five or fewer programs per week
84% of DVR owners rate the ability to skip commercials as very important
Only 8% of DVR owners say it is the greatest benefit of having a DVR

Does anyone still believe that traditional forms of advertising are going to be relevant in 10 years?

WHEN I GROW UP...IN ADVERTISING

From the mouth of babes. What more to be said?

XM DEFINED?

Here's a great piece on experiential marketing from MyCustomer. I enjoyed reading it, and although I have some reservations about the points it raises, I do believe there are some strong arguments in the piece for more XM being embraced by marketers worldwide. Here's a choice quote:

The idea behind EM is to bring the brand ‘face to face’ with customers to demonstrate brand values and build customer expectation – it is this face to face demonstration that makes it a child of FM. EM techniques strive to forge deeper emotional connection with targeted groups and individuals by use multi-sensory stimulation. They include events, product placement, brand spaces, education classes and ultimately opportunities for customer co-creating. This is where it points the way to the future of customer experience.

What EM is not, and has been much mistaken for, is product promotion with entertainment thrown on top. Dressing sampling staff up as drag queens to sell more bleach, as one company did, is amplified product promotion, it is not experiential marketing, ie. demonstrating brand values!!

Good stuff. Enjoy the read.

KNOW LOGO

A quick piece in Brandweek cites a study in which thousands of teens were queried on their conversations and interactions among each other. The study says that:

Members of Generation Y have 145 conversations a week about brands, which is twice the rate of adults.

"They are extremely engaged in conversations about brands," said Brad Fay, COO of The Keller Fay Group, a New Brunswick, N.J., word-of-mouth consultancy whose TalkTrack survey canvassed 2,046 teens ages 13-17 during the first five months of the year.

Teens aren't just conversing about brands; they're talking about advertising as well. More than half (57%) said they cite marketing and media in their conversations compared to 48% of adults.

"Teens are highly plugged into pop culture and brands are a big part of that culture," said Fay. Products and their ads "are conversation currency."

Oi vey. The ad industry is giving teens their social currency. How depressing. What ever happened to talking about girls (or boys), scoring front-row seats to a show, looking for trouble (and finding it) on a Saturday night? Do teens really sit around and discuss the finer points of the Fourth Meal campaign?

So which brands are leading the conversation? Few will be surprised that Apple's perennial favorite, the iPod, led the pack, followed by American Eagle, Dr Pepper, Chevrolet and Nintendo, respectively.

Okay, I'm certain more than a few debates are merited for Mac vs PC. Enough of my self-righteous whining and deprecating cynicism. The article continues:

Cyber-savvy teens scored higher than adults in online brand mentions as well. GenYers are three times more likely to talk about a brand online (via text, instant messaging, e-mail, chats or blogs) than adults. Some 19% of teen word-of-mouth happens online versus 7% for adults.

Still, 61% of brand word-of-mouth mentions still happen offline, even if it's happening the same time as an online or text conversation.

"[Teens] are more socially enabled than someone working in an office 9 to 5," said Doug Akin, managing partner at Mr. Youth, a Gen Y marketing agency in New York. "They have more multichannel conversations. [Aside from just hanging out], they are texting. They are online. They are on Facebook. On these social networking sites, they are likely to stumble across a marketing message and act on it."

Oh wait. The cynicism is back. But this time, the vitriol isn't for the slack-jawed stoner kids playing with their Wiis. The bitterness is directed squarely at the typical marketing response: fuck it up for the kids with our fake-ass, bullshit marketing. Wait, there's a bit more:

Not to mention, "Brands are badges for teens," said Fay. "You are at a period in your life when you are trying to discover your true identity. Brands can be a short-cut in defining yourself."

I can't take it no more. Are we arrogant enough to truly believe that we as marketers and brand managers are helping teens discover themselves? Are we now on par with teachers and educators? Are we the quick-fix every teen has yearned for since time immemorial? What utter rubbish.

Some other stuff was in the article, like what teens talk about and such (movies, games, sports...duh). I just wish it was Saturday night, and not Tuesday. I feel like getting in trouble.

