How to overcome the biggest challenge in brand experience design.
Governance
Above | Rebranded office collateral after Krneta’s brand programme
All brands have the potential to delight with memorable experiences, but control is the challenge. Some things can be controlled, others can only be influenced, and still, we can only hope for the best.
How control affects experience
Unpredictable behaviour.
You can’t predict how someone will behave. Bricks-and-mortar retailing is a highly controlled brand experience. At a Nike Town store, Nike can control the interior features (store layout, materials and finishes, lighting, fixtures, displays and colours), product offering, POS displays and promotion, checkout process and customer amenities. The one thing Nike cannot dictate is employee behaviour. Regardless of the screening, training and experience, employees are still human, and there is always a degree of uncertainty as to their response to specific situations, mood, or other factors that affect their demeanour. Although bricks-and-mortar retailing generally falls into a high-level control experience within the store, what happens outside the store environment is another matter.
Nature will take its course.
You can’t control the weather. Service industries are highly vulnerable to influences outside the control of their brand. These outside forces can determine whether an experience reinforces or undermines a brand. FedEx, for example, is a brand heavily influenced by factors outside its control. Weather, road conditions and traffic can all affect the ability to fulfil customer expectations regardless of logistics, equipment and personnel investment. The direct point of contact is at the beginning and end of a process. In-between (which any number of things can happen that will affect the impression, reliability, trust and loyalty toward the brand) can only be partially controlled by the company. In the end, customers will only remember if their package arrives on time, and that experience will dwell even longer if it doesn’t arrive at all.
Unintended consequences.
Your partners may not always be what you want them to be. Partnering with other brands can lead to unexpected consequences relative to managing the brand experience. In co-branding or ingredient branding situations, the partner brands do not necessarily have any control over the other. Still, they can influence the perceptions of their partner brand by virtue of that association. There are risk/reward considerations. Although Intel, as an ingredient brand, adds value to its host computer, a bad experience with the user’s computer can cast a shadow over impressions associated with Intel. Associations matter.
Casting a giant shadow.
Industry brand perceptions can also influence the impressions of all brands within that industry. Regardless of how exquisite or luxurious an individual cruise ship experience might be, the Costa Concordia and other cruise-related incidents have dramatically influenced the perceptions associated with the industry and, ultimately, the individual brands in that industry. The BP oil spill did nothing to help the petroleum retailers’ image. Volkswagen’s attempt to rig pollution testing certainly added credibility questions around the auto industry, already tainted by countless recalls. Some industries, unfortunately, consistently rank among the worst in customer service. According to industry ’service rating’ reports on trust and forgiveness, property, internet and health providers were among the worst. Brands within those industries have to manage their own brand experience and cope with perceptions associated with their industry.
A turbulent journey.
Waking up at the end of a long international flight and not finding a shower spa on board can be a travel nightmare experience for some. At least, that’s what Emirates Airlines commercials have portrayed in the past. Of course, only a tiny fraction of the passengers would experience anything like this. Emirates is banking that this ideal luxury travel experience would have a halo effect that will elevate the perceptions associated with the airline. The hope is that the other 99% of the passengers who would not have access to the shower spas on board will still feel pampered, at least in some more modest way. While this would certainly not represent the more typical air travel experience, it does show the lengths an airline can and will go to create a unique experience in an environment with high control.
While on board, the airline can control how comfortable it is, the food it serves, the kind of entertainment available, the level of service, and many other features that contribute to the experience. The airline can affect many touchpoints onboard the aircraft through design, operations and training. However, it can’t control the weather turbulences, crying babies, or annoying passengers, even in first class. The real challenge comes before takeoff and after landing. Consider the passenger journey upon arriving at the airport, beginning at curbside and extending through to boarding. There are over a hundred touchpoints at the international check-in counter alone if you consider everything from the interior environment, the counter, the check-in protocol, airline personnel behaviour, documents, baggage claim tickets, boarding passes, folders, etc. These touchpoints will somehow influence the perception of the brand journey for better or worse.