Blog 3

From curiosity, to interest, to enjoyment, to satisfaction, and finally loyalty, marketers want customers to cycle through the process of choosing their products. The question is how does a brand separate itself form all the rest, or how do you make your product be the one that catches eyes? As discussed in A Framework for Managing Customer Experiences, this is simple  create a customer experience.

Many companies attempt to do just that. Some are successful, others are not. These successes and failures are all part of the game. As I think about what company I feel does a good job of creating customer experience, I run through all of the obvious brands. Apple, Starbuck’s, Axe for the men, Victoria Secret for the women. All of these make great case studies for business schools. A more personal brand for me would be Levi’s. Levi’s jeans, as I mentioned in a previous post, hooked me in through a series of sponsored events. The company annually rents out a building and parking lot in downtown Austin for the SXSW festival to host a five day party. The space features several live concerts, art displays, drinks and refreshments, lounge areas, and giveaways.

What makes a customer experience successful depends on how well the company appeals to SEMs, or strategic experiential models. The campaign of sponsoring parties and events across the country such as the SXSW event I am familiar with, appeals to several SEMs. Such parties have the elements of feel, act, and relate.

Feel is incorporated through the layout of the parties. Keep in mind, that when you first walk in, you are in a room that is full of jeans and other Levi’s products, all of which are for sale. So there is no secret that the company wants you to buy their product. But as you move through the building, you come to several lounge areas, complete with couches, computers, and tables. For those of you who aren’t familiar with SXSW, it is an action packed week with nearly no spare time. You are constantly running to and from events, getting little sleep, and certainly exhausted. Can you imagine the sheer joy when walking into a room full of comfy couches? That is exactly what Levi’s is going for, the feeling of relaxation and lounging. If the party makes you feel relaxed, shouldn’t the jeans?

Lvei’s also incorporates SEM act by putting Levi’s jeans on all of the performers and event hosts. What better way to convince concert goers to buy a brand of jeans when Lou Reed is on stage performing in a pair of Levi’s? I have to be honest when I see the party hosts running around in Levi’s and notice all of the attention they are getting, I think to myself, maybe I should get a pair of those too…

Finally, with relate, Levi’s makes you feel at home at their event. They acknowledge and represent the subculture of music fans, hipsters, audiophiles, rockers, hip-hoppers, or whatever group may be featured that day at the event. You can identify with the urban art displays featuring old vinyl records or ghetto blasters, or there many photographs and posters of famous bands. There is a culture among us, and Levi’s wants to be a part of it. They tell us that by wearing their jeans, we can all be a part of it together.

Obviously, since I have stated that I support and buy Levi’s jeans because of the way they targeted me with customer experience, I feel they are successful. But what segment are they targeting here? Well, it comes down to the music crowd. Not just any music crowd, because surely 80% of the world who has access to music enjoys it to varying degrees. But this targeted subculuture incorporates those who actively seek out new music and make music a part of their lifestyle. By lifestyle, I mean attending concerts regularly, following music news, sharing music with friends, and purchasing music affiliated items. The need here that they are trying to address is the need for comfort and style. Levi’s jeans are stylishly displayed at these events. And they are associated with the subculture of their target audience. So they successfully meet this need.