Dani's summit experience

A great moment can be described as follows:
Being told by my Marketing Communications lecturer that it is compulsory to read, self study and continuously refer to Berndt Schmitt in our final exam... and then ACTUALLY hearing him talk in real life! It was precisely at this awesome moment that I was absolutely blown away at the 2nd African Experiential Marketing Summit. Yet that was just one of the many highlights experienced last Wednesday at Monte Casino...
At the outset, I would like to take my hat off to the organisers and events coordinators of this event. Being my first professional summit, I was truly in awe of how everything was so magnificently orchestrated. Every detail was taken care of, and the little extras that kept on popping up throughout the day were truly conducive to creating a wonderful experience for all delegates! From the professionalism with which I was greeted and introduced to the main players (such as Martin Leong and Carol Abade from Exp.), to the calibre of local and international speakers that inspiringly commanded the stage, the day was seamlessly organised. Not a single feature was left unattended to – whether it was the ice cream carts and vendors that took me back to my childhood days, or the decadent display of pink and white cupcakes at tea time, or the dramatic and sensual tap dancers – the entire day revolved around emphasising the value of experiential marketing. And a good job it did at that!
I did not know it was possible to sit through approximately 7 hours of talks, and to not lose focus even once. The speakers were so gripping, interesting and passionate, that my attention was hooked right from the opening keynote by Bernd Schmitt (the novelty of hearing the author of one of my key university text books does not wear off - I literally get excited every time the lecturer mentions his name in class, and I proudly say “I have now heard him live!”) – right up until Kim Skildum-Reid who closed the conference. The speakers were in a league of their own, and I can only marvel at their sheer genius understanding of and insight into the marketing realm.
What I loved most about the Summit, was the way in which each speaker translated their message into real life scenarios by providing case studies and actual tangible examples of Experiential Marketing. I had always learnt about it in theory, but until each speaker wove it into a real life success story, I never grasped just how profound an impact creating an experience can have. I always learn about the world’s leading brands, but the ways in which the speakers elaborated on the experiences behind Starbucks, Apple and Mini (to name but a few) was truly an eye opener. There was no need for highfalutin and verbose complex language, the speakers were to the point and very clear in making their point.
Ryan FitzSimons (CEO of Gigunda Group) was a real highlight! He really got the message across that you have to create an episodic framework. And his case study of the Charmin Toilet Experience was mind blowing! Anyone wishing to understand the entire gist of Experiential Marketing in a few minutes needs to simple Google the Charmin story!
Carol Abade was equally interesting in shedding light on marketing in Africa, emphasising that Africa requires the same degree of sophistication as anywhere else in the world. Her reference to Johnnie Walker and the mosquito-net case studies were brilliant in conveying her message. She truly answered how one would go about utilising the influencer matrix, finding one person to influence the market, and then stretching out across communities of interest.
I took so much from each speaker and the Summit as a whole. I am truly grateful for having been given the opportunity to experience the Experiential Summit... Thank you!
Dani du Plessis

Cyndi's refections on the summit

I was one of the lucky students to get the opportunity to attend the 2nd African Experiential Marketing Summit. All the event coordinators did a spectacular job with their décor and the snacks. There were extraordinary things to see there; they had people dressed like robots and had dances during the Summit. The food was marvellously presented too. Why not make a giant cupcake as a table on which to eat off? Well, that's what they did.

The first person that I had the opportunity of meeting and the MC was Martin Leong from Exp. Martin is a lively, enthusiastic, friendly person, he constantly made jokes and was really awesome to talk to. In between each speaker's presentation he gave a short summary and intro. I believe that he was the best MC I had ever met and a perfect one for the Summit.
I received on entry a lovely lanyard with a card stating that I was a full delegate (I felt so honoured) and at the back of the card the Agenda. I also received a journal with a short intro on all the speakers. I met David Boon, Group Director at Exp, a quiet individual but very knowledgeable and very welcoming, a great pleasure meeting him, the Exp and Purple Apricot team.

Here's a photo of me and Martin:

Below are some of the topics that the speakers discussed, amongst others.

Speakers:

Bernd Schmitt

· How branding should encompass personality and not be fake.
· The case studies that he discussed were Mini, Ipod, W Hotels, Pinkberry and Starbucks.
· The end customer is not the only important entity, so are the employees. Thus, creating experience for the internal customers is required.
· Experiential marketing is measured by an Ex Scale and is reliable.
· The concepts and tools which differ between traditional marketing and experiential marketing is reinventing and breaking through markets.

