Think back to last weekend, and聽name three things you did. Where did you go? What聽did you eat or drink? What did聽you see? Who did you talk to?
Now name three ads you saw, and the brands that made them. If you can,聽it鈥檚聽probably because you鈥檙e in the business. If you named three, ask your friends听辞谤听someone in the accounting department and you鈥檒l likely get the same response聽as聽most people: a blank stare.
Though most marketers share a common goal: build a relationship with the people聽you聽believe will love your brand or product(s) and hope they try it, buy it and聽advocate for聽it on your behalf.
Who would have thought the answer to doing that effectively would lie in biology?聽Well, it鈥檚 pretty simple when you break it down.
The human animal, as Simon Sinek notes, is like a machine with systems that are聽trying to direct us to do things that are in our best interest. And the most basic聽human desire is to feel like you belong, which creates emotions like happiness,聽pride, joy, love or fulfillment. These feelings are all chemically produced by聽endorphins, dopamine, serotonin or oxytocin and are the elemental things that drive聽motivation. If you haven鈥檛 read Sinek鈥檚聽Leaders Eat Last听辞谤听聽on聽the topic, you鈥檙e missing out.
People buy products because they think it makes them happy or helps them feel like聽they聽belong. It鈥檚 why logos are visible on the outside of products. As Sinek notes,聽鈥淲e want聽people to see the red line on our Prada glasses because it boosts our聽confidence and聽gives us a feeling of satisfaction.鈥� Products make us happy as long as聽our brains need them to. Inevitably, the serotonin-induced rush of 鈥渘ew鈥� fades聽because we compare what we have to what others have. The feelings of anticipation聽and excitement we carry about the product at the exact moment of purchase are no聽longer deemed as necessary by our frontal cortex. Imagine wearing a new pair of聽shoes for the first time to a party. Exciting, right? Now imagine, two years later, you聽discover a hole and a frayed lace in that same exact pair. Time for that new shoe聽feeling once again. We find a product鈥檚 limitation as time passes. This is why,聽according to Dr. Thomas Gilovich, a professor of psychology at Cornell University,聽鈥淚t鈥檚 why we can never buy or accumulate enough to be truly happy.鈥� This is where聽the power of an experience can be put to great work by the power of a brand.
It makes us wonder why聽budgets聽are so skewed toward traditional advertising and digital marketing. According to Ben Jones, Creative Director at Google, 鈥淭he brand is alive in my attention, or it is dead. A message is a dead聽thing. An inert service is dead. An unlovable product is dead. An experience is alive.聽None of us have time for dead things,鈥� he explained聽.
The facts support Jones鈥� contention that a message is a dead thing. Consider this:
People are exposed to nearly, only聽and only.聽Seems like an expensive way to be ignored, forgotten, or worse鈥攄isliked.聽By contrast, a great brand experience has the opposite effect. Done聽well, a brand experience is cherished, committed to memory and most聽importantly, shared.聽150,000 people annually聽, yet over 20 million people read, share, like, comment and spread the聽word about it to their friends.
When only 10% of people today say they trust ads, and聽, it鈥檚 up to marketers to give them聽something to talk about. Let that sink in for a moment. In this example, the聽spectacle of Red Bull Crashed Ice demands to be shared because聽it聽delivers on the聽brand鈥檚 promise聽鈥� to give wings to people and ideas. But it鈥檚 not just about scale.聽Smaller brand experiences have the same opportunity to be relevant, community-颅鈥恊nriching聽platforms for people to engage with your brand. They鈥檙e often more personal and 1:1,聽instantly moving into a more meaningful鈥攁nd memorable鈥攑art of our biological聽foundation. The beauty of brand experience is that it builds from the same blueprint聽as traditional advertising (brand voice, tone, architecture, visual language), making聽the first steps outside of the traditional model feel familiar. Not to mention they鈥檙e proven to deliver on the same objectives with a more powerful impact.聽
As the drive to acquire for the sake of happiness fades, brands have a tremendous聽opportunity to enrich the lives of people with experiences that fill the聽biological聽desire to connect.
Brand experiences聽matter more than ever. Empowered by technology and transparency,聽聽they鈥檙e willing to engage and spend time with brands聽that meet them on their terms. The real question for marketers is:聽are you?
By:聽Bob Molhoek, Andi Dickson and Nick Rudie
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