Introduction To Brand Experience Management

Introduction to Brand Experience and Consumer
Journey
by Kalyan Bandyopadhyay
Brand Experience Management: Prestige PGDM
Kalyan Bandyopadhyay | Confidential 1

About Brand Experience Management Course
Course Objectives:
1. Understand the relevance and importance of Brand Experience and key concepts related to Brand Experience as
the ‘future of Marketing’.
2. Understand the key dimensions of Brand Experience in depth to design, develop, implement and measure the
results of appropriate Brand Experience programs for a Brand.
3. Understand global best practices of Brand Experience and apply these in the Indian context.
Learning Outcomes:
At the end of the course, the students would be able to:
1. Ascertain the needs for appropriate Brand Experience approaches in the context of Brand Development and
growth tasks.
2. Apply concepts, models, tools, techniques and global best practices related to creating/ improving Brand
Experiences for various Brand Objectives.
3. Analyse and understand roles and responsibilities of a Brand Experience Custodian/ Manager.
4. Design and implement Brand Experience strategies with respect to Brand strategy development.

About Brand Experience Management Course
Prescribed Text Book(s): Building Brand Experiences: A Practical Guide to Retaining Brand Relevance by Dareen Coleman
Reference Book(s): Strategic Brand Management: Creating and Sustaining Brand Equity Long Term; by Jean-Noël Kapferer
Evaluation
S. No. Component Weightage (%) Corresponding Learning
Outcomes
1 Class Participation 5 1, 2, 3, 4
2 Quiz (best 2 out of 3) 5 1, 2, 3, 4
3 Individual Assignments 15 2, 3, 4
4 Group Projects or 15 2, 3, 4
Assignments
5 Mid-Semester 20 2, 3, 4
Examination
6 End-Semester 40 2, 3, 4
Examination
Total 100
Key Goals of our discussions today
• Outcome:
• Introduction to Brand Experience Management

• Recap the concepts of Brand Value, Brand Equity and Brand Essence
• Explain the concept of Brand Experience & explain why Brand Experience is becoming more
prominent
• Explain the differences between Brand Experience and other key Brand Constructs
• Explain the dimensions of Brand Experience
• Explain the interrelationship between Brand Experience. Customer Experience and User Experience
• Explain how to build Brand Experiences
• Discuss successful Case Studies of Brand Experience
• Discuss the Learning is Fun Case Study
• Time: 1 hour 30 minutes with Q&A/ Comments

Current Marketing Landscape
While Brand management has been a longstanding practice for organizations, it is becoming more stale and
ineffective process.
In a recent Forrester Consulting study, only 39% of decision-making Business leaders say their Brand
resonates with their prospects – a huge experience gap.
This indicates that much of their current Brand investments are not in the right areas. Yet improving Brand
Awareness continues to be one of the top five marketing priorities for the next 12 months.
In order to win loyal Customers in this new Business landscape, Business leaders are turning to “Brand
Experience Management.”
In fact, over 70% of them believe Brand Experience Management will help improve their organizations’
Brand awareness and differentiation.

Brand Experience Management is the discipline of understanding which interactions attract prospects (or
turn them away) – and what actions organizations need to drive to improve Brand differentiation.
This approach ultimately creates long-term qualitative and quantitative returns: Forrester notes that leaders
in Brand Experience Management, on average, see increase in revenue, stronger Brand resonance, and
happier Customers.
Key requirements for Brand Experience Management are:
• Need for Experience Data in Real time: for example, if a loyal Customer has a negative call center
interaction, that can have an immediate, negative impact on Customer satisfaction and lifetime value. Or
a dissatisfied Customer can share their experience on social media, where other Customers also share
similar experiences. Having access to this data helps organizations draw insights on how they can design
better experiences for their Customers: leaders in brand experience see an average increase of 11 points
in their NPS scores alone when they listen, understand, and act on Customer feedback.

