Brand marketers are often asked, what is the difference between a company and a brand? An overly simple answer is: companies do while brands feel. Companies are tactical and functional with a goal of profits while brands are aspirational and make an emotional consumer connection with a goal of customer connection, loyalty, recommendation and, ultimately, making a sale.
Today’s most effective brand marketing stretches beyond media and creates deeper connections with customers. Think of the famous Zappos CEO, Tony Hsieh’s tweets or Apple’s in-store Genius Bar and “genius” employees. Exceptional brands make people feel through brand marketing — whether it’s the joy of editing a video on the iPhone 4 in-store or getting a laugh from Tony Hsieh’s tweets.
The Internet’s Role in Brand Marketing
The internet created an entirely new platform for brand marketing. Marketing campaigns to generate top-of-mind awareness now take many forms via Facebook, Twitter and branded internet properties. An exceptional best-in-class digital brand is Zappos. To put the Zappos brand in perspective, the online retailer — with a focus on shoes — has 1.7 million Twitter followers and exists on more than 9,000 Twitter lists. Why? Zappos created a compelling brand experience on the microblogging site that makes an emotional connection with consumers. Where Apple makes consumers feel awe-inspired, Zappos is funny, quirky and fun to “hang out with.” For instance, Hsieh writes, “Needed to go to restaurant restroom. Girl went in one door, I went in other. Turns out she went into wrong restroom. Awkward x2.” Zappos Twitter brand marketing makes you smile and say, thanks, I needed that.
Interactive Brand Marketing — Where Consumer Experience Reinforces the Brand
While most marketers think of “interactive brand marketing” as being online, forward thinking marketing leaders are figuring out how to make the in-store experience more interactive so that customers can truly feel, live and breathe a brand. For example, Apple launches major advertising and publicity campaigns for its iPhone and iPad products to drive traffic to the Apple store, setting an expectation of a matching in-store experience. The Apple in-store brand experience exudes sophistication, high-design and “wow,” from decor, product displays and staff interactions. In-store, Apple customers connect with the tech innovator on an intimate and tangible level, making an emotional connection as they immerse themselves in community and awe-inspring products. The iPhone 4′s live video chat, editing “home-movies” through an iMovie app are some of the many features you just have to experience to understand.
Apple’s in-store brand experience showcases its eye for design with its clean, modern straight wood and steel surfaces. Piggybacking on its design, Apple’s customer service management system is clean, sleek and sophisticated. To receive customer support, Apple fans must sign up online to get a place in line. The fact that Apple strives for an A+ on customer service management demonstrates their sophistication in creating truly interactive brand marketing.
Brand Marketing Takeaways:
Your brand marketing objective should be to make people feel something. Looking at your current brand, what do you want your customers to feel? Should they laugh (Zappos) or be inspired (Apple)? Next, what customer touch points can you leverage to make an emotional connection? Brand marketing can be as easy as adding a smile to shipping box (think Amazon) or empowering your customers to make a donation on your behalf (see Target’s brand marketing campaign, Super Love Sender). If you’re going to connect with and inspire your audience, you’re going to need to think outside the box to create engaging brand campaigns that showcase your brand personality.
Need help to ‘spark’ an impactful interactive strategy for your brand? Contact Sparxoo and let us show you what we can do for you.
Image by Svilen Milev from Stock.Xchng
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It is true that consumers make choices because of how brands make them feel. In information architecture and visual design of digital experiences, creating a connection with the end-user is just as important as engineering a frustration-free, usable experience.