Successful brands will lead with human experiences
Brands focused only on optimisation will be a commodity
The commoditisation of everything
Soon after 2025 buying will start becoming automated, and be a very different activity from shopping.
Think about this for a moment - as it becomes the norm, consumers will start actively ‘shopping’ only for the few select brands and products that help them express and shape who they are or want to be, or engages emotionally, or provide amazing experiences. This is their future.
It leaves Brands with relatively commoditised product at risk of getting relegated to automation unless they add further value consumers.
A great example of how to pivot away from commoditisation is Lego. As their customers reached market saturation point with their coloured bricks, Lego launched in-store experiences and conventions - for all ages - designed to encourage collaboration and to help build children’s cognitive skills. While other commoditised toy brands faded, Lego doubled down on creating experiences creating connections, and brand affinity, which has grown the brand further.
This continuing move toward experiences and an experiential economy shouldn’t surprise us. It’s a natural progression from where we are now. More technology, more uncertainty, more anxiety, and more loneliness mean experiences become even more important, part of a consumer’s identity. Experiences that allow consumers to explore, learn, grow and connect will be increasingly where they spend their time and money.
The importance of human experience is not new, but this acceleration has been triggered by the perfect storm of rampant over-consumption, a pandemic, social platforms amplifying fears, the pervasiveness of digital set against a desire to feel alive, to connect, nostalgia, slowness, and be a part of something.
I forecast that by 2030 the most successful brands will be those that nurture human experiences.
In a too-much-of-everything world and product ubiquity, the only way to strongly differentiate will be through emotion and human experiences. This will be marketing and CX and the brands embracing this - and using data to power it - are the brands that will thrive.
One of the reasons experiential is such a force for engagement is that the change from looking at something to physically participating in something is a key element in many experiences. In most digital experiences consumers don’t participate.
If I were writing this a few years ago, I would be forecasting the death of physical retail. Why stand in a shop when online often gives better service, reviews and delivery, all without a queue?
I’d have been wrong. We only miss things when we lose them, and the paradox of digital is that although it has driven speed, simplicity, availability and choice, it’s heightened our basic human need to connect and to experience.
The more we use digital, and the more it leaves us full, the more we feel it leaves us undernourished.
Red Bull built a major brand on consumers experiencing its brand personality. (Read here the story of how they grew themselves into a global brand). Lululemon claims they sell experiences. Patagonia focuses on trips, hikes, and classes as core parts of its business.
Experiencing creates emotional bonds between consumers and brands.
Where does that leave brands that focus on efficiency, optimization, and customer-facing technology? In trouble, that’s where. It leaves customer satisfaction stalling or falling - for nearly ten years now, and the gap between what customers want from brands and what brands give them ever-widening - for three to four years now.
I admit some concessions to reality. Brands desperately trying just to survive through the pandemic and struggling with scarce resources and ballooning costs. Consumers pivoting their thinking, their wants, and their needs on a sixpence, leaving brands stranded. But it’s no excuse to blame rapidly changing consumer behaviours. If we care to look, we can see early change through signals and trends.
In my work I’m struck by the too-many CX leaders who still only talk the language of linear processes, only focused on improving service standards, more digital expansion, and more tech. But it’s memories, emotions, connecting and experiences that drive connections, engagement, loyalty and trust.