TAXI DELIVERS KNOCKOUT PUNCH - Strategy

There is a saying that goes “The
anticipation is always greater than
the actual event.” In the vernacular of
consumer culture, we call this
“lunchbag letdown.”
It happens all the time in advertising,
package design and any other medium of
persuasion. The burger on the billboard is
always juicier, and its toppings crisper, than
that greyish patty and its limp bunmates
on your plate.
This is the raison d’être for a
brand experience program. When
you break experience down into the
three components of perception (the
expectations you have before you buy),
interaction (what happens when you
experience the product) and recollection
(how you feel afterwards), you are taking
the fi rst step on the road to preventing
lunchbag letdown.
Traditionally, companies have spent
most of their marketing money on image
and perception – 80% or more, in fact
– and very little on recollection. A recent
study in the Journal of Experimental
Psychology by Leaf Van Boven of the
University of Colorado at Boulder and
Laurence Ashworth of the Queen’s School
of Business (“Looking Forward, Looking
Back: Anticipation is More Evocative than
Retrospection”) seems to support this
habit with evidence that people report
more intense emotions during anticipation
of emotional events than in retrospection.
In other words, you get a lot more
juiced thinking about your next burger
than you do thinking about your last
one. That’s what makes advertising and
packaging so effective. At their best, they
manipulate emotional arousal when we
are most susceptible.
What they can’t do is win us back after
expectations are not met. But that’s
what brand experience is for. It aligns the
promise with the delivery.
Sometimes perceptions and experiences
align, but not often. They align when the
agency builds its campaign around a brand
BY WILL NOVOSEDLIK
Mind the gap...
truth and the experience delivers it. One
excellent example is Target’s campaign
for Newfoundland and Labrador Tourism.
Based on the genuine experience of
travelling off the beaten track, Target
painted Newfoundland and Labrador
as creative, smart, hip and quirky. From
the hybrid font used in the logo to the
heart-tugging music and awe-inspiring
landscapes in the TV spots to the warm
and welcoming people, Target captured the
soul of the place.
They created an emotionally compelling
perception, which in turn created
convincing returns. At a time when
tourism was at low levels across North
America, N&L saw 1.2% more visitors and
4% more non-resident air visitors and a
2.7 rise in accommodation occupancy
levels over 2007.
Travel & Leisure magazine named it
one of “40 trips that will change your
life” and visitors raved: “Paradise found!”
“Newfoundland is one of the most
awesome places in Canada. The water,
the mountains, the fi sh, the whales, the
icebergs and the wonderful people!” “I’d
move to Newfoundland in a heartbeat! The
people are friendly, the food great and the
scenery breathtaking.” Bingo! Perception,
interaction and a damn fi ne recollection,
all lined up.
The gap in emotional intensity between
anticipation and retrospection, to use
terms from the Van Boven/Ashworth
experiment, can also be upended by a
“moment of truth.” This is a situation
in which a mistake is overturned by a
“delight tactic” – an act that exceeds the
customer’s expectation.
Here’s a Christmas story for you. My
business partner ordered a down jacket
from Lands’ End for her husband. She
received it the week before Christmas, but
they sent the wrong size. The customer
care rep, Molly, called my partner at
home for three days trying to fi gure out
how to get the right size to her in time for
Christmas. The best she could do was
brandexperience
Boxing Day. Molly felt so badly that she
sent an apology and a gift card worth $100
a week later.
In this case, the perception was created
by the Lands’ End website, which states: “If
you’re not satisfi ed with any item, simply
return it to us at any time for an exchange
or refund of its purchase price. We mean
every word of it. Whatever. Whenever.
Always. Guaranteed. Period.”
They didn’t need to send a gift certifi cate
to live up to the guarantee, but Molly
sensed disappointment and responded
with an over-the-top gesture. As a result,
my partner is now a devoted customer.
Both Lands’ End (sounds like a place
in Newfoundland, doesn’t it?) and
Newfoundland and Labrador spent their
“perception” budget wisely, but only
because they were able to deliver. Wish
that more brands acted that way.
Will Novosedlik is a partner at
Chemistry, a brand management
consultancy that bridges the gap between
management consulting and creative
consulting to drive competitive advantage
for clients in North America, Europe and
emerging markets. He can be reached at
will@chemistrybranding.com.
Target’s ads
delivered the
tourists, and The
Rock delivered on
the experience
promise
STRATEGY November 2008 97