Key requirements (contd.):
• Extracting Insights from Experience Data: The most successful organizations who practice brand
experience management only use a purposeful, smaller set of systems or solutions. Brand decision-
makers who say their platforms gather real-time experience data are more likely to incorporate this data
into their metrics and strategy to drive their Business priorities forward.
• Putting Insights into Action:
• Brand experience management impacts every aspect of the Consumer & Customer experience: from
consideration to trial to purchase. Just as Customer preferences and expectations shift quickly, so
should organizations’ ability to be agile and adapt. With the right systems in place, Business leaders
will be able to apply those Customer insights into action, almost instantaneously.
• The best systems do two things: the first, help route Customer feedback and recommendations to
the right people in an organization. Brand experience management is an organization-wide effort.
Everyone from IT to operations to marketing is responsible for the Customer experience, and
therefore, brand experience. The second, show feedback alongside Business metrics like sales and
ad spend, so organizations can drawKalyan
connections
Bandyopadhyaybetween
| Confidential brand initiatives and quantitative impact.
7
What Is Brand Equity?
Brand Equity
Brand Equity is a set of assets or liabilities in the form of Brand visibility, Brand associations and Customer
loyalty that add or subtract from value of a current or potential product or service driven by the Brand.
It is a key construct in the management of not only Marketing, but also Business Strategy.
In the late 1980s, Brand Equity helped create and support the explosive idea that Brands are assets that
drive Business performance over time. That idea altered perceptions of what marketing does, who does it,
and what role it plays in Business strategy.
Brand Equity also altered the perception of Brand Value by demonstrating that a Brand is not only a tactical
aid to generate short-term sales, but also a strategic support to a Business strategy that will add long-term
value to the organization.

What Is Brand Value?
Brand Value is the financial worth of a Brand and not only creates more revenue, it also affects the market.
When Consumers resonates with a Brand and are loyal, it can discourage other companies from entering the
market. This protects market share for existing companies.
Knowing Huggies and Pampers have incredible Brand Value, other companies may look at other product
lines outside of diapers to avoid competing against such well-known companies, which would be detrimental
to their bottom line.

Brand Essence
If a Brand is a collection of all the thoughts and feelings associated with a company, a Brand essence is at
the centre of it all.
Brand essence gives depth to Brand USP by going beyond price and product features, educates your
audience, and also helps you to develop a reputation in your chosen field.
Over time, you’ll find that an effective Brand essence articulation even helps you to attract the right
audiences, by creating advocates and ambassadors.

What is Brand Experience?
Brand Experience is defined as subjective, internal Consumer responses (sensations, feelings, and
cognitions) and behavioural responses evoked by Brand-related stimuli that are part of a Brand’s design
and identity, packaging, communications, and environments.
Brand Experience is the lasting impression customers have of your brand. It includes thoughts, feelings,
perceptions, and reactions to everything from direct marketing efforts to large-scale Ad campaigns and
specific product launches.
Brand Experience describes the tangible and emotional experience Consumers have while interacting with
your Brand. Think of it as a holistic approach that combines elements of user experience, customer
experience, and Brand identity all in one.
(Source: J. Jo˘sko Brakus, Bernd H. Schmitt, & Lia Zarantonello

Emergence of importance of Brand Experience – The Theoretical
Foundation
Over the past decades, Branding literature has emphasized the need to create better and unique Consumer
experience to develop stronger Brands. This school of thought has been supported by both practitioners and
academics who believed that experiences arising out of contact with Brands had a substantial impact on
Consumer behaviour.
The term Brand Experience was first coined by Brakus et al. (2009) in the ‘Journal of Marketing’. They
explored and integrated various concepts in the fields of cognitive science, marketing, philosophy and
management practices to understand the meaning of this term, and stated that consumption, products,
services and shopping experiences together constitute the overall Brand experience.
Brand Experience is viewed as an important construct in Branding literature that builds the Consumer-Brand
relationship. Brakus et al. (2009) stated that with a better understanding of Brand Experience, the entire
range of experiences evoked by Brand-related stimuli could be understood.

Emergence of Brand Experience – Impact of Social Media
Today’s interconnected and always-on digital culture is bringing Brands closer to Customers than ever
before. But the constant and ubiquitous exchange between companies and Customers in global markets is
also creating increasing pressure on companies to differentiate, manage, and enhance their Brands.
Moreover, companies are coming to the realization that Brands are key Business assets that can be valued –
and are vulnerable unless adequately protected. That’s because although the internet has become a
mainstream channel where Brands and Customers interact, it’s also fraught with hazards for companies
that don’t adequately protect their assets.
‘Without the internet Brand owners wouldn’t have so many headaches and we wouldn’t have so much work
protecting them. Some bandit operators copy content from the internet. They can see the trademarks and
they start making copies and counterfeit products, particularly in China. You can’t attack the counterfeiters if
you don’t have any protection’.

