Welcome To The Hotel California

Whilst stretched out on a beachchair at the Intercontinental in Bali I started thinking what created such an amazing experience (cocktail buzz aside). Starting with a great location overlooking a beautiful beach might be a bit obvious but as a business, what does a hotel resort need to deliver in order to create advocates and repeat customers?

I thought I can’t do better than write this whilst still immersed in the experience (a proud red tan in development) and I ended up distilling the experience down into four key values a hotel/resort needs to deliver for brand growth and consumer advocacy :

Service
It doesn’t matter whether you promise unlimited alcohol and luxury backrubs (although I’m interested and willing to review your offer in person) … customer service has been and remains the key to service orientated success. You could do everything else right but if your staff go the extra mile with a genuine smile and respect for the consumer, people will recommend you and your brand reputation will grow. It also reminds me this is also a two way street. My friend is a consultant for the hospitality industry and she has a simple motto ‘Happy staff mean happy customers’*. We all recognize a plastic fantastic fake smile, so a great manager will make sure their team are relaxed and enjoying their time as well.

The Les Suites Taipei Da-an in Taiwan is a boutique hotel I stayed at that sticks in my mind because the staff and concierge service was exceptionally good. I remember the hotel room less than I remember the front desk recommending great places to eat, organizing taxis, booking me a haircut and providing tips where to shop (‘don’t go there, that’s for ignorant tourists … locals go here’). The staff were the primary brand touchpoint and when they’re this good, customers will spread the word.

The Mandarin Oriental in the Philippines also has this category nailed. I don’t know how the staff all remember my name with my infrequent visits, but being greeted like a friend immediately takes the edge off a long business flight over. A little ego pampering goes an amazingly long way to making you feel special and welcome. It’s essentially the rockstar effect … walking into a room and having everyone cheer you have arrived.

Senses
Touching the senses can be both a value and an activation channel. Lying on the beach perpetrating a tan (I won’t sing the rest) with blue waves crashing in front of me, it’s hard to imagine how to add further value around the experience without over or under delivering. The key is complimentary and authentic touches.

The pineapple cocktail delivered in a real pineapple gets the thumbs up (I’ll take another, thanks), the beach chairs all with fresh towels, the beautiful crafted menus with real wood covers and the soft background music that I can’t work out where it is coming from all made what is essentially a simple ritual much more pleasurable.

Disruption needs to be avoided at all costs. Earlier on a worker started chainsawing a tree in the middle of the quiet Sunday afternoon. From the look on some of the hotel residences faces, I thought someone might go a little texas chainsaw on him themselves. Keeping peace and serenity is what people pay for … so scheduling non essential repairs and cleaning during off-peak hours would be a smart business decision.

Authenticity falls into this category as well … tapping into positive country or city associations can make your brand stronger and distinctive, whilst remaining true to core values in the case of chains and franchises across markets. The Intercontinental in Bali has distinctively Balinese furniture, food, interiors and design touches across most of its rooms and restaurants. It still retains the business orientated professionalism that is associated with it in all markets however.

In Japan, I spent a night in a capsule hotel for similar reasons … it was authentically Japanese. Sure, I wouldn’t recommend staying there a week but one night feeling like an astronaut in an escape capsule (with a tiny tv screen showing gameshows on repeat) was a culturally unique and sensorial experience. Remember to give consumers a good brand story they can share with their peers and associates.

Security
In unfamiliar environments, consumers want to feel safe and secure. Many business travelers travel alone and know that staying locked up rapunzel style in your room does tend to grind after a while, even with great room service cheeseburgers and 24 hour sports channels. Getting out and seeing more than your fancy bathroom becomes a necessity.

Most unfamiliar destinations do pose the need to be a little bit careful though, especially if that includes a tour of a few bars and clubs where you plan to unleash some dance moves on unsuspecting locals. In these instances, it’s much more assuring when the hotel concierge can organize a car to and from your destination, or have the driver drop you there and give you a number to call once you’ve run out of witty conversation at the bar … ‘Is your dad a baker?’. Oops, time to go.