RETRACTION

My colleague at Hungama was up-in-arms about the plagiarism of Experience the Message in a column for The Hindustan Times.

His determined efforts to get a retraction and apology have paid off. Here it is. Click on the image for a larger version.

THE HINDUSTAN TIMES!

What are the odds?

On my third morning in Bombay, I was sufficiently unjet-lagged enough to enjoy the early morning breakfast offered at the hotel. After negotiating the magnificently meandering halls of the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, I found the salon where guests were treated to a mish-mash of global breakfast fare: from lox, bangers and croissants to masala, corn flakes and camembert. The salon was a splendor of 19th-century colonial rule and etiquette (the Taj Mahal Palace is over 100 years old) overlooking the Gateway of India, a symbol of British entry to and exit from (both inglorious) this overwhelming country.

My tea was poured over pungent Darjeeling, a tuxedoed waiter lit my first Marlboro of the day and two local newspapers were placed at my side. It was a perfect way to start a morning.

This trip almost didn’t happen. I was supposed to be here two weeks ago, but had visa hang-ups. A few frantic phone calls and a hefty fee to a broker got me the right paperwork for the trip, and after a slight delay, I was in-country.

After a couple of days of all-day meetings and all-night drinks, I was scheduled for a tour of Dharavi in the early afternoon. (This was an eye-opening experience. Anyone who knows this place in Bombay knows what I’m talking about.) The morning was open enough for me to read the two papers cover-to-cover…and I’m glad I did.

The Times of India was devoured first. The second – The Hindustan Times – was uncorked with my second Marlboro. I found most of the articles echoing the Times, until I reached the business section of the HT. Delightedly, I stopped at a headline describing something very dear to my heart: experiential marketing.

The headline – The New-Age Marketing – certainly caught my attention. But the use of “experiential” in the first paragraph really got me stoked. The article itself is very well-written, insightful, contextual and wholly applicable. Allow me to reproduce it here in its entirety:

In today’s hyper competitive scenario, more than three quarters of the money and time spent by companies go towards acquiring and retaining customers. Customer-centricity is the buzzword. Positioning companies, services or products is a technique which helps in easy brand recall due to its approach of occupying separate place in customer’s mind.

Experiential marketing helps the customer in retaining and recalling the service or product offered by companies. In other words, “Experiential marketing helps brand marketers gain valuable insight by interacting directly with consumers outside mass-media landscape”.

Experiential marketing is the next marketing methodology that can bridge the disconnect between customers' increasing demand to engage marketers and brands on their own terms and the slow-footed reluctance of traditional marketers to move away from mass-media marketing.

Today, traditional marketers continue to contend that mass media is still relevant to the customer, especially while launching a new brand. However, they need to understand that there is an increasing demand for out-of-box ideas and experiences that the mass media may or may not be able to offer.

An experiential approach to launch a brand may be more effective and relevant than anything that television/print advertisements will offer. For example, Mahindra Tractors wanted to launch their Hy Tec brand which was a strong hydraulic tractor aiming to help farmers saw the field.

To show this technology to the farmers they engaged them through a technique in which sensors were fixed to the hydraulic and a large LCD monitor was placed for the farmers, which captured the movement of the cultivator on an ECG graph. This activity was easily understood and remembered by the farmers and the sales graph was tremendously increased.

Experiential marketing provides experience of the brand and not just the product. The innovations, designs and concepts cut through the clutter of thousands of impressions that people are bombarded with each day. The innovative and multi-dimensional experiences create emotional resonance; strengthen the bond between Brand Identity and Brand Loyalty.

An experiential approach to launch a brand may be more effective and relevant than anything that television advertisements can offer. One of the best example is Absolut vodka. In Australia, Absolut Vodka launched a brand called “Cut”, through a strictly experiential marketing point of view. Using public relations, point-of-sale, online and event marketing, Absolut was able to eschew traditional advertising altogether, something unheard of when launching a spirits brand.

