Do you ever wonder what Facebook would be like if you experienced it offline? Wonder no longer.
I'm really getting excited about where marketing is heading. I have started to see some really great marketing experiences recently that are breaking down the barriers imposed by multiple marketing channels by seamlessly integrating online and offline experience for customers. The two best examples involve integrating Facebook social experiences into real world settings for an effect that can only be described as "Marketing Magic".
The first example was sent to me by a friend and top brand marketer, Rob Sorgini and recently included in a blog post from experiential marketing thought leader Max Lenderman. It comes from an agency in Isreal called ProMarket. They setup an experience for Coca-Cola that integrated the Facebook "Like" concept into activities, food choices and other offline activities in Coca Cola Village with a real-time integration through RFID wrist bands to actual facebook accounts online. See the powerful video embedded below.
The second example is a concept from DDB Paris. They promoted the launch of Bouygues Telecom's Facebook presence by creating 1,000 physical books made from people's own Facebook pages. This is a brilliant idea and I could actually see it being a successful independent business. The marketing value of this integration is huge and it really delivers a powerful cross-channel experience. See the video below.
When Facebook becomes a book from Siavosh Zabeti on Vimeo.
What do these campaigns deliver for the brands involved?
- Strong brand equity
- Tons of "earned" media online
- Customer Loyalty and Affinity
Why does it work?
There are unique opportunities now to create multi-channel experiences for consumers. Because we have been conditioned to believe that marketing and by extention our experience with brands are restricted to individual media channels, the effect of creating an experience that crosses over those channels works similar to an magician's optical illusions.
We sit and watch magicians like David Blaine and rack our brains to understand how he can make cards appear in beer bottles or on the other side of the glass. Our brains are conditioned to think in a particular way and despite our best efforts, we are not able to understand the illusion as anything other than "magic". This has a similar effect in marketing. We are so conditioned to expect a disjointed brand experience that when we move from our online facebook account to an offline interaction we almost don't believe it is possible to merge the experience. When done successfully, brands can generate excitement and loyalty that would take years to cultivate using traditional strategies and at a fraction of the cost.
What is the bottom line?
Be creative, take chances and try to create better experiences for your customers. It is more cost-effective than ever to test new ideas. Don't be affraid to try something new, the rules of marketing are changing and you might get left behind.
Congrats to ProMarket and DDB Paris for creating inspiring campaigns that are pushing brands to think differently about marketing.
Do you have any other examples of great customer experience in marketing? Feel free to add a comment or let me know your thoughts.
