BrandAnimation: The Experience Threshold

By: Erik Hauser

The question is often asked if metrics can be placed around the bottom line in regard to the improvement of the brand experience and the utilization of experiential marketing. One of the main points that I touch on in my experiential marketing presentations is a lesson that David Wolfe (Ageless Marketing) has drilled into my head. Experiential marketing reflects a right brain bias because it is about fulfilling customer’s aspirations to experience comfort and pleasure on one hand, and the avoidance of discomfort on the other.

So, let me talk about avoidance of discomfort for a second - $4.57 for a gallon of gas. This cost, for the first time, has gotten people to slow down on the highway. Amazing. In essence, some people have reached their pain threshold when it comes to gas prices and they have modified their behavior in order to keep that pain within acceptable levels. The notion is that people are now driving at the speed limit because they see it as ultimately helping them save money at the gas pump. They’ve modified their behavior to avoid discomfort and to find an acceptable experience level.

Now, for a second, lets flip that coin and take a look at the other side. When a company builds a strong brand using an overall experience strategy that helps potential customers achieve positive feelings they can change the intended customer’s behavior by surrounding them with things that make them happy and/or comfortable. The question is where does that brand experience threshold exist? What will it take to make them a loyal customer?

It may take a long time to for each brand to figure out where that experience threshold is for them, but if they set up the proper test matrix then they will discover what aspects of their particular brand experience get people to change their behavior. They'll simply have to spend some time tinkering though, as the matrix can be complex depending on the experiential components.  There can certainly be some qualitative research built around an experience test matrix allowing a better understanding of which specific enhancements have the biggest effect on people’s behavior in order to achieve maximum ROE.  It takes work – but anything worth having does.