In a rather astounding bow to experiential marketing over mass marketing, Absolut leased two bars in Sydney and Melbourne, put on DJ sets, band concerts and photo exhibitions in these spaces. Visitors to the Absolut Cut bars got a free bottle of Cut, and consumers were given a chance to contribute their photos to the exhibits, generating what Absolut hoped would be a viral element to the campaign. The campaign flew in the face of traditional ways to launch a brand. Instead of using mass marketing to blanket the millions in order to reach the few, Absolut chose to target the few to eventually reach the masses.

A strong brand can no longer shield a company from competition, nor can it ensure that customers stay loyal to it. Products are also becoming congested with too many features, making it difficult for the customer to distinguish one product from another. This environment forces brand managers to find new ways to create and maintain a relationship between their product or service and the customer in a way that makes their brand more than just a fancy nameplate in front of a product.

Perhaps this is why some leading companies are choosing to forgo brand extensions for something more experiential. As empowered customers are increasingly demanding better products and services, and thereby disproving the notion of brand loyalty, brands are beginning to team up with each other to offer customers a new type of brand that answers this demand.

It is now no longer surprising to see two, three, or four separate brands combine their core competencies to launch a so-called "branded brand." Like Rin and Surf Excel, the leading clothes washing bar, coming together with the dual branded bar.

Customers are more skeptical than before about marketing and advertising, and often tune out marketing messages completely. This only becomes imperative for brand managers to find out and appreciate how their brand is understood by the customer and how they are interacting with them differently than before. By engaging in experiential marketing campaigns, brand marketers are able to gain valuable insight into this realm by interacting directly with consumers outside of the mass-media landscape.

With Indian markets getting more complex and demanding, mass media is working less and less. Today, the best marketers have a skew that is 55:45 mass media to experiential marketing. According to a study done by HPI Research Group, 68 per cent of surveyed marketing executives spent more on experiential marketing in 2006 than in 2005 and half of those executives expect to increase spending in 2007. Currently, BTL holds 15 per cent of the total advertising expenditure which is expected to grow by another 10 per cent in the coming years.

Brands are now also being driven by the customer themselves, through experiential elements like Converse's co-creation marketing or Nike's iD system, design your own shoes. Nike came up with an innovative idea to gauge customers by giving them an experience of being themselves. Customers can design their shoes according to their likes and dislikes, material, colour, shape etc… which was definitely creating an identity for themselves.

More far reaching is what experiential marketing holds for the future of our everyday experiences with brands and services. Experiential marketing can make brands important again. Instead of marketers spending their time on new products, line extensions, or new-and-improved packaging, they should concentrate on their existing marketing strategies to see how they are engaging, benefiting and empowering their customers.

This is an excellent article! And about 85% of it is lifted directly from my book.*

Imagine my surprise when reading this piece, written by Priya Monga, business head at RC&M. I laughed out loud, looked around the luscious salon, took a glance at the Gateway of India outside the window, and asked myself: “what are the odds?”

I was published in India. Well, not me per se. But my words were in print in The Hindustan Times. The Hindustan Times! What are the odds that I would read this in person, physically, and not online? And what are the odds that I would be in the country when the article was published? Clearly this is an omen, no? And if so, what can it possibly mean?

By the way, if anyone knows Priya please point out some of the other great writing in the book. I suggest pages 1-312.

*Starting on p. 292 in the Canadian publication (red cover) and p. 298 in the US version (yellow cover).

Bombay Beautiful

I've arrived in Bombay, aka Mumbai, after a pleasant 32-hour sojourn via London and New Delhi, and although I should be passing out right now, I simply can't. A quick walk around the hotel in this teeming and sultry city has got me juiced.

I'm a good traveler. Rather, I think myself good at adaptation and superficial assimilation with cultures other than my own.

I was born in Russia and emigrated to the US when I was a boy. I've taken courses in London and found myself on a Eurorail train all too often. I did a Peace Corps stint in Chad, Africa for far too long. And between Venezuela, Jamaica, Mexico, Argentina and Uruguay I had that hemisphere covered.

But Bombay has got me spinning. More importantly, it has been extremely welcoming. I'm here to research my next book, and the folks here who are helping me have been extraordinary. I am set to meet with COO Kaushik Mukherji and his team at Hungama. (What an amazing company!) I will also be meeting with Yashesh Shethia at Chlorophyll (again, a top concern). And Bobby Pawar, the head creative at Mudra, has promised me many drinks at his favorite bar. What more can a guy ask for?

