The Extraordinary Experience*

Do you know what an ‘expression pole’ is?

It is basically a dancing pole, just like the ones you see in gentlemen’s clubs. This tequila bar in Miami certainly wants its clients to feel good about dancing half naked on a podium; it is all about 'expression'.

The 6 P’s of Luxury Marketing

Here is the latest white paper I wrote with Jeff Winsper. Winsper is a “thinking” firm headquartered in Boston, MA. The company focuses its efforts around three primary audiences: affluent consumers, general consumers and c-level business leaders.

Relying on years of experience in effectively marketing to the affluent, Winsper rejects the traditional one-di­mensional approach and demonstrates that considering other variables will enable firms to win new clients. Winsper believes that there is a fundamental difference between communication and connection and that to be successful, brands must effectively do both. Moving beyond simple composites of the affluent based on typical demographic data representing the “what” and “where” of affluence or media usage and consump­tion, Winsper’s approach allows marketers to align their brands with the who, why, when and how of this highly desirable, profitable and important audience.

Introducing the 6Ps of luxury marketing, a comprehensive system that embraces all the touch points be­tween luxuries and consumers. The 6Ps lays out an approach that will enable luxury marketers to better understand their customers – and build longer-lasting, more profitable relationships with them.

You can download this white paper at http://www.winsperinc.com

7 Eleven’s new ‘Energy coffee’

I don’t mean to write only about coffee, but one must admit that it is a fascinating market. 7 Eleven is launching a new ‘Energy coffee’ that contains an herbal boost of ginseng, guarana and yerba mate. The precious beverage is meant to attract Red Bull and Starbucks consumers. In contrast with its competitors, 7 Eleven’s new coffee is functional, which means it serves a purpose beyond the experience. Driver, 7-Eleven coffee-category manager told Adage: "We saw so many customers were looking for energy beverages and wondered: could we possibly look for an energy product in a coffee product?".

For Tim Stock, managing director of ScenarioDNA, 7 eleven is in line with a trend he calls "ironic consumption". Indeed, both baby boomers and Gen Y pursue healthful beverages but in different ways. "Gen Y buys potion beverages while their boomer parents down drinkable yogurts to build their immunity" says Stock. "What's going to be critical for 7-Eleven is keeping up with the ingredients. The consumers that respond to the Fusion program will be packing a lot into that moment of imbibe. They'll be seeing their coffee as a source of nutrition and looking for it to do more and more as new functional-foods concepts get introduced."

While many brands endeavor to build an experience around utilitarian products, it is interesting to see a product experiential in nature aiming at becoming utilitarian. 7 Eleven’s new product launch is definitely something worth monitoring.

see also: http://adage.com/article?article_id=115877

The experience is in the pillow

Even after spending almost 6 years in the UK, I am still impressed by how much the Brits can drink. More importantly, partying too hard seems socially accepted and even something to be proud of. Tripping on a sidewalk or being ousted out of a club by bouncers after throwing up on the dance floor make a good story to tell at the water cooler the following morning (showing up at 9.40am is ok if you look hungover enough to justify your lateness). Clearly, there is a big market for ’morning after’ products in the UK, where pharmacies all have a significant detox section. The London-based brand Wild Earth is trying to tap into this market, introducing its new pillow named…Hangover. This silk pillow is stuffed with plant extracts such as fennel, juniper and mustard seeds that are meant to help cure drowsiness, lack of energy, stress and tension. Here is why I think they got it right:

The legacy: A healing process that involves a mix of medicinal and aromatic plants which has been used in the Himalayas for thousands of years.The touch: This is a silk pillow, for a soft, precious and comfortable feeling.

The smell: well, it is its main feature, obviously.

The social responsibility: Profits go directly to Nepalese communities that harvest the plants.

Wild Earth does not sell pillows; it sells a monadic brand experience that last for 7-10 hours. These people can be proud of putting their customers to sleep.

Starbucks to refocus on the experience

This is what Howard Schutz (their CEO) says in a memo sent company-wide a few weeks ago:

"Over the past ten years, in order to achieve the growth, development, and scale necessary to go from less than 1,000 stores to 13,000 stores and beyond, we have had to make a series of decisions that, in retrospect, have lead to the watering down of the Starbucks experience, and, what some might call the commoditization of our brand.

Examples of decisions that helped watering the brand down include:

“flavor locked packaging” causing “The loss of aroma, perhaps the most powerful non-verbal signal we had in our stores.”