Here's me with Bernd Schmitt:

Ryan FitzSimons (Gigunda)

· How to get the people to fall in love with your brand
· Product -> brand -> brand badge
· Price relates to the purpose of the brand
· The importance of Word of mouth - he describes the process of discovering a product, understanding the product , purchasing it, and then talking about it, to create what companies desire called BUZZ
· A way of maintaining the BUZZ is by using the EPISODIC framework
· The truth of the product is very important
· There are 3 moments of truth, namely First moment of truth, Second moment of truth and Third moment of truth (FMOT, SMOT, TMOT)
· Friction is fundamental
· How a product fits into a consumers life
· Involvement + Friction = Destination Devotion
· An amazing case study was done on Charmin Ultra toilet tissue, which was a topic I couldn’t help but tell everyone about. Public restrooms are dreaded, and the friction people feel towards them was used by Charmin to make people love using their restrooms and product, and ultimately achieving their desired goal.

Dr Jannie Hofmeyr ( Synovate)

· 30% is what people will do and 70% of what people promise to do
· you can predict your consumers (brains) quickly and accurately
· Attitudinal + Barrier effects = Total Equity
· Challenge relating to what goes into consumers mind
· How to sustain what goes into consumers mind
· How to create brand commitment- if you make people happy, they will reward you with loyalty (he showed this with diagrams)
· He said that exceeding expectations is the most dangerous marketing doctrine in the world.
· Nothing can delight a human forever.
· Case study: Bonaqua
· Repetition is very important

Andy Rice (Yellowwood Brand Architects)

· Changing face of brand communications
· Change the whole philosophy
· Consumer empowerment
· Corporate brand
· Internal alignment
· The media is extremely cluttered, so the companies' standard response would be to create new media
· Media proliferation
· New media is a catalyst for a handover of power from brand owners to brand customers
· The control of media has shifted from brand owner to brand customer
· As stated by Ryan and Andy both the consumer controls the brand
· There is no hiding place for companies – they need to use authentic and honest advertising and to deliver on promises.
· Distinguished “word of mouse” from “word of mouth”
· What a company offers is no longer enough
· We are all in the service industry – brand alignment becomes top priority
· When your brands leave the shop they must have: values, authenticity, personality, openness, to let them thrive.
· Just like parents are still held accountable for their children once they leave home, so are companies with their products.

Sharon Penhallrick ( Telmar SPC)

· Evolution and revolution of the communication landscape across Africa
· Sharon was very open and interactive with the audience asking questions and expecting audience participation
· Media source is not the same all over the world, it is unique
· Similarities and differences in countries with regard to: culture, continent, consumers and communication
· The difference between traditional African Culture and westernisation is a continuous struggle
· Communication trends
· Research is essential
· PAMRO and AMPS
· Television, the power of radio, print, outdoor, cinema, internet and cellphones.
· Win-win situations for all marketers.

Carol Abade (Exp)

· Influencing the influencer
· Traditional marketers view of Africa (this I found interesting)
· Information on Africa
· The market place
· How to approach african markets
· Companies need to have a new way of thinking
· Influencer matrix (aspirers etc.)
· Influencers connect people
· Advocacy
· Rules to marketing in Africa

Carl Monteiro (FIFA)

· Fifa World Cup 2006 and 2010
· Global brands
· Branding licenses
· Publications
· Broadcasters
· Fan Fest (something I wasn’t prior aware of)
· Fan parks
· Marketing platforms
· Stadiums to be built
· Budgets regarding stadiums

Kim Skildum-Reid (Powersponsorship)

· Sponsorship (very interesting topic)
· Brief introduction to brand marketing
· Product life cycle
· Customer continuum from being aware of brand advocating to others.
· Sponsorship is improving on something people care about
· 4 generations of sponsorship:
Ø Exposure driven
Ø Sales driven
Ø Objective driven
Ø Market driven
· Market driven the best alternative where a marketer can achieve win-win-win situation for the sponsor, sponsee and target market
· The event experience doesn’t end at the end of the game (very clever statement)
· Sponsorship is target market driven
· Explored how sponsorship works with case study Mazda (which I told many students about)
· Weetbix, Orange Mobile, Vodafone, Nambarrie Tea Company, Spirit and PMI case studies.
· Being sponsors does not align to the events but to their target market
· Recommendations are to get strategic
· get away from sponsorship package mentality.