It’s also nice to know that when you’ve been forgetful of putting valuables in the room safe, your credit card is still in the same place once you get back. Common sense suggests you don’t want to test that theory too often of course, as you’ll eventually find someone who takes a trip to Paris at your expense without inviting you along.

Security can also be delivered at online touchpoints. Secure websites and competent online booking features are a must. I particularly dislike being re-directed to a booking site rather than remaining within a hotel website that can show real-time availability, flexible and credit card secure booking and social media links to demonstrate transparency and open up communication. Delivering safety at all times is a difficult proposition but one that is worth the effort. Communicating a brand promise of safety, security and assurance and then delivering it are the moments that build long term trust with the brand.


Satisfaction
I stayed in the JIA Hotel in Hong Kong recently and casually twittered about it ‘Nice Philippe Stark interiors at JIA Hotel in HK #hotel’ once I got back to Singapore. Within five minutes of posting, I got a direct response from JIA asking how my stay was and if they could improve anything for a return visit. I was actually surprised by the immediacy of their monitoring and looked over my shoulder to check I hadn’t been followed. Then I thought how good this was. On a public forum they individually addressed me and were able to demonstrate high level customer service even after my stay was over.

It made a fan out of me to know I was being given the chance to say good or bad things about their brand in a completely open and contagious environment. This type of transparency is what social media is all about. It was a great brand building exercise not only to me but to other passive watchers. I had just become a brand advocate without any active intention. The opportunity I felt they missed though was to offer an exclusive deal for participating in the conversation (eg a price reduction or value added service like inclusive of breakfast for a repeat customer is an easy to deliver incentive).

Summary S
Communicating and delivering these four values is integral to create a positive consumer experience that will promote great reviews and recommendations both online and off for a hotel or resort brand. From a brand strategy perspective, the main challenge is not promising these aspects … it’s ensuring they are delivered to consumers. This doesn’t have to be just at the front desk either, JIA’s use of social media (as mentioned above) demonstrates how the brand experience can continue even after check-out.

In this category, it’s not what you say, it’s what to do.

Christian Teniswood • Design Director • FutureBrand

Brand Storytelling

Storytelling is an often overlooked and undervalued communication method in branding. Using a metaphorical journey to describe aspects such as brand personalities and values is a unique way to get a client to understand a proposed brand idea. Stories are also metaphors and very powerful ones. They allow us to talk to the subconscious mind in such a way that the conscious mind does not reject or censor an underlying message (Developing Your NLP skills : Andrew Bradbury. P96)

Remember this point: A story can be used to communicate an underlying message that will not be questioned like an opinion or statement. A case study can be presented as a story to substantiate other claims or recommendations. Minimising confusion and conflict whilst providing clarity, a story becomes a very powerful tool in creative presentations. Selling an emotional concept in an analytical way results in a conflicting communication model. I agree with David Ogilvy that clients require rational reasons to make emotional decisions. However, they need to experience the emotional connection you're selling to understand the consumer's state of mind. It must be remembered that consumers make emotional choices and decisions just as much as logical choices. More importantly, it is emotional experiences that are remembered.

Therefore conveying an emotional value or idea with emotional language is clearly a more effective tool in a creative presentation. This is where telling a relevant story becomes so effective. For example, if selling a positioning that revolves around the concept of magic, a story that tells of the wonder of a child experiencing something like flying a kite for the first time can be extremely compelling. A concept like determination brings to mind some of the amazing stories of training that professional atheletes go through. The important point is to tell a story that the client will be able to personally relate to and let them recall a similar experience. If you can't tell the story yourself, there may be a video you can present that sells the experience you want to convey. This is another sensory method of selling a concept at a visual, auditory and kinesthetic level.

The average memory space of a person ranges from four to seven items at best, best represented by numerical sequences like phone numbers which are broken into digestible chunks for better retention. Research has also shown that worldwide attention spans are shrinking and people are more effectively blocking out the constant bombardment of visual stimulus such as advertising. Having methodologies to enhance a brand's memorability and recall is essential for success. I recently became interested in the way we record information after watching a world memory challenge.

