That the market is changing is as undeniable as the fact that brands are changing with it. We operate in a global, digital environment where the relationship between brands and their consumers has transformed into a peer-to-peer dynamic—something unthinkable just a few years ago—and this completely reshapes the so-called brand experience.
New technologies, social media, consumer behavior, their economic and purchasing power, media influence, and influence on communication and opinion… everything has changed, including how we connect with each other. It is from this bond or relationship between brand and consumer, without any hierarchy between them, that the concept of brand experience can be fully understood.
What is brand experience?
Brand experience is more of a perception, something intangible that is usually accompanied by the experiences and emotions felt by the user or consumer. It’s the very emotion they feel when performing any action with a brand, so that the customer feels not just involved, but part of it.
The brand, therefore, must cultivate and project a whole range of extrasensory experiences, from the aroma upon entering a specific store, like in certain clothing chain stores, to being part of something that goes beyond momentary use, like the friendly, collaborative beer commercials, or making us feel like true DIYers, as is the case with IKEA.
Each brand will offer us a completely different experience, and understanding what the end consumer feels, what they expect, what they are looking for, is a crucial mission for the marketing team, such as the one at the Madrid-based design studio Salago.
Establishing that connection is paramount; ensuring they always leave with a good feeling, that they talk about it, remember it, recommend it, and also want to repeat it is the key to a complete brand experience that guarantees us something more than just customers.
Identification: The Key to Brand Experience
A brand’s values, principles, and mission are the first things consumers perceive. They are increasingly aware of what they look for in a product and will purchase those they consider to have greater intangible value, even above cost compared to other brands.
Consumers or users are looking not just for a product or service, but for a connection with their own way of life and thinking. They want to feel that the brand’s differentiation, humanity, and empathy resonate with their own differentiation, humanity, and empathy as individuals, not just as consumers.
They seek those intangible elements and values with which they can identify and even interact.
To achieve this connection, this brand experience, we must direct stimuli to the consumer’s senses, emotions, experiences, thoughts, and relationships. It’s not just about creating branding, but rather about delivering value to the user that allows them to live relevant and unique experiences, generating emotions with the essence of your brand so that our intangible values, those things they connect with, are completely real and tangible for them.
Benefits of Brand Experience
One of the primary benefits of developing brand experience is that, by exploring and studying strategies and understanding our audience, we can almost immediately position ourselves in the market with a brand that has its own unique meaning and mission.
This will undoubtedly improve our online reputation and image, allowing us to increase sales, refine our target audience, raise our product prices, and build credibility.
It represents a qualitative leap in how consumers perceive our brand, achieving a prominent place in their thoughts and emotions, and fostering greater customer loyalty.
Let’s be honest, do we like Starbucks coffee? Many of us probably don’t, but the Starbucks experience connects emotionally with customers, enticing them with its exclusive coffees with unique flavors, as well as its use of innovative technologies and limited-time offers.
Estrella Damm, for example, offers us the experience of friendship, of mature youth after adolescence, of creating memories in natural settings, appealing to that part of us where we want to connect with our surroundings and our loved ones. It’s often a celebration of friendship, without barriers or time constraints.
Saying, for example, that Red Bull gives you wings is more than just an invitation to dream; it’s a reality. The brand has a well-defined target audience and knows how to reach their emotions. Being present in sporting competitions, sponsoring Formula 1 or ski tournaments, powerfully attracts the attention of an active target market that uses energy drinks as a boost to their physical fitness and their spontaneous, daring, and original way of being. Red Bull is a challenge to the world, and that’s its brand experience; perhaps it’s one of the most iconic examples in the market… or do you prefer Coca-Cola?
