No brand marketing can exist in silos – however sophisticated and well designed those silos might be.
As a customer – a user – a consumer, the interactions I have with a brand, (most of which can be measured in seconds; barely fleeting thoughts passing through my mind) are triggered by activity in all “channels”, at all times of the day, in all locations.
For any brand to focus their marketing – their conversation with their customer – in any single channel and say “that is how someone will experience my brand” simply doesn’t speak to the reality of how we interact with the brands we live with…..
Social experience design – to place a clear understanding of different types of customers' actual behaviour at the heart of a planning process - to let ourselves off the leash - to be honest and brave - to let the stories we tell about how users will interact with our brand be real........
That is the genius of social experience design. It is militantly honest – utterly engaging to develop – bloody hard to realise correctly.
As a customer – a user – a consumer, the interactions I have with a brand, (most of which can be measured in seconds; barely fleeting thoughts passing through my mind) are triggered by activity in all “channels”, at all times of the day, in all locations.
For any brand to focus their marketing – their conversation with their customer – in any single channel and say “that is how someone will experience my brand” simply doesn’t speak to the reality of how we interact with the brands we live with…..
Messy, disparate - and spread over every conceivable channel and platform – that is more often than not a “brand experience”. Being honest with ourselves about this, means we are more likely to be successful.The fleeting conversation in the pub about the new mortgage, the tiny snippet of information gleaned from a friend, which leads to the ad-hoc search for the product on the bus, which happens to resonates with a 48 sheet about a competitors' product, which fits with the piece of content stumbled over whilst doing more formal research, which ties in with the debate at the supper party, which might eventually lead to a half completed application form, which leads to the argument with the partner, with leads to the form completed – and a product or service sold.......
Social experience design – to place a clear understanding of different types of customers' actual behaviour at the heart of a planning process - to let ourselves off the leash - to be honest and brave - to let the stories we tell about how users will interact with our brand be real........
That is the genius of social experience design. It is militantly honest – utterly engaging to develop – bloody hard to realise correctly.