What was fascinating was that nearly all the competitors used the same method to memorise what appeared to be a staggering amount of information such as numbers and patterns. An explanation from one competitor stated that by linking long number sequences to people and places he was already familar with, then creating a story as he walked through his imagination from person to person and place to place enabled him to remember the entire numerical sequence. It was compelling proof of the ability of a story to ensure maximum recall once you leave a presentation.

The conclusion was that stories are both emotively powerful and memorable. A very simple example I found effective was asking someone to write as many animal names as possible straight onto paper, then comparing it to someone who I asked to imagine walking through a jungle and naming animals they saw. A person who is able to internally visualise finds it much easier to recall items. Taking a conceptual journey stimulates more of our senses and sparks more links to existing
memories.

In oversaturated global markets every advantage to improve communication and heighten recall is beneficial. Brand stories should be part of every presentation and brand toolkit. Knowing that the brain works best by linking stories along a journey, telling a brand 'story' is a powerful tool in selling creative concepts. It also ensures the client experiences an emotional connection that is closer to the consumer experience.

Stop yelling and selling. Start participating.

As I write this branding continues to change at a rate faster than the average cheetah can keep up with. Digital is the buzzword floating around my office at the moment, but I'm personally seeing this less as a complete direction change and more as the space in which brands now live and interact with consumers in. It's a natural progression versus a radical departure from most agencies core competencies.

Where real change is happening is communication. Branding has moved from yelling into a crowd and seeing who listens, to opening up the forum floor to anyone who wants to speak. For the uninitiated this can be quite intimidating. Transparency has taken on the true meaning of the word as regulation, within reason, is often perceived as a negative influence to the participation process.

But this is the change that every brand must embrace. Negativity is productive. Change is good. Opinions are wanted. As Microsoft's Mich Mathews stated, brands have moved into the 'Era of Customer Participation', a business space where brands must be able to organically adapt to an ever changing landscape. Successful brands must open direct channels to consumers and ask them 'Let us know how we can help you more, because this is your brand as much as ours'.

Social and rich interactive media solutions open up a new world of possibilities to both consulting and creative people. Speaking a differentiated message consistently at all touchpoints? The tradition. Providing a vehicle for consumers to shape, create and fulfill an untapped need? The change.

Why be simple when complex will do?

A quick list of often forgotten tips that I like to remind myself of before presenting work to a client:

PRESENTATION TECHNIQUES

Entrance strategy
A client decides whether they like you in the first fifteen seconds you enter a room. Absolute fact. So, how much time have you spent on your introduction?

Rapport
Overstated...but the reality is, a client will do business with someone they like. They need to connect with us as people as well as professionals. So build rapport. Don’t walk in, set up and start showing self absorbed slides. Ask questions about the business problem, show genuine interest and demonstrate expertise in similar scenarios.

Body Language
Are you prepared to deal with hostile body language? Do you know what to do when a client is unresponsive? Break their pattern. Have a strategy ready to deal with difficult clients. Oh and maintain eye contact. We like and gravitate towards people who are confident enough to look us in the eye when we speak.

Names
There’s a unique phenomenon that we’ve all experienced ... Awkwardness dealing with someone whose name we have forgotten (or can’t remember). Make sure you get to know everyone’s name in the room. You make a more powerful impression when you can talk to someone directly using their name.

You're Selling What?
Are we selling a process? I hope not. That’s telling, not selling. Are we selling a solution? Everyone is selling a solution. Let’s make sure we’re attuned to the needs of the client and what will move them above and beyond our competitors.

Know Your Audience
Great speakers find out everything they can about their audience before presenting. Speak to the interests of your audience in a language they understand and engage them through relevant content and delivery style.