Emergence of Brand Experience – Brand as a key Differentiator
Brand is often erroneously equated with the trademarks – recognizable signs, sounds, images or symbols –
which quickly became the foundation for companies to claim exclusivity and to differentiate and protect
their products and services.
However the Brand concept has evolved to encompass other intangible assets such as product designs and
domain names and lately, Customer experience – how Customers interact with and experience Brands at
different touch points.
Brand is becoming increasingly important because many products nowadays do the same thing. Many have
the same attributes, but people still have different feelings and opinions about them. And that’s all about
Brand. So it’s about how you create a certain perception of your product for Consumers to differentiate it
from other products.
.

Emergence of Brand Experience – Brand as a key Differentiator
Consumers – and indeed many in the corporate sector – mistakenly believe that differentiation based on
Brand is relevant mainly in the Business-to-Consumer (B2C) sector, where companies visibly deploy vast
resources to compete for Customers, increase market share and turn profits. But that’s not the case, say
legal experts.
“Brand is an essential part of intellectual property. Very often industrial clients consider that patents are
their most important IP assets. But the importance of Brands is increasing all the time, especially in
industries where there is no or limited technical innovation. Brand may then become the only asset
protected by IP.”

Emergence of Brand Experience – Consumer Trends
Brand experience is often a part of a Brand’s marketing strategy, but it’s gaining more and more prominence.
Why do younger generations care for experience more than products, and why is Brand experience the
future of marketing?
Even though the digital transformation reshaped the world, more and more people are prone to investing in
something that offers them a unique experience. Goods can be bought, touched, used and forgotten, but
memories and experiences last forever. They are intangible and invaluable to some people.
This change in Consumer trends is largely attributed to millennials, yet other generations also invest more
in experiences.
Millennials, in particular, place higher importance on human experiences than on material items.
According to a Harris Group study, 72 percent of them would rather spend money on experiences than on
tangible items. This generation has demonstrated that they do not want to be sold to; instead, they want
to be a part of an experience.

Emergence of Brand Experience – Strategic Benefits
Experiences build long-lasting feelings and memories
An Ad or piece of content might be impressive when you see or read it, but the chances are you will forget
what you saw a few minutes later.
On the other hand, a good example of experiential marketing can be in a person’s memory forever. And it’s
not just the memory: good experiences provide a longer feeling of happiness. A study performed by the
University of Cornell saw that people find enjoyment from experience based on two things: the anticipation
of an experience, and the memory that it forms.
Furthermore, waiting in line for an experience, such as a live event or expo show, makes people more
content about waiting in line, than they would be if they were waiting to make a purchase.
The answer to this phenomenon is that as Consumers, we can be seen as two people: the person that goes
through this experience, and the person that remembers it. The final impression you get of an experience,
such as purchasing a product, is made by the remembering self.

Experience Marketing can boost Community building
People nowadays feel so overwhelmed with Ads, that (sometimes fake) experience on Social Media doesn’t
always quite cut it. Here is where real-life experiences can help a company not only put a smile on their face
but also build a community around the product.
How many times have you heard someone claim they are a “Coke person” or “Pepsi person”?
When Consumers experience a sense of Community as a result of their encounters with a company, they
become true Brand loyalists. This is because, unlike physical products or features, an engaged community is
one of the few characteristics of a Business that cannot be imitated.
Brand Experiences, which range from online community forums to unique events, assist to bring fans
together as a Community and develop a sense of belonging.
Brands can sometimes create a Community experience for a very short period of time. Here is an example by
the car Brand Smart, that made a casual day of being in traffic into a memorable experience in which
strangers participated together, and for some interval of time, formed a community.
Brand Experience (BX) is all about building trust
A positive Brand experience also fosters trust. Giving the audience a taste of what they could buy is an age-
old approach that makes them feel like they know what they’re getting into.
Whether by participating in live events, giving away a free product or immersing the audience in a
multimedia experience, this will help the company establish a positive reputation.
Since Brand Experience means giving a unified approach to every touchpoint of the Customer’s journey, it
helps establish their trust in the company. If your needs are not only met but also your expectations are
outdone by a Brand, you are very likely to keep being their user.

Brand Experience is a step towards Brand evangelism
Good news spreads fast. People that have had a good experience with a Brand, or are even Brand loyalists,
are far more likely to suggest people use the same product or service.
Brand Experience can help here as well. Brand Experience and the Community forming around it is a way to
create Brand evangelists.
Brand evangelists are eager and dedicated, they show an interest in what they’re doing and research it. A
Brand evangelist isn’t just a Customer. They are fans, just as one could be of a musician or a celebrity.
Unless something happens to sway their loyalties, they’ll always advocate their preferred Brand and almost
never use a competitor’s product.

