Markets have undergone a profound transformation
after decades of top-down corporate messaging. As you read this,
the marketing world is changing, and with it the way business will
be conducted for decades to come. This change is being demanded
by the enlightened and empowered consumer – the so-called
prosumer – who no longer responds to a media-propelled “brand
essence.” Most current advertising still relies on obsessive
proliferation of the brand through mass media that seek economies
of scale – the more eyeballs, the better. But consumers want
more than mass messages sent to eyeballs. They want respect, recognition
and relevant communication, and they've indicated that the best
way to give it to them is through experiences that are personally
relevant, memorable, sensory, emotional and meaningful. Consumers
have changed dramatically, and the brand world must change to meet
their needs and desires, or lose them to those that recognize the
unique influences shaping the evolving marketplace.
“Today, customers take product quality
and a positive brand image as a given,” writes Columbia Business
School guru Bernd H. Schmitt in the seminal book Experiential Marketing.
“What they want is products, communications, and marketing
campaigns that dazzle their senses, touch their hearts, and stimulate
their minds – that deliver an experience.”
It is those companies that can deliver the right
experience to customers that will succeed in the global marketplace
today. Businesses will live or die not by the attributes they promise,
but by the experience they offer customers at every touch point
– in the store, at the website, with the product, and through
events and advertising. “Traditional marketing theories and
practices are rapidly changing and becoming less relevant,”
writes Erik Hauser, Director of the IXMA. “Experiential marketing
is leading the way into the new marketing paradigm.”
As founding board members of the International
Experiential Marketing Association (IXMA), we are the ambassadors
of this revolution. The IXMA shares insights daily with free-thinking
business leaders in preparing for profound changes about to challenge
traditional advertising and marketing. The IXMA is a forum for radically
new thinking about how brands are introduced and sustained. The
IXMA shows how experiential marketing (XM) uses credible voices,
sensory experiences and respect for the consumer to bring brands
– and their essence and benefits – to life, and to create
direct and meaningful connections between companies and their customer.
Importantly, we strive to find new ways to measure and quantify
the brand impact and purchase intent stemming from XM that go beyond
traditional ROI metrics, to focus on the equity-building ideas of
ROE – the Return on Experience.
The question isn't which industries will be transformed
by the focus on customer experience, but only which will be first.
Companies who do not recognize this change will perish. Those who
see the necessity for change and embrace XM will be embraced in
turn by the most empowered consumer base in the history of the world.
At the IXMA, an international cadre of forward-thinkers is building
and propagating the experiential marketing (XM) revolution.
Here is our Manifesto:
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1. |
EXPERIENTIAL MARKETING must be predicated on one-on-one personal
interaction between a marketer and a consumer. |
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2. |
EXPERIENTIAL MARKETING will be conducted when the consumer
chooses. |
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3. |
EXPERIENTIAL MARKETING campaigns should clearly deliver a
meaningful benefit to the consumer. |
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4. |
EXPERIENTIAL MARKETING is based on engaging people. |
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5. |
EXPERIENTIAL MARKETING must be based on individual experiences. |
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6. |
EXPERIENTIAL MARKETING’s goal is to succeed using innovative
approaches and tactics to reach out to consumers in creative,
compelling ways. |
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7. |
EXPERIENTIAL MARKETING is idealistic enough to empower the
individual consumer and street-savvy enough to unleash the power
of grassroots activation. |
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8. |
EXPERIENTIAL MARKETING is about authenticity. |
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9. |
EXPERIENTIAL MARKETING assumes that the entire world is media,
and the entire universe is the consumer base. |
Experiential Marketers exhibit curiosity about
the world, each other and well, just about everything.
IXMA Vision:
Help our members provide their customers with effective, engaging,
positive and memorable interactions with company brands.
IXMA Mission:
Be the global voice of the XM industry, stimulating business success
for all members by improving the understanding of XM by marketers,
agencies, academics and students; developing best industry practice;
and facilitating active collaboration between members.
IXMA Principles / Founding Objectives:
Be representative. Encourage a broad-based membership where all cultures, countries
and disciplines are welcome.
Commitment to learning. Plan, develop and implement formal and informal education programs
in association with business educators and other industry partners.
Do the right thing. Establish a global "code of practice" to ensure our members
adhere to the highest professional standards.
Share information and knowledge. Assist other members with advice, ideas and best practices for their
XM initiatives (unless there is a conflict of interest), via the
EMF forums, and "offline" if required.
Build relationships. IXMA provides a vehicle for business networking at a global, national
and regional level through workshops, facilitated meetings and forums,
both face-to-face and online. |