Psychologically speaking
Our capacity for information retention is quite limited. We’re lucky if we get four (at maximum) points retained in a client’s short term memory after a meeting. Have you worked out the primary point(s) you’re trying to get across in a presentation? So, what do plan to leave the client thinking after your presentation? ‘Geez, those guys get it. And they’ve clearly done this before with great results for other clients. I’m comfortable they’re the right group for us. And I liked the guy talking about Bruce Lee. Sharp.’

Use The Stage
Find two spots in a room from which to speak from. One is your main stage from which 90% of your info is delivered from. But when you need to deliver one of your four core points (eg ‘Hire us, we have brilliant designers’) you should move to the other spot. Say it, move back. The client will associate (and remember) those impact statements more than the 150+ slides you read out to them.

Don't Talk To A Slide
It's not talking to you

You Have Four Seconds
When a person has to read a powerpoint slide...you’ve failed. The average person looks at a powerpoint slide for around three to four seconds starting in the top left hand corner. They scan for an area of interest, settle for a second or two, then move on. A slab of text or complex diagram is not an area of interest. If it’s important ... You must interact with the client and verbalise (it’s even better if you can make them say it..double the retention power! Christian is brilliant Christian is a design god)

A Picture Says A Thousand Words
So we write a thousand and one? No. Use a picture. Move them.

Sensory
Retention of concepts and ideas is improved when multiple senses are engaged. Maybe you could sing them a big idea? (then again, maybe not). Think about how to engage beyond the normal. Stay front of mind. Be unique.

Simplexity
There’s an artform to selling complex ideas in. If I knew someone who could tell you how to do it, I would ask them to explain. But I don’t know anyone. You’ll have to figure it out yourself I suppose. I’m sure it’s simple though.

Say Less Than Necessary
Robert Green wrote this describing the common habits of great leaders in history ‘Great leaders say less than necessary, not more. When you are trying to impress people with words, the more you say, the more common you appear, and the less in control. Powerful people impress and intimidate by saying less. The more you say, the more likely you are to say something foolish.’

Power. Through simplicity.

Branding needs to change. And fast.

Branding as most agencies currently deliver has failed to adapt to a changing consumer landscape. So what's next? With digital changing the face of business more rapidly than ever before, great brands of tomorrow will need to address the following:

Be First
First to market has a two-fold advantage. First to market means front of the consumer mind. Market leaders in a category are twice as hard to shift as challenger brands and every advantage goes to a market leader, Pepsi won't overtake Coke nor will Avis jump ahead of Hertz regardless of clever marketing.

Be Unique
As the often heard but rarely understood concepts of innovation, sustainability, partnership and flexibility are repeated across industries, the basic foundation of distinction is lost. As Stephen Geissbuler eloquently states 'artificially adopted notions of growth, global business and aggressive, forward-moving technology become meaningless and overused ... because it's everybody's strategy, mission and positioning'. In a world of brand inconsistencies, we have forgotten the art of emotional connection. The need to refocus on people and bonding helps to create the most powerful assets any brand has; brand advocates.

Digital Activation
For success in the coming decade, business needs to acknowledge that the message may stay the same ... but the medium is shifting dramatically. If your business and brand are not digital now, you're of a dying breed. Traditional print and campaign style approaches to marketing are losing relevance with today's consumers. It is the user that drives and shapes brands today as they look to align with brands that reflect their lifestyle. The equation is simple; go digital or die.

Brand Communities
Brand champions and brand advocates are terms we're all familiar with. However, the places where they are developed has changed. Online communities are deciding the fates of businesses through advocacy and recommendation. The hotel industry is a good example, the consumer reviews on Tripadvisor often determine the fate of a hotel regardless of their external marketing. It also checks whether you’re positioned correctly; if you’re really a business orientated hotel masquerading as a boutique, the consumer will very quickly let you know your short-comings or misconceptions. Those who cannot adjust quickly, fall even faster.

Touchpoint Analysis
The hotel example highlights an excellent point. Agencies must analysis and pinpoint appropriate brand touchpoints and place emphasise therein. Yesterday's approach of a single message thrown into the mass market in the hope it randomly resonates is no longer working in an environment that is dictated by the end user. By targeting specific markets and demographics, mediums like mobile technology, websites and online communities can directly hit consumers that are known to have an interest in a brand, product or service. Speaking directly to an interested consumer has replaced yelling into a crowd.

