Brand Experience – What is it all about?

Before we go into an official definition, let’s agree on the fact that everything is communicating, shall we? A head office, business card, customer service behaviour, a menu, chair, website, package, event, ad, box, movie, product, logo, interim report … The list is endless, but each thing says something about, and evokes feelings for the brand behind it, whether it is a person or a multinational Group.

And everyone seems to agree that trademarks are emotional assets. It doesn’t matter how intellectual the communication tries to be, how much is invested in R&D, how big the factory is or how technologically advanced the offer is. Nike’s acquisition of Converse, Facebook’s of Instagram and Microsoft’s of Minecraft are just a few examples of when the value of the brand translates into large sums of money. Studies also show that recipients, readers, viewers, meeting participants or whatever you choose to call your target audience, build their preference, relationship and eventually their commercial and/or behavioural decision on the experience they’ve had of the brand.

Today we encounter countless brands every day. But how many are really seen? How many make an impression? Keep your interest the next day? Make you act sooner or later? A very simple answer: only those who make a clear impression and only those who create the same kind of experience in all channels. The slightest gap and the experience cracks.

Researchers have defined Brand Experience well: ‘Sensations, feelings, cognitions, and behavioral responses evoked by brand-related stimuli. Such stimuli appear as part of a brand’s design and identity, packaging, communications, and environments’. They also confirm that the experience includes all our senses and multiple dimensions.

Therefore it’s also common sense to work cross-functionally and mix skills to cover all the places where brands will meet those who want to like, share and buy what you sell.

Companies that have a clear and active strategy for their Brand Experience will be the strongest brands in the future. And that’s becoming increasingly important. Digitalisation, globalisation and transparency have just started, after all.