That's me and Kim below:

I have never ever met so many amazing speakers who are so confident in what they know. Intelligent people and very good public speakers. I am so honoured to have been given this opportunity to experience it, it was above all a truly big eye opener and I intend using the information I know in my future as a marketibg leader. I look forward to the 3rd Summit. A big Thank you to the Exp group for giving me the ticket and to God for making all this happen.

“Nothing becomes real until it is experienced”
(John Keats 1819)

Cyndi-lee De Cerff
2nd year IMM Graduate School of Marketing student
Damelin

Last generation sponsorships

During the 2nd African Experiential Marketing Summit held on 3 Septmeber, Kim Skildum-Reid from Power Sponsorship in Australia gave marketers plenty of food for thought about the way in which sponsorships are run.

Says Skildum-Reid: "Most sponsorship money in the world is completely wasted; it's not an investment that’s reaping real returns. When talking about experiential marketing, sponsorship is as good as it gets - if it's done right. You can use sponsorship as an incredible authentic experiential building experience."

Best practice sponsorship:
Brand life cycle - it goes on a bell curve. When you have a brand new brand, you need awareness.

• Infancy: Goal: create awareness
• Adolescence Goal: Build relevance
• Maturity: Goal: Build relationships
• Reinvention Goal: rebuild relevance

"Sponsorship for even mature brands tends to get stuck at the infancy stage. Let's be truthful, how many marketers would say that your sponsorships are about visibility? As far as I'm concerned, awareness and exposure are the swear words of sponsorships," says Skildum-Reid.

In 1991, a study was conducted about awareness - respondents were asked 'can you name all the sponsors of this event?' What it found was that even if they could name all the sponsors it didn’t change perceptions and behaviours. Studies since back up the study with the same results.

Skildum-Reid talked about the customer continuum - Start of the purchase cycle - become aware of the brand - understand relevance - try brand - add to repertoire - become loyal - advocate to others and back to the beginning.

"Experiential marketing imbues advocacy and sponsorship and does this better than anything else. With sponsorships, you're sponsoring something that people have decided they already care about so you’re building advocacy straight into it," says Skildum-Reid. She added that sponsorship benefits need to be negotiated and leverage plans put in place for every level of customer relationship.

New-look sponsors objectives
Consumer-centric:

• Customer/consumer needs first
• brand needs probably come third
• Internal buy-in is second.

Make ground by:

• demonstrating relevance
• demonstrating alignment with their beliefs, needs, concerns or self-definitions
• adding value to their relationships

Many objectives but they all come down to:

• changing target market perceptions
• changing target behaviours

"These two things, not dollar value return, should be the goals of sponsorship. If you find yourself directionless with a sponsor or sponsorship, get back to the bare bones again. Don’t be fussing about awareness, go straight to relevance," says Skildum-Reid.

Four generations of sponsorship - which generation are you?

First generations: exposure-driven

Exposure only proves that a brand exists:

• ego-driven
• does not change people's perceptions
• does not change people's behaviours
• inappropriate for all but very new brands.

Second generation: sales-driven

All about incremental sales:

• Measured solely in dollar ROI
• Profit in incremental sales vs cost of sponsorship
• if a sale cannot be traced directly to the sponsorship, it doesn’t count

Third Generation: objective-driven

Uses a sponsorship to achieve multiple marketing objectives:

• Long and short terms

This does work:

• thorough
• measureable

Selfish:

• all about your brand
• lacks heart

"Often times, you end up disrespecting the target market by disrespecting the experience around the events," says Skildum-Reid.

Fourth Generation: Market-driven

• Puts target market needs, wants, and interests first
• Ensures there are multiple, meaningful benefit for you target markets:
• treats them like people, not purchasers
• Win-win-win.

"It is no longer that the sponsor and sponsee wins. It is now sponsor, sponsee and target market win. When I say event experience - I don't mean just when they punch the ticket in and that it stops when they leave the event. The event experience is way beyond the bounds of an event. The experience of being a fan, art lover etc, does not end when the event ends. The event experience is much bigger and you could add so much value to this," says Skildum-Reid.