Brand Experience Construct
Brand Experiences vary in strength and intensity; that is, some Brand experiences are stronger or more
intense than others.
As with product experiences, Brand experiences also vary in valence; that is, some are more positive than
others, and some experiences may even be negative.
Moreover, some Brand experiences occur spontaneously without much reflection and are short-lived; others
occur more deliberately and last longer.
Over time, these long-lasting Brand experiences, stored in Consumer memory, should affect Consumer
satisfaction and loyalty.

Differences of Brand Experience & Other Brand Constructs
Brand Experience is related but also conceptually distinct from other Brand constructs.
In particular, Brand experience differs from evaluative, affective, and associative constructs, such as Brand
attitudes, Brand involvement, Brand attachment, Customer delight, and Brand personality.
Brand attitudes are general evaluations based on beliefs or automatic affective reactions. In contrast, Brand
experiences are not general evaluative judgments about the Brand (e.g., “I like the Brand”). They include
specific sensations, feelings, cognitions, and behavioural responses triggered by specific Brand-related
stimuli.
For example, experiences may include specific feelings, not just an overall “liking.” At times, experiences
may result in general evaluations and attitudes, especially evaluations of the experience itself (e.g., “I like
the experience”). However, the overall attitude toward the experience captures only a small part of the
entire Brand experience.

Brand experience also differs from motivational and affective concepts, such as involvement, Brand attachment,
and Customer delight.
• Brand involvement is based on needs, values, and interests that motivate a Consumer toward an object (e.g.,
a Brand). Antecedents of involvement include the perceived importance and personal relevance of a Brand.
Brand experience does not presume a motivational state. Experiences can happen when Consumers do not
show interest in or have a personal connection with the Brand. Moreover, Brands that Consumers are highly
involved with are not necessarily Brands that evoke the strongest experiences.
• If involvement can be characterized by mild affect, Brand attachment refers to a strong emotional bond (i.e.,
“hot affect”) between a Consumer and a Brand, as evidenced by its three dimensions—affection, passion,
and connection.
In contrast to Brand attachment, Brand experience is not an emotional relationship concept. As we described
previously, experiences are sensations, feelings, cognitions, and behavioural responses evoked by Brand-related
stimuli. Over time, Brand experiences may result in emotional bonds, but emotions are only one internal
outcome of the stimulation that evokes experiences.
• As with Brand attachment, Customer delight is characterized by arousal and positive affect; it can be
considered the affective component of satisfaction.
Customer delight results from disconfirming, surprising consumption.
In contrast to Customer delight, Brand experiences do not occur only after consumption; they occur
whenever there is a direct or indirect interaction with the Brand.
Moreover, a Brand experience does not need to be surprising; it can be both expected or unexpected
.

How Brand Experience Can Be Used to Predict Consumer Behaviour
Brakus, et al. (2009) hypothesized that Brand experiences would positively affect consumer satisfaction
and consumer loyalty and that Brand experience would positively affect brand personality.
They conducted a research study to explore the relationship between brand personality and brand
experience. Brand personality is inferred by the consumer from any number of brand associations, including
the following:
Types of people associated with the brand

Attributes of the product
Associations with the product category
Brand name
Messaging and communications about the brand

Dimensions of Brand Experience
Schmitt proposes five experiences: sense, feel, think, act, and relate.
The sense experience includes aesthetics and sensory qualities.
Consistent with recent research in Consumer behaviour, the feel experience includes moods and emotions.
The think experience includes convergent/analytical and divergent/imaginative thinking.
The act experience refers to actions and behavioural experiences.
Finally, the relate experience refers to social experiences, such as relating to a reference group.
The five experiences are closely related to Dewey’s categorization, Dubé and LeBel’s pleasure construct, and
Pinker’s mental modules.

There has been considerable agreement in the categorization of experiences by philosophers, cognitive
scientists, and management thinkers.
Therefore, for the scale & dimensional development that follows, it is necessary to generate items along the
five experience dimensions that broadly emerged from literature review: sensory, affective, intellectual,
behavioural, and social.
In line with our conceptualization, the experience dimensions are evoked by Brand-related stimuli (e.g.,
colours, shapes, typefaces, designs, slogans, mascots, Brand characters).
Note that there is no one-to-one correspondence, such that a certain stimulus type would trigger a certain
experience dimension and only that dimension. For example, although colours, shapes, typefaces, and
designs usually result in sensory experience, they may also result in emotions (e.g., red for Coca-Cola) or
intellectual experiences (e.g., when designs use complex patterns).