Brand Service (or Consumers First)
The traditional that will never die. A simple fact that no branding or advertising can cover is; unless you can deliver the quality and services you promote, long term success will remain elusive. The digital realm has elevated word-of-mouth to new heights and through blogs, communities and online reviews consumers/users now determine the success of brands. Make your consumers happy and leverage this by giving them avenues to share their positive experiences. Zappos is a famous example; by focusing their business efforts on relationship marketing and a loyalty business model, they have become the world’s largest online shoe retailer. Built upon a core value of ‘delivering wow through service’, Zappos have achieved record numbers of repeat business.

Brand People, Brand Touchpoints, Company Culture
It's easy to forget that every employee within a company is a brand touchpoint and you don’t get a second chance to make a first impression. Whether or not your people are the most consistent brand touchpoint or not is irrelevant, they are the most important. Face to face communication allows consumers to experience a brand on a human level and research shows a positive human interaction breeds word of mouth promotion more powerfully than any other medium. Great branding ultimately needs to inspire, not just make visible a business strategy. Emphasis on a company culture that resonates and can be articulated by employees thus becomes essential.

Brand Metrics
Handing over a strategic solution without being able to demonstrate a tangible result will change as digital makes KPI’s and ROI’s measurable in real-time. It can also work in an evolutionary or organic way, with strategic and creative executions able to be adjusted and tailored post-launch by recording consumer feedback, keyword spikes, online reviews and other forms of interaction.

-----------

The Shift We Need To Make
Touchpoint analysis, company culture, consumer focus and digital activation are the areas that most agencies are struggling to take advantage of but understandably so. Whilst younger businesses have an appreciation of these areas, older and more established clients still struggle to recognise their potential .. and agencies have yet to develop case studies showing tangible benefits. Proving that these areas require the most attention whilst providing the best return on investment will determine an agency's own relevance in a changing marketplace.

Respect? Oops, wrong career. Become a dentist and drill your way to the top

I was recently lunching with my consultant counterparts (distinguishable from creatives like myself for their use of business-speak and symmetrical haircuts) when the topic of a company blog was mentioned. There was a casual accusation as to why I had not contributed to the archive which I parried back with that I could write a provoking design related article to stimulate conversation and intense over-coffee debates. The slow blink response however, was less than encouraging. Whilst not word for word, it ran along the lines of ‘We are not a design agency, we are a branding agency. We don’t want an article describing how to make a colour wheel.’

Oh my poor heart. These cutting words were like a nipple twist from a high-school bully who lacks the judgement on when to let go. I was shocked, appalled, horrified and shocked. Firstly, because I hadn’t used a colour wheel since my blurry university days and secondly, because of the flippant and dismissive attitude towards mention of a purely design related entry from my highly regard peers. I felt like I’d just been dismissed as a one-night stand, ‘Sorry, but it was just a moment, I don’t actually want to see you naked again. Especially with a colour wheel hanging off anything.’ Here I was thinking we had something beautiful together. That I was the ying to their yang, the peanut to their jelly, the cancer to their cigarettes. Did they really think that design was simply a logo on some stationery? I had always suspected this attitude may be hiding under the cool exteriors of my left-brained colleagues but they were usually polite enough to sugarcoat it or politely dismiss it in an confusing myriad of business terms that meant by the time you realized they’d insulted you the lights were out. Alas, it was nowhere to be found and I felt I’d been subjected to the classic retort that design is all style and no substance…and therefore, less than desirable reading to the intellectually rather than artistically gifted.

Luckily my iceman features betrayed none of these microexpressions and I kept a cooler than cool poker face. Unluckily, my choice of words didn't quite have the same neutrality. ‘Not purely design? What the f*** do you think we do on the other side of the room in between youtube surfing and vice fashion do and don’t reading? We do design. The stuff that makes people ohh and ahh. That makes you buy products you don’t need. The stuff that makes people fight over the last pair of manolo blahnik shoes at the end-of-year sales. The stuff that gets into books and wins awards and is remembered when everything else is forgotten in the sands of time you evil money hungry bastards.’

