Those brands primed to thrive are those who evolve for a long-term future rather than simply reacting to the present; at the heart of this is brand experience, according to the CEO of Rufus Leonard.
Writing in the October issue of Admap (topic: brand experience), Laurence Parkes explains that brands with a strong brand experience “command 79% higher purchase intent and an average of 45 more Net Promoter Score points than those who offer a lesser experience”.
But despite this clear business impact, he observes that organisations continue to struggle to deliver consistent, connected and differentiating experiences.
As an agency that describes itself as “brand experience engineers”, Rufus Leonard has applied itself to measuring this concept and has developed its own Brand Experience Index (BXi) based on consumer ratings of the core facets of brand experience. (For more details, read the full article: Finding power, potential and innovation through brand experience.)
Parkes advises brands to articulate their brand promise simply and clearly and then map the current brand experience against the five core facets in order to understand how this is matching up to expectations.
Armed with an overall view of current brand experience, marketers can identify three types of moments, ranging from hero (memorable positive experiences that establish the brand’s point of difference) to zero (memorable negative experiences where the brand misses expectations).
In between sit the “near-o” moments – moments where a brand should be delivering a hero moment but isn’t.
For budget hotel chain Premier Inn, for example, their marketing promise of ‘A good night’s sleep guaranteed’ hadn’t been backed up by action.
“They had never invested in an experience that would make this claim genuinely credible,” says Parkes. “This was their near-o moment.
“So they invested in Hypnos mattresses and a choice of pillows, at the expense of less essential features (like toiletries).”
By committing to above-average delivery in one proof-point and making that an iconic feature of the brand, it made the brand promise tangible “and fulfilled their differentiating facet of ‘Sense’.” And sales have grown as a result, up 5.2% in 2017-18.
Sourced from Admap