Similarly although slogans, mascots, and Brand characters may result in imaginative thoughts, they may also
trigger emotions (e.g., “Bibendum,” the Michelin Man) or stimulate actions (e.g., Nike’s “Just Do It”).
In addition, when Consumers complete Brand experience scales, such scales are usually not directly
assessing the dynamic, “online” experience of the Consumer in the here and now; rather, such scales
typically assess a lasting trace stored in long-term memory based on multiple exposures to Brand-related
stimuli.


Developing Brand Experience

Physical. This includes the acquisition and use of physical

products of all kinds, their packaging, samples, in store displays
and the like. Interaction with physical product stimuli is the
source of some of the most powerful BX learning, either
positive or negative, because it is so very sensorial, immediate
and important at the moment, i.e., salient.
Service. This includes all the ways besides physical products

that we serve our constituencies. Some BX service offerings are
nearly pure services, e.g., insurance, while others are powerful
physical/service combinations, like cell phones.
Many common physical consumer goods have traditionally
offered no service at all (e.g., toothpaste and thousands of
others), or service only when things go wrong, and therein lies
a tremendous opportunity to better serve brand constituencies
and receive greater rewards in return.

Narrative. The narrative is what consumers see, hear and tell

one another about a brand. Narrative includes proactive
communications from those who create the brand, but even
more important are the messages from trusted members of the
consumer’s network.
Experiences at the physical and service touch points are
therefore critical to creating a positive brand narrative, as this
is what consumers will share with one another. With enough
positive narrative comes trust, that crucial ingredient to brand
loyalty, that allows a brand to communicate more directly and
effectively with its constituency as well as bring others into the
brand fold. Positive narratives and trust take time to build via
associative learning from good experiences, but can be
destroyed much more quickly through negative episodic
learning, i.e., failures in the product and service domains.

Community
All brands of course have many brand communities that are
relevant to success. There are the direct communities of triers
and repeat users who share brand experiences and
recommendations with their personal networks or post
reviews, but there are other communities; regulatory and
NGOs, bloggers and influencers in every domain of everyday
life, or change of life stage, related communities of passion or
need which can unlock inspiration for new products and
services, and those with whom a brand chooses to co-create.
Communities need to be engaged strategically and choicefully,

in the ways most useful to the communities themselves
thereby helping drive brand choice over competition.

How to Build Great Brand Experience?
1. Adopt an Agile Mindset
The first, and perhaps most important, step is to recognize that the only constant today is change. The Consumer’s
perceptions, needs, and responses are continuously evolving, as highlighted above, and distinguishing the Brand will
require continuous reaction, response, and adjustment.
As soon as a new experience is introduced into the market it’s already dated by design, and the window of opportunity to
capture attention is closing. The team needs to focus on the next innovation, the next approach, and the next piece of
content that will capture the evolving need.
Embracing an Agile mindset requires more than continuous effort. It also requires that Brands embrace speed over
perfection, allowing new elements to be introduced and accepting that not all introductions will meet expectations –
the Consumer mindset is moving too quickly to allow Brands the benefit of time.

2. Listen to the Market & Consumers
Now more than ever, it’s critical that Brands engage in real-time discussions with their Customers, members, and
prospects. While not a new concept – Brands have engaged focus groups for decades – new digital techniques offer new
and distinct opportunities for engagement, including e-mail dialogue, social communities, and web surveys. Building this
feedback loop, and engaging in continuous discussion, will offer valuable insights that will shape experience strategies
and approaches.
Further, the experiences themselves will communicate key insights to the organization. Consumers will “speak with their
fingers and with their mouse”, and activity metrics across the experiences, such as visit rates, view rates, time on page
metrics, and conversion / abandonment metrics will identify what is working and where there are opportunities for
improvement.
Finally, listen to the competition. Leaders will celebrate and highlight their successes, which are often founded on
experience improvements. There is no harm in being a fast follower, particularly if that meets the existing expectation of
the market, but fast following alone is not a strategy. Continuously monitor what the competition is bringing to the
market, and consider steps that the Brand can take to eclipse those improvements and capture the hearts and minds of
the Consumer.