"The result: Last Generation Sponsorship: finally, sponsorship is focusing on the right things - the target market. And what we need to do is embrace it and learn how to use it," she adds.

So how does it work?

Recommendations

• Throw out the rulebook and get strategic:

sponsorship is about results, not history

• Get away from the sponsorship package mentality:

best practice does not rely on logos, tickets, hospitality and endorsement

• Stop 'supporting' sponsorship:

use sponsorship as a catalyst to make existing spends work harder

• Take a magic wand approach to leverage:

If you cold do anything to achieve your objectives and get that third win, what would you do?

• Measure what matters:

changes in behaviour - use your internal experts
changes in perception - model on your existing brand research
never ask questions about sponsorship!
You will leverage to your measurement strategy!

Article courtesy of Marketing Mix

Creating Consumer Friction

Ryan FitzSimons is the founder & CEO of Gigunda Group, a full-service innovation and involvement agency dedicated to delivering unforgettable brand experiences. Recently named the most creative shop in the United States by Promo Magazine, award-winning and breakthrough work includes Charmin's NYC Holiday Restrooms, the Altoids Anti-Love Valentine's Chocolate Pop-Up Shoppes and the Tide Mobile Laundromat for victims of Hurricane Katrina. Other clients include Starbucks, Sony, Yahoo, Microsoft, GM, Target, Wrigley and Kellogg’s.

Marketing Mix asked Fitzsimons a few pertinent questions about experiential marketing and its role in the marketing mix ahead of his presentation at the 2nd African Experiential Marketing Summit in Johannesburg next week.

Marketing Mix: What is your definition of experiential marketing?

Ryan Fitzsimons: Experiential marketing is the discipline of creating engaging, experience based, programs that drive a brand message to the one to one conversation level. How is this done successfully? First, we find the friction point for consumers. What is it that our brand can do to alleviate a point of friction in the lives of our prime prospects. Second, we build programming based on that insight that will involve our consumers in a meaningful brand experience. Gigunda Group is really an Involvement Agency vs. Experiential. Why? Because we find friction and use that friction insight to INVOLVE consumers in truly relevant way with the brand.

MMX: Where does it fit in within the 'traditional' marketing mix?

RS: Experiential marketing has a critical role within the traditional marketing mix. If we look at all the vehicles available to marketers and put them in a tool box, there are some tools designed to drive mass awareness and brand acceptance. There are other tools deigned to drive purchase. Experiential marketing is the tool that is most responsible for driving the consumer/brand fit revelation. In this day and age of over-messaging there is no more important a tool. As consumers we see thousands of messages daily -- too many to effectively interpret. Without part of a marketing plan dedicated to delivering unique, one on one brand conversations, a brand misses a huge opportunity to drive overall fit with consumers and ultimately long-term growth.

MMX: Does experiential marketing work best on its own, with a few traditional elements thrown in, or in a fully integrated campaign?

RS: The most successful campaigns, by far, are those that are integrated. If our experiential programs are not reinforcing what is communicated in the mass media we have very low chances of involving consumers effectively while working to promote how a brand fits for them. Our philosophy is that a successful marketing campaign must be fully integrated across all mediums.

MMX: How do you measure an experiential 'event'?

RS: Every organisation and brand measures programs differently. Our programming cannot fit cleanly into a mass impression measurement system because the programme objectives change all of the time. We believe measurement should be determined by programme objective. If we are working on a program designed to get heavy users to use more of a product why would we measure that with mass media impressions? We wouldn't. We would place greater analysis interest in how many heavy users we are able to reach and what kind of action we deliver from them. Gigunda Group has a strategic partnership with an unbiased 3rd party vendor for ROI research data that is above and beyond standard programme ROI.
MMX: During an experiential campaign how do you achieve that one-to-one-connection?
RS: Within our campaigns we are looking to deliver brand devotion. We can't do that without a compelling message and experience that is relevant to the brand's target consumer. We achieve affective one to one connections by exhaustively researching what matters most to our consumers when it comes to the product. We then marry this insight to a point of friction for the consumer. When we find the point of friction that can be solved by our brand, then we've cracked the code. Being an affective friction finder will absolutely drive personal connection with consumers. Our P&G work has universally been based on finding the right consumer friction point to leverage with the brand.

