The year of experiential engagement
2020 changed the world at large, and in more than one instance, for the better. Consumer behavior and consumption patterns have largely changed. There is a shift from reactive to preventive care. Especially in the Indian subcontinent, consumers are spending more and more every day to enhance their lifestyles and be more healthy. Similarly, the focus has shifted from being a do-it-for-me ecosystem to a let-me-do-it-myself ecosystem. As many of us donned the hats of chefs, hairstylists, housekeepers and more during the pandemic, we are constantly seeking ways to make our lives at home easier. Interestingly, spending patterns, especially among the GenZ community have shifted to a spend vs save mindset and today’s expenditure is contingent not only on the product but also the relevance, the purpose, the why of the brand and more.
All the aforementioned factors only cement my belief that experiential engagement is the way forward. The world today is no more seeking products, consumers of today seek experiences. Brands like CookD and other food product companies leveraged the prevalent DIY bubble to create recipe packs that enabled even the most novice of cooks to create a delicious meal. Similarly, health tech brands created VR gear to help simulate the experience of working out in the open while in reality they were working out from their living rooms. This trend has carried forward into multiple facets of reality including virtual office meetings, virtual gatherings with friends, virtual political campaigns and whatnot, and this trend is here to stay, case in point, metaverse.
How can then brands pivot to create experiential engagement?
- Think human-first – All the data, technology and budget in the world is obsolete if it doesn’t drive the desired result and one sure shot way to drive results is to think human-first. For instance, how can organizations that adopt a remote-first work environment ensure engaging onboarding or transition? It is the proverbial goldmine when it comes to experiential engagement.
- Go phygital – While COVID hasn’t been completely eliminated, the world at large has opened up and this creates an imperative need for phygital experiences. Think about this paradigm, you want to check-in to the oberoi hotel in Mumbai, but you do not want to interact with any other human being during this experience. Well, a truly human-free check-in experience enables this paradigm and it would be a trendsetter as far as the hospitality industry is concerned. Right from booking, to preferences, to sanitation, everything is taken care of digitally while you enjoy the experience physically. Phygital.
- Adopt a multi-sensory approach – Human beings are multi-sensory creatures, we like to engage multiple senses simultaneously. For engagement to be truly experiential, it must engage multiple senses at once. Case in point is the SPI cinemas movie-going experience. You are hooked at the grandeur of the screen, the comfort of the seats, the smell of buttery popcorn, the sound of ardent movie fans like you and more and want to come back again and again.
- Practice empathy – Be genuinely concerned about your consumer’s pain points and try to actively make their lives better. Ikea’s success hinges on their hinges (bad wordplay, but you get the point, right?). The entire brand experience is contingent on the fact that anybody can assemble Ikea furniture taking handymen and carpenters out of the equation, making lives of consumers all the more easy. Ikea practiced DIY long before it became a thing.
- Let purpose drive you – Today’s consumers go beyond what you offer and deep dive into what you believe as a brand/organisation and what you stand for. What you stand for Is an expression of who you are and it creates identity and relates with your audiences at a primal level, transforming them into loyalists. For instance, Uber’s support for the Black Lives Matter movement was both a stroke of PR genius and at the same time, genuine intentions and it resulted in widespread support for the brand.