An interesting video from Aston Martin discussing the merits of their highly exclusive top of the range One 77. The discussion is mostly about feeling and staying connected to the engine and making it a critical part of the car experience, so much so, they've brought the engine inside the car.
How's that for a new way of thinking about the brand experience?
CBS's CSI series is certainly a popular franchise, but in a bid to continue to perpetuate the success for many years to come, CBS has created a museum exhibit for the show, that it appears to be taking around the world.
Obviously, from a brand experience perspective this is a fantastic extension and takes the brand into new places and gives it an enhanced sense of credibility that comes from its endorsement from museums.
Museums are obviously the latest places to be up for sale.
Year's back, Armani's show at the Guggenheim created a stir for all kinds of reasons. However, CSI's move is very different because it is trying to gain the endorsement from its museum partners. Obviously, this is a hire wire act for the museums to walk, they must strive to maintain their credibility, while seeking alternative sources of funding.
As capital dries up around the world, many new avenues will open up for companies to exploit, their challenge will be to do it right and for their new "media" partners to try hard not compromise their integrity.
At the end of the last century, every brand was rushing to participate in a new form of commerce, e-commerce.
With everyone shopping online is there now more of a value on the real shopping experience? Is the retail-shopping environment, one of the most popular pastimes of global consumers, the place you need to be establishing your brand?
This isn't about participating in the retail business as a retailer, but using it as a core part of your branding strategy.
With media costs escalating out of control and reach becoming increasingly questionable, the retail store is fast becoming the branding tool of choice for brands that are looking for global reach and to leave an indelible mark in consumer's minds.
Brands that aren't tradtionally retailers are making the leap across into this space.
Obviously, it also helps if you have something to sell, but it's especially interesting to see some surprising new entrants.
Then there's Ferrari, who many would have expected to be the last brand to open stores, are using stores as a branding tool and a revenue generator. The company is opening them at a fast pace. In 2007, it opened Beijing, Los Angeles, Shenyang, Barcelona, Al Kobar, Abu Dhabi and Macao and this year will see openings in San Francisco, Miami and Honolulu.
While opening retail outlets might seem strange in a world dominated by technology. However, it's clear that certain areas of specific cities- Rodeo Drive in LA for example or Las Vegas are quickly becoming experience retail centers. Places where people spend time and indulge themselves in experiences. This is not shopping as chore, but shopping as entertainment and it certainly makes sense for certain brands to be present in this emerging media channel.
Retail allows brand to create a media that performs two functions; a brand experience and if done correctly and with the right partners, a revenue generator that allows the brand to recoup some of its expenses.
It will be interesting to see the role agencies and media buying companies will play here, but I somehow can't imagine anyone putting global store openings as a line item on the media plan.
Perhaps, it would be the mark of true integration, if one of the large holding companies could make this type of cross-functional thinking happen
People want to know a brand is authentic and that it performs like it says it does.
In a transparent world where people have information at their finger tips, brands are having to prove themsleves to people in the most authentic ways possible.
Oakley has always been a hard-core, rugged brands with its own unique style, but the appeal lies right in the "bombproof" part of the brand.
To demonstrate this important aspect, Oakley has created the O Lab- (a rolling lab) to show the extreme lengths the brand goes to test and make sure its products work. It's a neat idea and step above the classic event marketing model.