MMX: What's the secret to turning people into customers and can this be done by experiential marketing alone? Also, getting indifferent consumers to take action?

The right insight. Period. As I mentioned before, finding the right friction point to leverage is the secret to driving action on behalf of consumers. It is that simple and that hard. Can it be done by experiential marketing alone? Absolutely. If an experiential programme has done it's job properly, consumers begin see how and why a brand fits into their lives and they become Brand Advocates. Brand Advocates are a powerful tool, because they start marketing the message to a much wider audience. Brand Advocates are a credible source that garners buzz, and buzz as we know, lasts well beyond the programme.

MMX: How do you find consumer perceptions (without using the traditional target market info such as gender and income) and make them work in experiential marketing?

RS: We always have to use some traditional information to frame up who the prime prospect is. Solid identification of consumer perceptions is found in truly taking a walk in their shoes to understand what is or what is not important to them as it pertains to the brands we represent. In a focus group a bath tissue can be made to sound like a life and death decision. This is simply not a real world interpretation of how consumers think of the brand. Make no mistake, focus groups can and often do deliver fantastic insights. It takes a further dive with consumers to truly understand if what is heard in groups is reality in life. Understanding reality... where your brand truly fits, how consumers truly view your brand, how the competitive set truly impacts your brand is critical.
Or stated another way….
We have found that what the brand believes the consumers are thinking and what the consumers are actually thinking are often times disproportionate or skewed. Therefore through focus groups, social networks, research, trend watching and other tools we find true consumer perception, which often revolves around a point of friction, or something that is not working in their lives. Once we find that then we creatively and cleverly find the solution and wrap the brand around the solution so they ultimately become a brand-hero - that is how we make the consumer perception work in experiential programmes.

MMX: Could you give us a very brief outline of the Potty Palooza campaign which has been cited as the 'perfect' experiential case study, and why it worked.

RS: Charmin bath tissue, a Procter & Gamble brand, is the category leader. Bath tissue is traditionally one of the lowest involvement categories not just for paper products but the entire supermarket. From the generation-spanning Mr. Whipple to the current ‘Call of Nature’ bear campaign, Charmin has a rich history of delivering memorable – and traditional – marketing.
But back in 2000, faced with countless market pressures and the need to break through the clutter to stand for something more than the product attribute of the week (softness, absorbency, roll life etc.), Charmin committed to pioneering new ground by developing an experiential platform to bring their brand positioning to life. Recognising an opportunity to turn the category on its bottom, Charmin addressed a very real and very raw need for young families on the go – the lack of clean public restrooms!
Working to alleviate this void by delivering a pristinely clean, home-like restroom experience via the famed “Potty Palooza” programme, Charmin quickly moved into the hearts, minds and bath tissue holders of families coast to coast. Further, by becoming known as a trust-brand looking out for families while being adorned by countless family advocate groups with a brand-as-hero badge, Charmin’s “Red Cross of Restrooms” approach was a royal flush. The programme not only allowed the brand to create trial – in a fully branded and uninterrupted environment – but immeasurable goodwill. From the country’s largest state fairs to local & national festivals, parades, zoos, travel plazas and sporting events (including two Super Bowls appearances by request of the NFL), Charmin delivered not only surprise and delight, but a fully immersive, uninterrupted total brand experience.
Having made an undeniable impact (P&G has countless correspondence from families that won’t attend events unless Charmin is there… one event had 34 000 families sign a petition ensuring Charmin’s return), combined with the constant effort to find new ways for families to experience the brand in a live theatre format, the brand decided to star at the crossroads of the world in the ultimate proof-point environment, a place renowned for having virtually everything BUT clean and abundant public restrooms…Times Square!
Wowing New Yorkers and families visiting from all over the world during the holidays, the Charmin NYC Restroom Experience set-up in the epicentre of the world, Times Square and offered 20 stunningly luxurious and immaculate home-like restrooms in a place infamous for a lack of restrooms. Just ask anyone – especially young families with kids – where to find a restroom in Times Square and you’re sure to get an earful. Not any more… just follow your eyes to the brilliant blue 2000 sq. ft. billboard exclaiming You’re in New York…Go in style!. Those flying into area airports were greeted by terminal and baggage claim dioramas announcing the newest and hottest attraction in New York City.
Cleaned after every single use and outfitted with almost every amenity imaginable – hardwood floors and plush carpeting; rejuvenating aromatherapy; Charmin branded wallpaper framed by homey bead board; 5” crown molding with matching chair rail; glistening white porcelain toilet and pedestal sink; elegant glowing sconces and backlit tray ceilings with illuminating cloud-motif; squeezable soft Charmin Megaroll; Bounty Paper Towels, Safeguard Soap and Puffs tissues; working fireplaces (electric!); illuminated topiaries; Winter-Wonderland family photo opportunity featuring a larger than life stuffed Charmin bear riding a toboggan with room for 5; American Band Stand-style dance stage with laser lights and disco ball; valet stroller parking and plenty of oversized, super comfy furniture for all those tired holiday shopping legs – the Charmin NYC Restroom Experience quickly became known as Charmin’s Holiday Gift to NY with overjoyed families unanimously proclaiming 'Thanks, Charmin!'

