What Do Wedding Gifts Teach Us About the Experience Era?

We are in the experience era. And no, I am not talking about the Taylor Swift tour. 

Brand building used to rely on awareness - where simply being available and making people aware you existed was the main predictor of success. The internet swapped awareness for engagement - where brands needed to compete for attention not awareness. But today, brands win by making promises - that a product or service will help the consumers' lives better and easier. The brand experience has become the central pillar of brand success. 

According to Forrester, 84% of brands aspire to be a consumer experience leader, but in reality only 20% of brands have aligned their brand promise and consumer experience. Brands are like five year olds - they are good at promise making, but aren’t very good at promise keeping. 

So, how can brands activate their brand promise better?

Have you ever been to a destination wedding that gives out welcome bags at check in? Two ounces of tequila, two tylenols and a bottle of water seem like nothing at arrival, but somehow make the entire wedding (and the following morning) more thoughtful and, dare I say, better?! 

So just like two Tylenol can go a long way with a hangover, even the smallest interaction is a micro exchange of value and can have a meaningful impact on the macro experience. 

A brand example of a micro interaction impacting the macro brand was the ‘Delight My Delay’ holiday campaign executed by The Bait Shoppe for SHERATON.  SHERATON identified the Holiday consumer pain point of long lines during travel or holiday shopping, and offered consumers the opportunity to Delight Their Delay.  Consumers - waiting in line, could simply tweet their holiday pain point #delightmydelay and were instantly rewarded with a variety of prizes sent automatically to their phone via gamified prize wheel. The campaign resulted in over 60,000 new followers across SHERATON social channels and a +436% increase in Sheraton bookings without a direct consumer call to action. 

So what do wedding welcome bags and holiday delays teach us about activating the consumer experience?

- Identify the customer's pain points and frustrations. These are powerful opportunities to spark joy and create brand love.

- Design consumer experiences which create solutions or turn pains into gains. These are the magic moments which can set you apart and help brands stand out in the hearts and minds of consumers

- And finally, create a measurement system within your brand to track outcomes. 

Just as the internet transformed how brands grow, the experience era will define how brands attract and convert customers. Brands who don’t carefully consider the experiences they are creating will leave their consumers hungover at a Mexican beach resort - without tylenol and water.