And there it was. I had aired my passionate frustration to only receive a few dismissive shoulder shrugs and blackberry checking but the thought stayed with me… That design within a branding agency was deemed less important, or more relevant only to the poorly dressed side of the office, than if I’d hinted at presenting a thesis of disagreement with Al Ries positioning assertations, disapproved of Aakers strategic analysis tools or mentioned any of the brand mascots; purple elephants, innovative foxes or consistently consistent hedgehogs.

Where oh where does design credibility lie? Must it be sandwiched between the sheets of a strategy and business threesome, waking up feeling used and dirty? That argument might be true if only it were true. Sometimes, at the best of times, it is true. But the fact remains that some of the greatest brands of the last fifty years were based on great design as well as a business strategy that was the sole invention of the business owners. Design that didn’t speak about three throw-away brand values that seem to be echoes of the last three hundred jobs you’ve worked on. Design that was just … good design…for the sake of good design ... and told a story about the company.

Sacrilege! I can hear the nervous typing of emails from across the room that independent designer thought has occurred without strategic direction to temper the flames. Wait, hear me out. Of course a brand (and design) should stand for something. It should make the business strategy visible, or tell a brand story or be a unique insight into the company. It should be more than just being pretty … it should inspire and have relevance to the company for which is stands. But it can do even more than that. Research has shown the correct interior colour scheme can improve productivity. Acoustic design can do the same. Considered layouts improve retention of information and environmental design can increase instore consumer spending and at point of sale areas. Good design is both function and form, and usually being the first touchpoint (and just as often the last) for consumers, it better be more than just pretty…because as the entrypoint into a brand it may just be the most important device to trigger recall in your arsenal. Fortune 500 companies that are heavily branded make more than those that don’t. Simple fact. Good design makes money.

But does that design have to reflect the usual brand value and proposition methodology? Maybe not. There might be credence in the words of Steff Geissbuhler when he says ‘We have run out of marks representing artificially adopted notions of growth and forward moving values for business, because when it’s everybodies strategy, mission and vision … it becomes meaningless. Audiences react more directly and emotionally to recognizable symbols and cultural icons with clear connotations, characteristic and qualities.’ Perhaps he’s on to something … if I have to design the brand of another innovative, flexible, next generation, partnership driven company ... I might have to pause to reopen the concept files of the last few jobs and start recycling. And that hurts. Down low.

So what’s the conclusion? Is it still about making strategic values and propositions visible … or is it about telling a company story that will inspire employees and create loyal customers? Easy answer is that it can be both and for the sake of a regular paycheque, it should be both. No designer can be arrogant enough to say that a good logo alone amounted to business success, but the idea that got there certainly helps. A good strategy, well, icing on the cake my friends. Tango time… and that takes two.

The argument shifts then to the need for creative strategy, emotive brand values and a broader definition of design. A call for company values that aren't from the brand dictionary and a request for connections with consumers. Brands that have real, distinctive, unique meaning. Brands that people will become loyal advocates of. Brands that want to be great. And yes, brands that are made visible through good, considered design that tells this story.

And thus we arrive at a vague conclusion. You may well be thinking ‘thank god, what is the point of this ramble?’ Well, my call to action is to acknowledge that design deserves more respect than if it was simply the final product on the strategic conveyor belt. Whether in a branding agency or design studio, this broader definition of design is an integral part of business success. It might be a long road to get there, but rest assured … it’s the good design that ends up in museums being discussed by post-modernists and art students (they can be one and the same if appearance is disregarded and only review of their comments is accounted for). If museum worthy design and strategy are able to balance like libra scales, we arrive at brand utopia. So designers, here ye here ye … go forth and strive and draw and argue with your counterparts for respect and professional recognition. They will respect and loathe you all the more for it. They may even let you write articles about colour wheels.