Student delegates at the Ex Summit

Exp Agency is proud to announce the names of the three students the company is sponsoring to attend the 2nd African Experiential Marketing Summit taking place on 3 September 2008 at Montecasino.

Cyndi-lee De Cerff of Damelin, Hatfield; Melisizwe Notwala of the IMM Graduate School of Marketing, and Dani du Plessis of University of Johannesburg (UJ) will be joining many of South Africa’s top marketing professionals at the summit as they gather to listen to some of the world’s top experiential marketing speakers.

“I’m so excited about the summit,” enthuses De Cerff, who holds a marketing diploma from IMM Graduate School of Marketing and is currently in her second year of studies at Damelin. “I think it’s going to be the experience of a lifetime and a huge eye-opener for me as a student. I’ve seen the experiential marketing that Mini Cooper and Apple do, and I’m looking forward to finding out what experiential marketing is really about.”

Du Plessis, who is the top third year marketing student at UJ is equally as excited. “Moving from the classroom to the real world of Marketing is exhilarating,” she says. “What better experience to kick-start my journey, than to have been given the opportunity to attend the 2nd Experiential Marketing Summit? Not only is it a chance to expand my theoretical understanding of marketing; it is also an opportunity to cross the threshold into what the industry is actually up to, who is leading it forward and where it is headed in the future, giving me a taste of all that awaits me following graduation.”

Notwala, who is a marketing graduate and is currently studying and working at IMM, adds that he is looking forward to being exposed to the latest strategies and trends in experiential marketing, as well as learning about what sets the top companies apart.

Carol Abade, CEO of the Exp Group, explains that by sponsoring these students, the company hopes to encourage tomorrow’s marketing leaders to think big, as well as educating them on the importance of experiential marketing as an essential part of the marketing mix.

The students will be writing about their experience of the 2nd African Experiential Marketing Summit in the week following the event. Their articles will be published on the Experiencing Experiential blog (www.experiencingexperiential.blogspot.com).

For more information about the 2nd African Experiential Marketing Summit, visit www.exsummit.com.

Book prizes up for grabs!

Register today for the 2nd African Experiential Marketing Summit and you could be one of five lucky people to win a copy of Bernd Schmitt’s book Customer Experience Management, valued at R405.00. For more info, visit www.exsummit.com.

“What attracts customers to any company is a great customer experience,” says Bernd Schmitt, PhD - Robert D Calkins Professor of International Business and executive director of the Center on Global Brand Leadership at Columbia Business School in New York.

Pointing out that customers are every company’s most valuable asset, Schmitt is adamant that now, more than ever, companies need to retain existing customers and to attract new ones in order to survive and grow.

“A brand needs to stay relevant with consumers. And consumer trends, technologies, and culture, in general, change all the time,” he says. “Therefore, a brand must respond to these changes, pick up these trends, and thus stay relevant. A great way to show that you are relevant to consumer’s ever-changing lives is to connect with them and engage them – in conversations and activities. Events and sponsorships are a great way of doing so.”

Schmitt explains that the concept of “customer experience” can be used to address a range of marketing and branding issues in an innovative way. While many companies see segmentation from the perspective of the company and its products (segmenting by features, price, or distribution channel, for example), Schmitt says that by taking the experience approach, companies are able to tackle segmentation and targeting very differently, by starting with research tools that reveal meaningful data from the customer’s perspective, and using these to develop a customer-focused segmentation scheme.

