Let's face it. It might be your brand but you no longer own it.
Brands today, are going through tectonic shifts. It is no longer defined by the constraints of the boardroom, all neatly packaged and rolled out as a fixed set of ideas. Sure, you might have a brand message. But that is not your market position. Your market position is what your customers feel about your brand. It is constantly being manipulated and motivated by the users of your brand. Your brand reality is challenged in every product, package, interaction, platform and architectural spaces. At every touch points you are now tasked to provide memorable moments that delights and deliberates. In his book, The Soft Edge, Rich Karlgaard, refers to the emotional connections as Taste. To achieve the right taste profile for your brand, Karlgaard says, “True taste kindles a products’ emotional touch points.”
So, how do you DO this?
So, how do you DO this?
The short answer: Design a Journey of Memorable Encounters.
"A journey is a story that lives inside the users' minds. As such it cannot be "delivered," it can only be influenced and co-created." Stories are what creates memories. And memories are those bits of information that stirs emotions. Deeper the emotion associated with the event, the longer the shelf life of the memory.
As humans, we are hardwired to connect emotionally with everything that we encounter. "Some connections are commonplace and pass unnoticed, while others define our mood, the way we perceive others and ourselves and, most importantly, the way we will remember the experience itself." This ability for people to connect emotionally with everyday things and/or ideas is called anthropomorphism, the attribution of human characteristics and behaviors to an object or an process. (Greek anthropos,"human being"; morphe,"shape") is the attribution of human form or qualities to that which is not human. "Anthropomorphism is the doorway to connect emotionally with people and, the quest to positively influence this mental process is the quest of design itself." |
YOU ARE COMPETING IN A FLAT CONNECTED WORLD — BROADEN YOUR BRAND AROUND THESE CONCERNS ABOVE — THE Anthropomorphism BAROMETER OF YOUR TARGET Audience — Get prepared for your GenZ audience.
By 2020, they will account for one-third of the U.S. population, certainly worth paying attention to. |
At ExhbiitorLive 2019 our door way to the hearts of our target audience (trade show managers and marketing consultants) was through the theme 'Trade Show Jungle'. We know tradeshows are messy and magnificent at the same time. We handle all messy mismatches of logistics while you get to strategize and design your while you anchor and engage your clients in your booth space.
It’s a Jungle out there!
We know how wild and crazy it can be but Skyline is here to help guide you through it and tame the wild beasts along the way. Stop by our exhibits at the 2019 ExhibitorLive show in Las Vegas and experience a safe haven away from the chaos and craziness of the show. We recognize the challenges exhibitors face while navigating the wilderness of the trade show jungle and provide solutions along with services that will minimize the possibility of being eaten by the beasts of the trade show jungle… in short: we tap into anxiety and fear and we make loud proclamation: “we got your back.”
FROM JOBS TO CAREERS TO CAUSE — CONNECT WITH A CAUSE --
In a technology driven world, where we are obsessed about the latest gadget and hanker after the coolest gizmo, design a 3D environment where people can come, play. Give them a cause to hang out with your BRAND. Give them an immersive experience that will stir their emotions and embark them on a journey of successful brand recognition and brand interaction.
Strategize a theme around your design. 'Morphe' it with 'Anthropos' qualites.
This is the time to do it and distinguish your offering with it.
Strategize a theme around your design. 'Morphe' it with 'Anthropos' qualites.
This is the time to do it and distinguish your offering with it.
Your design should be a connective refuge for all the disconnected feeling that is pervasive in our technocratic 'Speed Society'.
According to a recent study by Cigna, nearly half of Americans report feeling lonely frequently or always and only 53% report having daily meaningful in-person social interactions. Nearly one in four people say they rarely or never feel as though there are people who really understand them – compared to one in ten 30 years ago. In a culture hooked on 'speed' the challenge is, that in an absence of meaningful customer experience, brands are differentiated on the basis of price as opposed to the actual service. On top of that, since technology competes with the human side of business, your product "teams may run the risk of decreased output quality, project ownership, and overall innovation capacity." The Advantages of Building a Brand Based on EMOTIONAL Connectedness
According to a study by IBMIX, there are 6 attributes that will help companies stay relevant and make good 'brand sense' — "Top performing Belonging Brands grew their revenue at three times the rate of lower performing brands over six years and saw market share gains up to 10 percent higher than low performing brands."
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NOSTALGIA Fond memories fuel a desire to bring the past into the present. Below, Polaroid made a 3D sculpture of their camera and film packs, reminding us the steps in technological innovation YOUTHFULNESS
Our technocratic culture is becoming more playful, driven by generations 'not ready to grow up yet' and Boomers are desiring an active and enriched life. Think of certain words when you design your exhibit to be youthful. Elaborate on those words to help you design the parameters of your exhibit design. For example: ELASTIC — "The elastic heart of youth cannot be compressed into one constrained shape long at a time." ENERGETIC — In our 3D reality, energetic displaces the passive. Super ambitious goals tend to unify and energize people. It makes people think and believe in doing the impossible. ELECTRIC — "Enthusiasm is the electricity of life. How do you get it? You act enthusiastic until you make it a habit." Below: Spanish designer, Hayón also designed a range of clothes and accessories to use with the scooter, which were displayed around the installation, including a series of helmets and a jacket with multiple pockets so you don’t need to carry a bag. “We tried to understand what the Citysurfer was about,” he explains. “It’s the idea of having something that allows you to move in the city with a certain kind of freedom.” —————————--
TRIBALISM Allegiant groups form organically around specific interests, causes and brands. (There is a reason why the sun did not set in the British Empire.) “A tribe is a group of people connected to one another, connected to a leader, and connected to an idea. For millions of years, human beings have been part of one tribe or another. A group needs only two things to be a tribe: a shared interest and a way to communicate.” In the book Tribes, Godin makes a distinction between crowds and tribes. He says that crowds are tribes without leaders and without communication.
Most companies market to the crowd – not to the tribe and that is a mistake. Above: the exhibitor encourages his tribe in a team sport. This way, he disperses knowledge about his product and increases the participation of his tribe.
1. You begin to build your Tribe by making an effort to enter their world. 2. You tell your story through inspirational nuggets. (blogs, pocasts, webinars) and they begin to resonate with you. 3. They “like” you or not 4. They interact with you – and you interact with them. 5. They are the beginning of your tribe. And a funny thing happens. These tribe members find other people that are also members of your tribe and they start talking. They spread the word to even more people that don't know anything about you. And pretty soon you have a tribe of your own. ————————--FANTASY FABULOUS You are pitching to fantasy seekers. They are bored with the ordinary and the mundane. "A brand is not built overnight. Success is measured in decades, not years. Markets may change, but the essential characteristics of your brand should not." They may be given a new slant depending on the prevailing culture of the brand tribe but the essential characteristics should be consistent. Above Illustrations and characters based on cartoon characters of the comic books that hooks the attendee at the deep
sub-conscious level. AUTHENTICITY
The word is often tossed around, rarely enacted upon. Authenticity is understanding your brand purpose so that you can align people around a common purpose. Purpose defines the unique gifts people bring to the challenges of your brand expansion. It is through PURPOSE your brand ambassadors (booth staff) can align others with their purposes in order to create positive impact. |