Article Irish Marketing Journal – March 2015

More and more brands are now using field and brand experience agencies to find new ways to engage with consumers and create stand out on the shelves. And the consumer has clearly defined the battlefield as the point of purchase with price promotions and deals underpinning this.

We believe what sets brands and their brand activation apart, comes down to two key elements: Great brands + Great People= A Great Experience.

A brilliant creative concept, packaging, and ‘must buy’ offers are all critical, however, they can only get a brand to interact with a customer to a certain point. The “magical” point, i.e. when a customer becomes dedicated to a brand, has to be built on a genuine affection for the brand through personal experience. When the customer interacts and converses with a person through the use of games, competitions, technology or sharing knowledge – and the experience is good – this is where the relationship is cemented.

Consumers have high expectations from their brand experience and in today’s lifestyle of digital interaction it is critical to ensure that any and all human brand contact results in a positive experience.

A great example of a brand utilising this technique is Canon. Through our brand ambassadors – highly skilled and passionate representatives – Canon offers customers an added value experience in Harvey Norman, PC World and speciality photography stores. And this interaction creates a positive, educated brand experience that really builds loyalty.

Retailers such as Dunnes Stores are also setting themselves apart in store. They recognise the benefit of marrying great brands from their Simply Better Range, with great people demonstrating them in store. Here the synergy of great products and passionate demonstrators gets the brands into consumers hands and moves the Simply Better product a step closer to becoming a “must have” in the weekly shop.

The Electric Ireland and SuperValu Powering Rewards campaign is another example of retail success. “Powered” by the consistency of well trained and skilled demonstrators, the campaign builds on a great customer interaction to produce fantastic results for Electric Ireland while also giving the SuperValu customers an added value proposition.

The ultimate goal is brand loyalty and to build on every customer interaction through every channel. The key to succeeding, is to work on both elements simultaneously, create a great brand and find great people to build an incredible experience.