Brand Experience: Real Differentiation

GUEST POST
It's really exciting to post the first in our series of guest posts. To kick off the series, Scott Gould, of Aaron+Gould, explores the value of delivering a brand experience.


Brand Experience: Real Differentiation
Branding used to be all about market differentiation. When I saw your logo, read your brand promise, and used your products, the idea was that I felt different about your offering than I about your competitors offering.

That's the way it used to be.

Today, we switch on the TV, and it's often a hard job remembering which jingle went with which cheesy commercial which went with which so-called brand promise. That car advert that was great, but was it Ford or Citroen? And it's not just consumer products that are all becoming increasingly indistinguishable. Place two recruitment companies next to each other, and what's the difference between them, other than the logo? Both promise me work, both claim to be specialists, and both offer me the same service.

The problem is that we're just seeing the same products, the same services, with different wrappers - but people are getting smart of this scheme and things are changing.

Consider Apple. There's not just another product wrapped up with a new name, offering the same products as Microsoft with an Apple logo. There is a substantial difference that is setting them apart, and why they are recording record profits (not just revenue) in the midst of the largest global recession in over 70 years (See their website)

It has to do with moving beyond the products you make and the services that you deliver, to the brand experience that you create. In other words, not appealing to need, not even to desire, but to emotion.

There are two types of Apple fans - those who love them, and those who worship them. The emotional attachment of their customers exceeds even the desire for their products. In other words, it simply feels great to have an Apple. It feels great to go to the Apple Store, see all this beautiful technology laid out as if one is peering into the future and to have free customer support after your bought your product, whenever you want. Your PC is transferred, free of charge, to your new Mac by the rightly called 'Mac Genius' who is dressed down and casual and makes you feel at home. It's sublime, simple, and sensational.

The key to brand experience is simple: create an alternate reality. Apple's is one where not only does everything 'just work', but it also works stylishly. Fitness First offer a gym where working out is luxurious, not stained with the smell of sweat. Disney Land is place where everyone smiles and music is playing wherever you go.

Snap back to TV again, and now you're watching the advert that portrays an alternative reality. One where, as in our example with Apple, you can find restaurants in the click of a few buttons. This is an advert I remember - it is distinguishable and unique. And what's remarkable is this: before the iPhone, few people imagined finding restaurants on their mobile phone. There wasn't a need, nor a desire. But now, it's an experience that millions of people can't live without.

In an age where products and services are commodities, freely available, making your brand experiential not only sets you apart, but it helps you connect far, far deeper with your customer. It helps you become emotional. And at the end of the day, that's what we humans, more often than not, are living by.