The Keys to Building a Better Brand Experience: Awareness, Alignment and Enthusiasm

Chris Cavanaugh, CMO, FreemanIn my opinion, brand experience is the future of marketing. There are very few channels that can combine all the best elements of technology, data, and storytelling to create such high impact.As part of our ongoing mission to define the landscape of our industry, Freeman commissioned an independent global study to learn more about the perception of brand experience amongst marketers. Overall, we found that the channel is experiencing some pretty exciting growth, driven in large part by the marketing demands of younger generations. However, we also learned that many marketing teams are not on the same page when it comes to value and strategy.Alignment is an issue no CMO takes lightly, and it can be amplified by the fact that brand experience is more complex than your average communication platform. SUGGESTION: Describe WHY it is more complex! In order to get the most out of this channel, there are three key ways you can manage these disconnects and get full commitment from your team.AwarenessBrand experience isn’t new – after all, it’s a descendent of the live event – but it’s evolved enough to merit a newer, more concrete definition. Simply put, a brand experience is about designing a sensory experience that brings a person into a lasting and meaningful relationship with a brand.As CMO, it’s your job to make sure that everyone on your team understands exactly what brand experience is capable of accomplishing, and why it’s so valuable. More than any other medium, brand experience immerses an audience in a brand’s narrative and allows them an opportunity to connect on a much deeper, emotional level.Once your team understands the enormous potential and creative possibilities of this channel, it will be easier to get their full buy-in.AlignmentFor our study, we surveyed over 1,000 marketers in North America, Western Europe, and Asia in roles ranging from CMO to brand managers to event planners. The findings of this research showed us that there’s a pretty big disconnect in the value placed on brand experience across the marketing organization.For example:

• 48 percent of CMOs place a high value on brand experience, but only 33 percent of brand managers and 28 percent of event planners do.
• 58 percent of CMOs feel that brand experience helps increase advocacy, yet those numbers drop by 13-18 percent for brand managers and event planners.
• Meanwhile, more than a third of brand managers and event planners realize the value of brand experience as content generators to share with stakeholders who cannot attend in person — yet that ranks high for only 21 percent of CMOs.

Like any other department, marketing success relies on aligning objectives and goals with action and execution. And it’s pretty alarming how often there’s a breakdown in what CMOs say they want to accomplish and what their team is actually doing to get there.As usual, the key solution is strategy. That means that marketing, brand, communications, advertising, digital, customer experience, data, and marketing automation all have to be aligned. The brand strategy has to sync up with the business strategy. Then the CMO must ensure that data is driving an informed view of the audience and must work with executive leadership to formulate a unified strategy for connecting to the customer when, where, and how the customer wants.For companies to derive true ROI from brand experience, brand managers and event planners need to be on board with their CMO.EnthusiasmIn brand experience, you are embracing one of the most promising and future-proof forms of marketing there is. This is a medium that allows your brand to connect deeply with your consumers’ unique personal values. There is real branding power in this channel.And yet, brand experience is a complex effort that requires all parts working in unison and harmony. As CMO, it is your job to be one step ahead of this. Be an advocate. Rally the troops. And above all, give them a mission they can believe in. The rewards you reap may just be better than anything your brand has seen before.[author]About the Author: Chris began his career at Freeman by helping to create and lead FreemanXP, the company’s agency services organization, which has quickly grown into the one of the largest global brand experience agencies in the industry in three years’ time. Prior to Freeman, Chris enjoyed a 16-year career at Jack Morton Worldwide (IPG) where he was the EVP and General Manager of the flagship New York office.[/author]