Automatic espresso machines “solved a major problem in terms of speed of service and efficiency. At the same time, we overlooked the fact that we would remove much of the romance and theatre.”. Customers can no longer enjoy an “intimate experience with the barista.”

The Stores’ design no longer has the ‘soul of the past’ and looks sterile instead.

Every week, one can read dozens of articles bragging about Starbucks’ financial success, outstanding marketing, sought-after working environment…and so forth. I am glad to see there CEO himself confessing the need to refocus on the consumer’s experience. At $4 or $5 a pop, Starbucks is expected to deliver an outstanding consumer experience on top of a paper cup, or it won’t take 10 years to move from 13,000 to 1,000 stores and below.

One airport concourse that is worth walking through

As a matter of fact, many airports are a dull and ill-decorated. More importantly, one wastes so much time going through security, connecting between flights, and finding his car in the parking lot. On the top of my list of worst airports is London Heathrow. Commuting between downtown London and Heathrow will take you an hour, regardless if you take a train, bus, taxi, underground, or limo (admittedly, I have yet to experienced this commute in a helicopter, flying saucer or presidential convoy). Going through security might take another hour, under the tight supervision of condescending and rude security staff.

One airport has made tremendous effort in making the traveller's experience extraordinary. Welcome to the Mc Namara terminal at Detroit Metro Airport. Above your head is a electric train that allows you to go from one end of the terminal to the other within no time. Should you stay at the Westin hotel, you may check in and go through security in the hotel lobby; just past the metal detector is the terminal itself! But the most impressive bit is certainly the Northwest Airlines’ Concourse A and Concourse B & C. Lights and sound effects in this tunnel are so impressive that you feel like walking through one (or 2, or 3) more time. A good slide show is available at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/laughingsquid/sets/72157594144810872/. My advice is to arrive at Mc Namara well before your flight, so that you can enjoy wandering in the terminal.

Perfume brands deliver an extraordinary experience by creating bespoke perfumes.

Perfume brands work hard to build an identity, add value and create a branded experience in general (They’d better have a good story to tell as there is usually not much inside the little bottle). Now a few brands are going the extra mile by delivering extraordinary experiences and building one to one relationship with their clients.

Thierry Mugler has created four workshops, which are led by industry experts and allow the delegates to learn how a perfume is created.  They also allow the delegates to learn the language, emotions and secrets associated with the product.

Guerlain offers to create a bespoke perfume through several one to one appointments with the client.  Thus, allowing for the creation of an elaborate and unique ‘jus’ to suit her personality. Interestingly, these one to one sessions don’t only focus on the sense of smell, but involve having clients choose among pictures and fabrics that best describe their personality. Creating the perfume takes from 6 months to one year. I trust the perfume could be created in a few days or weeks, but simulated shortage helps with building exclusivity and justifying the price tag: 30,000 Euros (about $35,000) for 3 litres.

Ed Debevic's in Chicago

My wife recently took me to Ed Debevic's (640 N Wells st in Chicago) for lunch. Ed's is a family oriented burger place, where you can eat good burgers, just like in 1000's of restaurants in the US. But Ed's Unique Selling Point is clear: their waiters are rude, and people like it! In fact, that's why people go there, to have waiters throwing menus and straws at them and patronise them. Ed's strap lines are straightforward: "If you like what you're eatin', order more. If you don't ­ there's the Door." and 'Eat and get out'.

Although Ed Debevic's is good fun, I have always wondered how people feel about bouncers at club doors. These people tend to be condescending and rude, sometimes not even being polite with the patrons (in fact, the more exclusive the club is, the more condescending the bouncer is). How do customers (clubbers) feel about this (hopefully) short encounter? Especially when they expect to pay $400 for a bottle of champagne once inside? A stream of research looks at 'mental accounting and the pain of paying'. Should we also be looking at 'the pain of getting in'? Watch this space…

Experiential Marketing defined

Many definitions can be found for experiential marketing. I like Bernd Schmitt definition and framework, which you can watch at: http://video.ft.com/?channel=Business%20School&clipid=1359_FT0009.

When I started my doctorate, my supervisor was getting annoyed at me for using ill defined jargon of marketers in an academic context. 15 months down the line, I now get irritated myself at words and expressions that sell but don’t necessarily mean much. Schmitt did a good job at putting together a definition that makes from both academic and practitioner’s standpoint.