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Our Bureau

Mumbai , July 22

WHEN the new Volkswagen was launched some years ago, it used its unusual shape and associations with the Flower Power generation of the'60s to connect with a new generation of consumers. Various brands - including beverage majors, airlines and financial service providers - have used Experiential Marketing to drive greater value and build a closer connection with their customers. As product parity becomes more common, this form of marketing will gain greater currency, according to Dr Bernd H. Schmitt, the pioneer of the concept.

"With any brand, it is not just about having the right price or the right value, it must also offer the right experience," said Dr Schmitt, who was in Mumbai recently. "And, the brand has to be in touch with the customer and be relevant to his lifestyle." Experiential Marketing - wherein the marketer gets the customer to sense, feel, think, act and relate to the company or the brand is not an isolated activity, but an integration of advertising, sales promotions, marketing, the Web site, even the people the customer comes in contact with.

For a global brand, this means being locally relevant in different markets. In fact, Customer Experience Management (CEM) is particularly important for brands that seek to be global leaders. "The trick here is to identify those elements that are universal and can be used for every consumer, and also identify the local or regional nuances in different markets," Dr Schmitt said.

Experiential marketing is necessary for global brands seeking new markets, for new launches and repositioning, and also for older brands to connect with new and younger consumers, Dr Schmitt said. While mass media would seem the easiest way to build a brand, it is only good for communicating its functional qualities. Also, most marketing exercises tend to be centred on the product, and not the customer, and marketing people, not communications people, head companies.

"Organisationally, it requires a shift in thinking: from the product to the customer and his lifestyle," said Dr Schmitt, who is Professor of Business at New York's Columbia Business School, and is involved with the Centre on Global Brand Leadership, for researchers and executives. As a consultant and CEO of The EX Group, Dr Schmitt has worked with companies such as Sony, Ford, Philip Morris and Procter & Gamble, and said that he sees many examples of experiential marketing in developing economies, as well.

Still, it is possible for a company to get the experience wrong, or make brand extensions that destroy the core experience of the brand - or simply price the experience too high. Another challenge, given the backlash against globalisation, is for foreign brands to decide which values they want to promote. Coca-Cola, for example, has typically used very American values, but is also increasingly using regional nuances.

For India, there is a very real opportunity to brand the country in order to attract more business and to update the country's image, much like Singapore and the UK have done Dr Schmitt said. "India has its art, its history, an old culture, and a certain wisdom, which are all very positive, but also traditional values," he said. "And there are some very modern values, so you need to spin it just right, to bring together the culture and tradition and the forward looking aspects."

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