To Influence Consumers, Create Digital Experiences

David Schatsky | May 16, 2008, 08:58 AM

Your product itself is the best expression of your brand. Consider the familiar idea that physical encounters with a brand are where the brand message is conveyed: by the satisfying click of precision-engineered doors closing; the distinctive feel of the finish on a ThinkPad; the coffee aroma that greets you when you enter Starbucks (once the sandwiches have been eliminated).

What if your product is physically indistinct (like a lot of consumer packaged goods), physically repulsive (like your first puff of a cigarette), or if you need a more economical alternative to giving consumers first-hand experience of your product? You can create an "experience" and convey it with media. Share the experience of a loving mom caring for her family by tending to their laundry; or experience the manly thrill of galloping across the mesa surrounded by snow-covered mountains and enjoying a smoke at the end of a challenging day.

What if media is losing its ability to influence consumers? This is the question that came to mind listening to Clark Kokich, CEO of Avenue A | Razorfish, at the company's client summit this week in New York. He called on marketers to move beyond talking to consumers, beyond focusing on creating perceptions, and toward creating real experiences. [Update: I got his slides. He said, "Less 'saying things' & more 'building things'"; "messaging replaced by brand immersion"; "digital experience becomes part of the product"] What this means in the digital world is moving beyond banners and paid media and toward creating immersive, interactive, participatory digital experiences to reach and engage online consumers where they spend an increasing amount of their time.

Now, digital brands (online retailers, search engines, portals) are experienced online and the expression of the brand and the experience of the brand can be one in the same. Off-line brands have to break new ground and create digital "experiences" and not just perceptions for online consumers.

Why is this becoming necessary? There are many reasons, but surely one is that consumers become habituated to everything, and it takes novelty and a new levels of intensity to reach them. If you are from a quiet place and come to New York city, you are hugely impressed by the energy of this place. But even transplants from Lincoln, Nebraska get used to it here. If you are old enough to remember your first color TV, you probably remember being wowed by the experience. Or your first game of Pong. The bar is higher today. And marketers need to aim higher than ever before to connect with consumers.

[For an analysis of online engagement, a look at best practices, and recommendations for marketers, see Emily Riley's recent research report on the topic.]