3. Invest in Data and Analytics capability
The foundation of any great experience is built on data and measurement. Encourage both visitors and Customers to
provide information that will return value through personalization and manage the security of that information with strict
protocols, technologies, and governance. Combine that data with activity metrics to drive insights and identify
opportunities.
Data and analytics become the foundation upon which great experiences are built.
4. Innovate
Building on the above, it’s critical that Brands think outside of the normal. Incremental improvements are valuable, but
capturing the attention of the market, and distinguishing the Brand, will require true innovation. It’s not enough to build a
faster horse – the Brand must think about a new way of engaging the Consumer and creating that emotional connection
that will drive positive action.
The anchor point for productive innovation is intrinsic value. A key question that the experience team should ask with
every innovation idea is what value does it provide the individual engaging with the experience – reducing time,
providing greater insight, creating novel visualizations, etc. If that value is clear, then pursue the innovation idea

5. Focus on storytelling
Some of the best Brand experiences are those that highlight storytelling.
What’s your Brand’s story? How did you come to be? How are you improving lives?
Sharing your Brand’s story encourages continuity, fosters curiosity and suggests a living, growing entity rather than a static
product that solely exists to make money.
Through blogs and social media, Brands have the capacity to share their stories and really inspire people in the process.

Brand Experience: Examples
Lego innovated a great experience for Customers before, during and after purchases. It accomplished this
through touch points that evoked thoughts, feelings and behaviours. Audiences experience the Lego Brand
hands-on without making a sale. Case in point, Lego shops and Legoland destinations offer free products and
events. The company also creates movies, video games and virtual reality.
Red Bull is vastly popular, having been around for decades in a relatively new market (Energy Drinks). It has
created unique Brand experiences by holding sponsored events for sports and extreme physical feats. From
things like motorbikes, car races, marathons and skydiving, Red Bull events are sure to have the extreme fix
Customers crave when they drink a caffeine-filled beverage.
Most noticeably, a Red Bull-sponsored space jump ended up breaking the sound barrier and giving everyone
who tuned into the live stream – all eight million of them – quite the memorable experience.

Brand Experience: Examples
Netflix has fairly limited options to create a memorable Brand experience. Whereas a movie theater can have
premieres with costumes, celebrities and special events, Netflix instead streams directly to Customers’
houses.
However, that didn’t stop them from creating memorable experiences for fans of popular shows they
revitalized.
The first show was ‘Arrested Development’, in which the streaming giant held an event at a banana stand,
where fans could visit and learn more about the upcoming episodes.
The next show was ‘Gilmore Girls’, a fan favourite which had been off the air for a while. Netflix had a return
event upcoming, so they remodeled hundreds of coffee shops exactly like Luke’s Diner from the show. This
created a lot of buzz and memorable moments for fans.

Brand Experience, Consumer Experience, User Experience:
Interrelationship

Consumer Journey

Consumer Decision Journey
Marketing has always sought those moments, or touch points, when Consumers are open to influence. For years, touch
points have been understood through the metaphor of a “funnel”—Consumers start with a number of potential Brands in
mind (the wide end of the funnel), marketing is then directed at them as they methodically reduce that number and move
through the funnel, and at the end they emerge with the one Brand they chose to purchase.
But today, the funnel concept fails to capture all the touch points and key buying factors resulting from the explosion of
product choices and digital channels, coupled with the emergence of an increasingly discerning, well-informed
Consumer. A more sophisticated approach is required to help marketers navigate this environment, which is less linear
and more complicated than the funnel suggests. We call this approach the Consumer decision journey. Our thinking is
applicable to any geographic market that has different kinds of media, Internet access, and wide product choice, including
big cities in emerging markets such as China and India.
(Source: McKinsey) Kalyan Bandyopadhyay | Confidential 54

The proliferation of media and products requires marketers to find new ways to get their Brands included in the initial-
consideration set that Consumers develop as they begin their decision journey.
Because of the shift away from one-way communication—from marketers to Consumers—toward a two-way
conversation, marketers need a more systematic way to satisfy Customer demands and manage word-of-mouth. In
addition, the research identified two different types of Customer loyalty, challenging companies to reinvigorate their
loyalty programs and the way they manage the Customer experience.
Finally, the research reinforced the belief in the importance not only of aligning all elements of marketing—strategy,
spending, channel management, and message—with the journey that Consumers undertake when they make purchasing
decisions but also of integrating those elements across the organization.
When marketers understand this journey and direct their spending and messaging to the moments of maximum
influence, they stand a much greater chance of reaching Consumers in the right place at the right time with the right
message.