The hospitality and warmth and aid that has already been given me is heartwarming. I hope to learn and take in, but more importantly, experience. I know that there is much to learn here. What a chapter in the book this will be.

STRIPPER MARKETING...AND OTHER ARTICLES OF NOTE

Check out this little article about strippers and the dynamic way they get money out of guys' wallets. I'm no prude. I dig strippers. But I never thought of the strip bar as an incubator for great marketing (I thought it an incubator for more unseemly things). But hey, true knowledge comes from the most unlikely places.

According to this article, the future of rich content and content delivery is beginning to take shape, as Joost inks an unprecedented deal with Viacom's VH1:

...the Viacom-owned channel will premiere the entire season of its new scripted comedy series "I Hate My 30s" exclusively on the upstart Internet TV service on July 16 -- 10 days ahead of the series' broadcast premiere.

...In landing "I Hate My 30s," Joost is elbowing for position among the growing pack of digital platforms such as Apple's iTunes and Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox striking exclusive content deals. For Viacom, the deal indicates the continuation of its digital distribution strategy that involves neither Google's YouTube, which it targeted with a $1 billion lawsuit in February, nor the upcoming joint venture between NBC Universal and News Corp.

Joost also has made deals with Warner Music Group, Turner Broadcasting and Sony Pictures Television and will be part of the CBS Interactive Audience Network set to launch this summer.

Booze brands are certainly getting the consumer evangelist revolution. The latest Smirnoff campaign, according to this article, is launching a campaign that sees Smirnoff searching for 10 people from across the world to represent its brand and retrace the heritage of the vodka.

The group, dubbed The Smirnoff Ten, will travel together for one year in a journey that each team member will document through short films, blogs, photos and other media. The content will appear on Smirnoff.com and other Web sites, including YouTube, which will house a Smirnoff-branded channel featuring the group and its travels. The content will also appear in TV, radio and print ads.

Another alcohol brand, Chivas Regal, has run a similar program for the last three years.

It searches each year for two brand ambassadors that it pays $100,000 to act as international representatives to travel the world and document their experiences, all in the name of the well-known Scotch whisky. The experiences are documented and posted online at ChivasCircle.com. In a recent development, Chivas Regal launched an online channel, hosted by MSN.com, that was inspired by The Chivas Life Ambassadors search.

Wait a second. Perhaps all three of these stories are linked. Strippers, TV and booze. I see a hit!

WHO'S ONLINE, WHAT ARE THEY DOING

Here's a great chart from a BusinessWeek story that a colleague at GMR Marketing found. Feel free to use it in your presentations.

Off to Mumbai

In order to research my next book, I'm off to Mumbai to learn about marketing and advertising in India. I will be in Mumbai (many still call it Bombay) next Sunday through Wednesday. Not enough time, of course. But I would love to meet up if you're in the area.

WHY APPLE IS SO TASTY

Sam Ewen, CEO of Interference Inc., has posted a great link in the Experiential Forum for an article called "10 Things We Can Learn From Apple." It's a quick but insightful read.

Here's the link.

You can read Sam's blog here.

WALKING THE WALK

North Face -- the company that espouses the great outdoors and man's urge to commune with it -- is pushing the notion of eco-friendliness in a big way. Or rather, it's founder is. According to this article, Douglas Tompkins is not only talking eco-responsiibility, he's using his own bank account to do something about it:

Douglas Tompkins, founder of the North Face and Esprit clothing lines, is buying up large tracts of land in Argentina to protect it from "industrialized agriculture [that] is chewing up big chunks of Argentina's fragile marshland and savanna."

Tompkin first began buying up land in Southern Chile with the intention of one day turning it over to the government as nature preserves. He now owns well over 1 million acres in Chile and Argentina.

Of course, environment-friendly marketing and products are becoming the rage. And the consumer's drive for better planetary citizenship is translating into good business sense.

