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Shareable Moments On Social Drive Sales

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Rethink Connect

Shareable Moments On Social Media Drive Sales: Top Takeaways From The Rethink Connect Experiential Marketing Symposium

On July 10, Coresight Research attended the Rethink Connect Experiential Marketing Symposium in New York City. Founded by Dalia Strum, an entrepreneur and educator at the Fashion Institute of Technology, the invite-only event was attended by more than 100 professionals and featured discussions led by business leaders from Google, Refinery29, Ritz-Carlton, the Miami Marlins, the Council of Fashion Designers of America, DVF and Maman.

Speakers at the event shared brand strategies and ways to create positive brand connections that increase trust and conversion rates. Industry leaders and creatives discussed the value of shareable moments in retail environments, how companies are using experiences to boost brand awareness among new consumer audiences, and how white-glove service and “wow” moments help increase brand loyalty.

At the symposium, Avery Dennison sponsored an installation (@JoshuaVides) where people became the art. The experience, filmed by OM Digital, highlighted that anyone can be a content creator and that people are looking to share moments that capture an experience. Mike Colarossi, Avery Dennison’s VP of Innovation, Product Line Management and Sustainability, said that the company participated in the symposium because it believes in uniting strong “visual visionaries” and showcasing the power of experiences and the art of pioneering designers.

Shareable Moments Drive Sales

Kelly Markus, VP of Experiential Marketing at Refinery29, a digital media company that focuses on young women, described the link between experiences and sales in a panel called “How Immersive Marketing Experiences Can Captivate Event Audiences.” She shared that Refinery29 created an immersive storytelling experience called “29Rooms” to celebrate its tenth anniversary. An interactive, museum-like, pop-up experience, 29Rooms explores pop culture, brands, music, art and fashion. Markus described it as the company’s “small circus, its small funhouse” and said that it travels to different cities. Refinery29’s experiential marketing team spent hours brainstorming and used thousands of sticky notes while creating the initial concept for 29Rooms, Markus said. The result was an entrance line for the first pop-up that was seven hours long. A big appeal of 29Rooms is the Instagrammable moments offered throughout each of the rooms, Markus said.

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She noted that 29Rooms audiences had given positive feedback on the featured brands and topics, and that many visitors had said they felt more open-minded afterwards about the topics they hadn’t known much about before. On the brand side, Clarins reported that its Double Serum became a number one brand through its product placement in 29Rooms. Markus said that participating brands are seeing interesting key performance indicators, noting that even products and brands that are not placed in a “highly Instagrammable room” in 29Rooms are learning about new audience engagement opportunities. For example, 29Rooms is helping Refinery29 engage with new ancillary audiences, including male audiences, who may not have been aware of the company previously. Additionally, Markus said that audiences are reporting that they want to interact with the brand more, which provides new opportunities for audience participation. She said that the company plans to include additional programming and audience participation elements in 29Rooms in the future.

Every Customer Can Advertise for Retailers

Elisa Marshall, Cofounder of Maman, a café, restaurant and event space, participated in a panel titled “The Value of Shareable Moments in Retail.” She said that “every customer that walks through the door has the ability to advertise for us. We can leverage this as a small business.” Marshall noted that she is very focused on details and finds it interesting how many customers also notice small details and share them on social media. The night before the first Maman store opened, she said that she stayed up late hand-painting a sign for the garbage can. Her business partner thought she was crazy. But customers did not. She told the audience, “I cannot tell you how many people have taken pictures of that garbage can sign, and shared them on social media.” She also ordered five different ornately printed coffee cups. Marshall emphasized that consumers won’t take a photo of just any cup of coffee, but they will take a picture of a beautiful cup or its unique details. “It is the details that speak to people and it is the small things that matter and help grow the business,” she said. Maman has made that attention to detail part of its brand ethos, and has grown to seven locations since 2013. The panel’s moderator, Ting Tang Yan, Global Marketing Lead at Google, asked, “How does sharing turn into sales?” Marshall said that it builds brand awareness. When consumers see photos, they want to try products, she said, joking that she would love a future that includes “scratch and sniff Instagram.”

Anticipatory Service and Wow Moments Lead to Great Experiences and Customer Loyalty

Ritz-Carlton is teaching other companies about its white-glove service and what it is renowned for—creating memorable experiences and providing elevated service for customers. In a panel titled “How White-Glove Service Builds Stronger Experiences and Advocacy,” Antonia Hock, VP of the Ritz-Carlton Leadership Center, said, “Great experiences create something that one cannot achieve in any other way. It is about the human-to-human connection.” Hock said that Ritz-Carlton believes in anticipatory service and in creating wow moments, and that the small things usually matter most. As an example, she shared that when she stayed at a Ritz-Carlton property in Dallas, her toothpaste almost ran out and she left it on the bathroom sink. The housekeeper noticed, and replaced it. Hock said that she still remembers the gesture because even though it was small, it was meaningful.

Panel moderator Bonin Bough, host of the Cleveland Hustles TV series, asked Hock how Ritz-Carlton creates a culture of anticipatory service and produces wow moments for customers. Hock said that it is in the company’s strategy and culture. First, the company looks to hire employees who have “a heart for service.” Second, the company believes in empowerment and first-person resolution: employees do not have to ask permission to resolve a problem. As part of the onboarding process, each employee is informed that he or she has $2,000 to spend per day, per guest, to surprise or delight the guest or to correct a problem. This empowerment promotes a sense of pride in the company, and all Ritz-Carlton leaders have bought into this culture, she said.

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Finally, Hock noted that if a guest opted in, the company will note their customer preferences in a global customer relationship management platform. This could include information such as as birthday and coffee preferences, enabling associates to provide each guest with anticipatory service and wow moments at any Ritz-Carlton location across the world. The company also has a social media team that mines hashtags and data and uses social listening to identify guests who got engaged or who might otherwise present a “surprise and delight” opportunity. Every morning, each Ritz-Carlton team reviews every guest who will be checking into the property that day, to see how the staff might better serve them.

Hock said that Ritz-Carlton is thriving and that consumers are seeking out the kind of high-touch service the company provides. She added that brands are using exceptional customer service and experiences as differentiators in order to cater to consumers who are seeking a culture of value.

Examples of the marketing funnel in action were prevalent throughout the Rethink Connect Symposium. Macarons provided by Woops! surprised and delighted attendees, who also found Instagrammable moments throughout the entire venue and even the opportunity to be on Bravo. Symposium founder Dalia Strum noted that there is a misconception that marketing and sales are the same thing: the reality, she said, is that we need to get back to basics and focus on the elements of the marketing funnel, while building customer trust, in order to generate purchases.

To learn more about experiential marketing, see our report Channel Checks: Experiential Summer Campaigns in UK Retail and Forbes post DVF Offers A Multisensory In-Store Experience As Part Of International Women's Day 2018 Celebration.