Every day, people form impressions of Brands from touch points such as advertisements, news reports, conversations with
family and friends, and product experiences. Unless Consumers are actively shopping, much of that exposure appears
wasted. But what happens when something triggers the impulse to buy? Those accumulated impressions then become
crucial because they shape the initial-consideration set: the small number of Brands Consumers regard at the outset as
potential purchasing options.
The funnel analogy suggests that Consumers systematically narrow the initial-consideration set as they weigh options,
make decisions, and buy products. Then, the post-sale phase becomes a trial period determining Consumer loyalty to
Brands and the likelihood of buying their products again. Marketers have been taught to “push” marketing toward
Consumers at each stage of the funnel process to influence their behaviour. But qualitative and quantitative research in
the automobile, skin care, insurance, Consumer electronics, and mobile-telecom industries shows that something quite
different now occurs.
Actually, the decision-making process is a more circular journey, with four primary phases representing potential
battlegrounds where marketers can win or lose: initial consideration; active evaluation, or the process of researching
potential purchases; closure, when Consumers buy Brands; and post-purchase, when Consumers experience them. The
funnel metaphor does help a good deal—for example, by providing a way to understand the strength of a Brand
compared with its competitors at different stages, highlighting the bottlenecks that stall adoption, and making it possible
to focus on different aspects of the marketing challenge. Nonetheless, we found that in three areas profound changes in
the way Consumers make buying decisions called for a new approach.
(Source: McKinsey)
Consumer Decision Journey: More recent thinking

Two Types of Loyalty
When Consumers reach a decision at the moment of purchase, the marketer’s work has just begun: the post-purchase
experience shapes their opinion for every subsequent decision in the category, so the journey is an ongoing cycle. More
than 60 percent of Consumers of facial skin care products, for example, go online to conduct further research after the
purchase—a touch point unimaginable when the funnel was conceived.
Although the need to provide an after-sales experience that inspires loyalty and therefore repeat purchases isn’t new, not
all loyalty is equal in today’s increasingly competitive, complex world. Of Consumers who profess loyalty to a Brand, some
are active loyalists, who not only stick with it but also recommend it. Others are passive loyalists who, whether from
laziness or confusion caused by the dizzying array of choices, stay with a Brand without being committed to it. Despite
their claims of allegiance, passive Consumers are open to messages from competitors who give them a reason to switch.
Take the automotive-insurance industry, in which most companies have a large base of seemingly loyal Customers who
renew every year. Our research found as much as a sixfold difference in the ratio of active to passive loyalists among major
Brands, so companies have opportunities to interrupt the loyalty loop. The US insurers GEICO and Progressive are doing
just that, snaring the passively loyal Customers of other companies by making comparison shopping and switching easy.
They are giving Consumers reasons to leave, not excuses to stay.
All marketers should make expanding the base of active loyalists a priority, and to do so they must focus their spending
on the new touch points. That will require entirely new marketing efforts, not just investments in Internet sites and efforts
to drive word-of-mouth or a renewed commitment to Customer satisfaction.
Brand Consideration: Change in Consumer Decision Journey
Imagine that a Consumer has decided to buy a car. As with most kinds of products, the Consumer will immediately be able
to name an initial-consideration set of Brands to purchase. In our qualitative research, Consumers told us that the
fragmenting of media and the proliferation of products have actually made them reduce the number of Brands they
consider at the outset. Faced with a plethora of choices and communications, Consumers tend to fall back on the limited
set of Brands that have made it through the wilderness of messages. Brand awareness matters: Brands in the initial-
consideration set can be up to three times more likely to be purchased eventually than Brands that aren’t in it.