This recent article in Marketing Daily points out the windfall:

According to a new study by Deloitte Consulting for the Grocery Manufacturers' Association, sustainability is not a passing nod to the current wave of environmentalism that's coursing through consumers' hearts and wallets.

More than appeasing consumers, marketers and retailers are looking for ways to reduce costs and assure availability of key commodities. "What we heard as part of the research was that 'consumer needs' was not yet the primary driver of sustainability initiatives for consumer product companies, although this is starting to change," says Peter Capozucca, a principal with Deloitte Consulting and co-author of the study.

We're entering a new world of corporate responsibility, and environmentally-friendly campaigns (and business practices) will be at the forefront. It's time to think globally and act locally. Good to see that companies are taking this message to heart.

DISRUPTIVE DRIVING

I just wholly love this move by Avis. As the USA Today article points out:

...car-rental giant Avis announces Monday a new service that enables customers to book a chauffeur when renting.

A chauffeur can be hired with 24-hour notice in 10 big cities, including New York and Los Angeles. The cost in addition to rental charges: $30 per hour with a three-hour minimum....

...Avis' Caron says the service is primarily targeted to midlevel and high-level executives, but the service should also appeal to business travelers who fly into small airports without rental-car facilities.

After their flights land, travelers do not have to pick up their rental vehicles. They can request chauffeurs pick them up outside an airport terminal or come inside to handle their bags. They can also decide to dismiss a chauffeur at any time and drive themselves.

How incredible! We all know that businesses are moving into more inter-personal, one-on-one dynamics with their customers. And this is a great marketing hook for Avis, a platform that it can leverage against its competition as being the first at taking care of their customers way beyond the loyalty programs.

So, what other industry or service provider can take a page from this example? Personal shopper at Macy's, anyone?

Q&A w/Jonathan Tisch, CEO of Loews Hotels

I am pleased to share the thoughts of Jonathan Tisch, who's new book "Chocolate on the Pillow Are Not Enough: Reinventing the Customer Experience" is a must-read for proponents of experience-based services. Enjoy.

1. If someone has had a bad customer experience, what’s the best way to be heard by the company?

It is important for customers with a complaint to speak up. It is similarly important for companies to acknowledge a customer’s complaint immediately.

There have been occasions at Loews Hotels when I, myself, have picked up the phone to call the guest with the grievance, to apologize on behalf of our company. The faster the response, the sooner the person will be able to turn their opinion of the company around.

Any complaints that come in at a Loews hotel go first to the General Manager of the property in question, with a copy also going to the Regional Vice President of Operations. In the first instance, we ask the person with direct responsibility for the hotel, the General Manager, to investigate the grievance and look to see how the situation can be addressed and how we might be able to change the guest’s attitude.

The reason we include the more senior managers is so that we can stay abreast of trends. If we get a number of similar complaints, we have a trend. Senior managers have the responsibility to spot trends, see what the solutions can and should be, and then implement solutions that can effectively eliminate them.

2. What has been your worst customer experience and why?

It’s hard for me to check into a hotel somewhat unnoticed, having now been in the business for 30 years. That said, I do not like indifferent service. I don’t like noise or rooms that have problems with climate control – I like to be cold! There have been times when I have had to change rooms several times to find a room that is both quiet and cold enough for me.

3. As a follow up, what has been your worst experience as a CEO and Chairman?

Certainly it’s particularly difficult as an individual, and as part of the senior management at Loews Hotels, to deal with traumatic situations at one of our properties. Sadly, things happen that are unpleasant and untimely. We have procedures in place to ensure the effective and private investigation of these situations. But, you never want to experience something that dramatically impacts the lives of people staying in one of your hotels or our wonderful team members at the hotel, but they do happen on occasion.

4. How has your marketing mix changed to reflect a more experience-based approach to your brand’s communication?

Our marketing has changed by putting specialty programs in place that reflect the needs and desires of our clientele. These programs are responsive to specific things that our guests want and that make their stay easier and more memorable. For example, Loews Loves Kids, which is a leader in the industry, encourages family travel and reflects the demographic change of many more people feeling comfortable enough to travel with their children. This is demographics at its roots. In today’s world, in most cases, if there are two adults in the home and both are holding jobs, it’s much more difficult to try and find time when the entire family can go away together.