“Another key issue for companies is how to position brand,” says Schmitt. “Many products are undifferentiated these days. They have similar features, and even in fast moving markets (like consumer electronics), features are easily copied.”

That’s why he believes that for brands, differentiation in the mind is vital. Yet most branding initiatives are also similar. “A company searches for the brand identity, the brand values, brand core, brand DNA, the brand personality or whatever they call it, and at the end, they usually come up with trivialities,” he opines. “For example, our brand is warm, or innovative, or intelligent.”

The agencies are then invited in, and they create messages around these branding initiatives. “They create ‘emotional ads,’ for example, smiling faces of people performing some sort of lifestyle activity. I don’t like to be cynical – but all of this is quite silly. Plus, most of it is developed without any customer input,” says Schmitt.

“What really matters is the customer experience. What the customer gets when he or she shops, interacts with company people, attends events, visits a website. What really matters is the interaction with the brand – not what brand managers and ad agencies are trying to put into people’s heads.”

While the concepts and methodologies of traditional marketing, such as segmentation and positioning, and the four Ps, will always be relevant, they need to be applied slightly differently to experiences. “Segmentation needs to be done based on experiences; we need verbal and visual experiential positioning platforms (not these long positioning statements) and the four Ps must include new media and other innovative touchpoints,” explains Schmitt.
In conclusion, he reiterates that experiential marketing is truly about customers. “Most traditional marketing is – despite what marketers say – usually product focused. Some of these concepts complement experiential marketing. But it’s all about the mindset: Always think customer first, always think customer experience!”
Bernd Schmitt will be in South Africa on 3 September presenting the keynote at the African Experiential Summit in Johannesburg.

For more information about Bernd Schmitt and his books, visit www.MeetSchmitt.com.

The 2008 African Experiential Marketing Summit – 3rd September 2008 – will take delegates on a sensorial journey, exploring food, technology and innovation in an entertaining and engaging way that is bound to keep delegates entertained as they see how experiential marketing can be used to truly build connections with their customers. As John Keats once said, nothing ever become real until it is experienced.”

Finalised Agenda

As the 2nd African Experiential Marketing Summit draws near, Exp and Marketing Mix are pleased to announce the finalised agenda and line-up of speakers.
Liz Bigham (Jack Morton Worldwide) has unfortunately had to withdraw for personal reasons – her white paper will however still be made available to summit delegates – but the event organisers have the pleasure of announcing that Ryan FitzSimons of Gigunda Group in the USA will be coming to South Africa as her replacement. FitzSimons will be speaking on the topic “Destination Devotion™ – Accelerating the purchase funnel by turning Brands into Brand badges” which has recently wowed audiences across the USA.
Gigunda Group is a full-service, impact marketing firm that specialises in creating, designing and executing big-idea brand experiences that engage consumers, evolve behaviour and elevate brands. With blue chip clients including Kellogg’s, Pampers, Wal*Mart and Publix under their belts, the team at Gigunda has experience in a wide range of industries. The company also won an Ex Award in 2007 for a Proctor & Gamble activation it undertook – a case study which will be included in the 2008 Ex Summit presentation.
Another addition to the agenda is of local advertising and marketing guru, Andy Rice of Yellowwood Brand Architects, who will be speaking on the changing face of brand communications.
Rice co-founded the esteemed Yellowwood Brand Architects agency and hosts a weekly advertising show on Talk Radio 702. His presentation promises to be relevant to all professionals working within the communications industry.
The other speakers for the 2nd African Experiential Marketing Summit are as follows: Bernd Schmitt (best selling author of Experiential Marketing and Customer Experience Management and CEO of The Ex Group); Kim Skildum-Reid (one of the world’s leading lights in sponsorship marketing and manager of her own consultancy – Power Sponsorship), Dr Jan Hofmeyr (Global Head of Insights at Synovate and arguably the world’s leading expert on brand commitment); Carol Abade (CEO of the Exp Group); Sharon Penhallrick (Managing Director, Telmar SPC Media Systems) and Carl Monteiro (Head of Marketing, FIFA, South Africa)
The full agenda and speaker biographies can be found at the 2nd African Experiential Marketing Summit website, www.exsummit.com.