Empowered Consumers: Change in Consumer Decision Journey
The second profound change is that outreach of Consumers to marketers has become dramatically more important than
marketers’ outreach to Consumers. Marketing used to be driven by companies; “pushed” on Consumers through
traditional advertising, direct marketing, sponsorships, and other channels. At each point in the funnel, as Consumers
whittled down their Brand options, marketers would attempt to sway their decisions. This imprecise approach often failed
to reach the right Consumers at the right time.
In today’s decision journey, Consumer-driven marketing is increasingly important as Customers seize control of the
process and actively “pull” information helpful to them.
Research found that two-thirds of the touch points during the active-evaluation phase involve Consumer-driven
marketing activities, such as Internet reviews and word-of-mouth recommendations from friends and family, as well as
in-store interactions and recollections of past experiences. A third of the touch points involve company-driven marketing.
Traditional marketing remains important, but the change in the way Consumers make decisions means that marketers
must move aggressively beyond purely push-style communication and learn to influence Consumer-driven touch points,
such as word-of-mouth and Internet information sites.

Learning is Fun Case Study
Learning is Fun, a new EdTech Start-up believed in the principle of Learning can be fun. Through their business, they
wanted to remove boredom from learning subjects like History or dread of leaning Maths which most school goers easily
identified with.
With this approach to education in mind, they were thinking of creating a Brand Experience plan to communicate their
unique approach which would distinguish them from other Education Start-ups and help them communicate their unique
approach to education effectively and impactfully to students and parents.
How will you help develop their Brand Experience approach?

What will the Consumer Journey look like for Learning is Fun?

Learning is Fun Case Study
Brand Experience Brand Experiences Planned When KPI

Dimensions
Sense
Feel
Think
Act
Relate

Key Goals of our discussions today
• Outcome:
• Introduction to Brand Experience Management

• Recap the concepts of Brand Value, Brand Equity and Brand Essence
• Explain the concept of Brand Experience & explain why Brand Experience is becoming more
prominent
• Explain the differences between Brand Experience and other key Brand Constructs
• Explain the dimensions of Brand Experience
• Explain the interrelationship between Brand Experience. Customer Experience and User Experience
• Explain how to build Brand Experiences
• Discuss successful Case Studies of Brand Experience
• Discuss the Learning is Fun Case Study
• Time: 1 hour 30 minutes with Q&A/ Comments

Q&A, Comments
Feedback

Introduction to Brand Experience and Consumer
Journey
by Kalyan Bandyopadhyay
Brand Experience Management: Prestige PGDM

Introduction To Brand Experience Management

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Introduction to Brand Experience and Consumer

Brand Experience Management: Prestige PGDM

Kalyan Bandyopadhyay | Confidential 1

Kalyan Bandyopadhyay | Confidential 2

• Introduction to Brand Experience Management

• Time: 1 hour 30 minutes with Q&A/ Comments

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Kalyan Bandyopadhyay | Confidential 5

Key requirements for Brand Experience Management are:

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• Putting Insights into Action:

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(Source: J. Jo˘sko Brakus, Bernd H. Schmitt, & Lia Zarantonello

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(Source: J. Jo˘sko Brakus, Bernd H. Schmitt, & Lia Zarantonello

(Source: J. Jo˘sko Brakus, Bernd H. Schmitt, & Lia Zarantonello

Customer delight results from disconfirming, surprising consumption.

(Source: J. Jo˘sko Brakus, Bernd H. Schmitt, & Lia Zarantonello

Types of people associated with the brand

(Source: J. Jo˘sko Brakus, Bernd H. Schmitt, & Lia Zarantonello

The sense experience includes aesthetics and sensory qualities.

The think experience includes convergent/analytical and divergent/imaginative thinking.

The act experience refers to actions and behavioural experiences.

(Source: J. Jo˘sko Brakus, Bernd H. Schmitt, & Lia Zarantonello

(Source: J. Jo˘sko Brakus, Bernd H. Schmitt, & Lia Zarantonello

(Source: J. Jo˘sko Brakus, Bernd H. Schmitt, & Lia Zarantonello

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Physical. This includes the acquisition and use of physical

Service. This includes all the ways besides physical products

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Narrative. The narrative is what consumers see, hear and tell

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Communities need to be engaged strategically and choicefully,

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(Source: McKinsey) Kalyan Bandyopadhyay | Confidential 54

(Source: McKinsey) Kalyan Bandyopadhyay | Confidential 55

(Source: McKinsey) Kalyan Bandyopadhyay | Confidential 57

(Source: McKinsey) Kalyan Bandyopadhyay | Confidential 59

(Source: McKinsey) Kalyan Bandyopadhyay | Confidential 60

How will you help develop their Brand Experience approach?

Kalyan Bandyopadhyay | Confidential 62

Brand Experience Brand Experiences Planned When KPI

Kalyan Bandyopadhyay | Confidential 63

• Introduction to Brand Experience Management