Marketing to Satiated Consumers

I have a birthday coming up. My wife asked me what I wanted for my birthday. I said,"nothing" and I meant it. Why? I just bought a new Tesla for myself and we are in the middle of a master bathroom remodel. We have spent enough money for the year as far as I am concerned. Plus, there is absolutely nothing I need. I am at an age at which most people are focused on downsizing and simplification (though we are not quite there yet). However, there is truly nothing I want or need that I don't already have. 

I am aware of how blessed I am. Many people are in a different place. They still have many unmet wants and needs. Certainly, if you have a smaller income or fewer assets or many more mouths to feed and certainly if you are in an earlier life stage in which you are still forming or growing your household, you still may need many physical things. Or, on the other end of the continuum, if you are unable to stop comparing yourself to people who have more than you do, you might want that second home, a more expensive car or a bigger boat. Heaven knows, some billionaires are trading in their 200+ foot yachts for 300+ foot yachts. And they are buying an increasing number of yacht toys - water slides, tenders, helicopters, personal submersibles (submarines),  etc. - for their super yachts.

But for most of the rest of us, at some point in our lives we move from wanting more "things" to spending more of our money (and often more of our time) on services and experiences.  Services can make your life easier, give you more time, remove unwanted tasks, make your life more comfortable and even indulge your senses. Services include lawn care, spa services, baby sitting, pet sitting, pest control, house cleaning, pool cleaning, personal trainers, etc. Experiences include fine dining, travel, concerts, theater, dance performances, comedy improv, wine tastings, massage, flotation therapy, spectator sports, water parks, theme parks, haunted houses, adventure sports, hobbies, etc.

One way for product brands to deal with satiated consumers is to bundle services or experiences with their products. Another is to offer product novelty or more sophisticated products with better aesthetics or otherwise enhanced sensory experiences. Some hotel brands have significantly improved their customer services. Others have added rooftop lounges, swimming pools, hot tubs and bars. Yet others have added unique soothing aromatherapy scents to their hotels. Some products include extended service support. Yet others deliver their products in unique experiential ways. Build-A-Bear is an example of this. While novelty and gimmicks can have a limited life, many restaurants have created unique dining experiences to lure more customers. Consider Opaque, the restaurant in which you dine in the dark or the Ice Restaurant in Dubai or the underwater restaurant at the Hilton Maldives Resort & Spa in the Maldives.  

So, if you have maxed out with your brand's product sales, consider enhancing your brand's offering with services, experiences, enhanced aesthetics or additional sensory elements. 

What is Your Brand Delivering?

Storytelling

Brands tell stories. They create myths. They engage people. They entertain people.  What story does your brand tell? Is it engaging? Does it create an emotional connection to the brand?

Experience

What experience does your brand deliver? Does in connect with people through one or more of the five senses – touch, smell, sight, sound and taste? What feelings does it evoke? Does it calm people? Does it exhilarate them? Does it make them laugh?

Values

Brands often stand for something. They embrace a set of values.  What does your brand stand for? What values does it embrace? Does your brand express the values of its intended customers? Can they wear the brand as a badge of their values? Can they use the brand as a self-expression vehicle?

Personality

Brands have specific personalities. What personality does you brand have? Is it trustworthy? Is it reliable? Is it friendly? Is it smart? Is it innovative? Is it entertaining? Is it compassionate? Is it rugged? Is it stylish? Is it quirky? What personality should your brand have?

Service

How does your brand serve its customers? Does it have a service ethic? Does it strive to anticipate customer needs and exceed customer expectations?  Does it try to surprise and delight its customers?

Archetype

What is your brand’s archetype? What drives it to behave as it does? What is its primary motivation? Does it like to guide others? Is it trying to save the world? Does it like to achieve? Is it a nurturer? Is its motivation to create the next big thing? What drives it to be the brand what it is?

Personification

In what ways does your brand take on human qualities? As listed above, does it have a specific personality and does it hold certain values? Is it trustworthy? Does it make promises to its customers? Does it connect emotionally with its customers?

Promise

Finally, what is your brand’s promise? What does it promise to its customers? Does it promise unique and compelling benefits or shared values? Does it consistently deliver on those promises? If it fails to deliver on one of its promises, does it recover from that failure and even turn the failure into a victory?

Summary

This then is what a brand does.  It tells stories. It creates experiences. It holds a specific set of values and it shares those values with its customers. It makes promises. It delivers on those promises.  It provides services to its customers. It has an archetype and a personality.  And it can do all of this because it is the personification of an organization and its products and services.

Brands, Services and Experiences

In developed nations in which citizens have almost every creature comfort and material possession, additional “things” often do not make people any happier. Increasingly, people are paying for services and experiences rather than products or for products that are delivered with unique services or experiences. Products tend to be tangible things that can be owned and that will last for many uses. Services and experiences generally cease to exist after their delivery except in the memory or as captured in a photographic image.

According to Robert Kuttner, “Our workforce has gone from 28 percent factory workers and 72 percent service workers in 1978 to 14 percent factory workers and 86 percent service workers today (2012).”

Examples of services/experiences are spa visits, massages, balloon rides, amusement parks, concerts, wine tastings, spiritual retreats, personal concierge services, personal trainers, miniature golf and botanical gardens. Examples of products wrapped in services/experiences are Build-A-Bear, unique dining experiences, upscale hotels with upscale services (Ritz-Carlton’s “Ladies and Gentlemen Servicing Ladies and Gentlemen”), dry cleaning that is picked up and dropped off at your house and valet parking.

Experiences tend to stimulate one or more of your senses for some period of time and often create fond memories. Services usually make your life easier or more pleasant.

The point of this post is that increasingly brands are about services and experiences as much as they are about products.  So you must design, monitor and actively manage the service or experience that your brand is delivering.