Similarly, Loews Loves Pets, which was the first of its kind in its broad reach to encourage people to travel with their pets, was an acknowledgement of how important the family pet has become to our guests.

Additionally, through our Loews First guest reward program, we have tried to understand the needs of our guests, in addition to recognizing their loyalty and our pleasure to serve them. Also realizing that we are a fairly small player in the industry when you compare the number of properties we have against our competition, we do offer a recognition that we think is commensurate with someone’s desire to stay at a Loews Hotel on a fairly regular basis.

5. Does an experience-based approach work best for service-oriented companies, or does it apply to all spectra of business?

It’s very important – and indeed the theme of Chocolates on the Pillow Aren’t Enough – to try to turn a transaction in to an experience. That is true for business based in the service sector, as well as for businesses trying to sell a product.

Understanding that you have to break through the clutter, the noise and the sophisticated marketing that we’re all constantly bombarded with, the companies that have managed to turn customers in to life-long guests, or clients, are the ones doing well today. These companies understand that relationships are based on trust, on honesty and on a real respect for the customer.

6. I’m a Tufts alumni too (’94, IR major). Your book mentions how Tufts engages students and alumni for a deeper relationship. How can you apply your key learning from the hotel business to the business of higher education? (Hey, students are guests of the institution after all.) How can their experience be enhanced outside of the classroom in the same vein that guests at a Loews hotel can enjoy?

All institutions – businesses, not-for-profits and centers of higher education – must create partnerships with their customers, students, or guests and create partnerships with the people that work in the given environment. This is particularly important, and was the basis for my first book, The Power of We: Succeeding Through Partnerships. For any organization to thrive, grow and expand, it needs to understand how all of these constituencies come together to create success not only for the people who work in the organization, but also for the people around them.

A college and a college campus are no different than a business. The constituents are the students, faculty and administration. Senior members of the administration must work to create these partnerships with their various constituencies.

7. Obviously, training your staff on the nuance and imperative of a favorable guest experience is probably top-of-mind. What qualities in your staff – and field staff in general – are necessary or more desirable to have to deliver that experience?

We hope to have individuals on our team who have a passion for hospitality, who have a desire to assist others, and really have the whole notion of dealing with people one-on-one in their DNA.

We prescreen applicants to see if they do have that ability to understand hospitality at its core. This prescreening, done with tests that were developed specifically for Loews Hotels, really relates to the kinds of properties that we have, and also to the expectations that we have in terms of the level of service that we’re so proud of at Loews Hotels.

8. What do you foresee to be the next big thing in the travel industry?

America’s image is at an all time low, and we are in the midst of a travel crisis here in the United States as a result. The challenge that we face as a nation, in terms of welcoming international visitors, is very much tied to the continued profitability of our industry. But it is also tied, perhaps more importantly, to our ability to teach international visitors more about this country so that they go home with a better appreciation for America, Americans and American brands.

The travel industry needs to come together on this issue and work closely with our elected officials, with the State Department, and with the Department of Homeland Security to find ways to secure our borders but keep our doors open. We need to find better ways to welcome people in to the United States so that they leave with a better idea of who we are.

9. Last question. If I consider myself to be an influential, can you hook me up with some free Loews hotel stays for a lifetime of favorable coverage and WOM?

Sure, Max. I’ll make sure the doors of Loews Hotels are always open to you! Just send me your credit card number first …

Blog Book Tour with Jonathan Tisch

Thanks to David Polinchock at Brand Experience Lab, I will be one of 6 bloggers hosting "hosting" Jonathan Tisch, CEO Of Loews Hotels and author of "Chocolates on the Pillow Aren't Enough: Reinventing the Customer Experience" at a blog book tour. I will be asking him questions and he will respond to them this upcoming Thursday.

But the cool thing about a Blog Book Tour is that you get to participate too! You can send me any questions that you have about customer experience and we'll get it over to Jonathan to get an answer. My email is mlenderman@gmrlive.com.

You can go to http://tinyurl.com/34urq2 to learn more about the book.