“If you were a paint company, what would you do to make the interior designer feel that you are their partners?”
“The B-B brand’s promise of partnership needs to be brought out” said the communication planner- a dear friend. I thought it was very interesting and started thinking…with a service-oriented mindset. And of course this was a step in the wrong direction. I should have considered the person asking, their perspective and the deliverable expected of them. I decided to switch roles and think.This small incident demonstrated to me the difference in creative mindsets and how different creative disciplines realize different outputs despite having the same goal.
Advertising acts like a company’s vocal chords, and it’s an important tool of communication. However, this is redundant in the eyes of the customer if the messages communicated are empty promises only meant to convert into a sale. Communication is lost if the company does not support their promise with corresponding actions- i.e. service. However, one could argue that companies have brand strategies, designed personalities, attitudes, missions, promises etc. And yet, these strategies are realized are through actions i.e. the way a company behaves or ‘serves’ its customer.
One can observe today, that the experience a product provides is of far greater value than the product itself. However, a company or its product cannot control or just simply create a user’s experience. Experience is built on memory, expectation and action. What can be controlled are the offer of services around a company’s product and the design of its eco-system. Services create experiences, which are delivered through touch points and managed to the extent of controlling its fluidity and consistent streamlining across processes- backend and front end. It’s important for corporates to realize that One can’t not have an experience. So it’s really about how the experience is – whether broken or smooth. It’s like silence- one is still communicating something by not saying anything.
Services through action serve the same function and accomplish what advertising is meant to achieve- differentiation, sale and loyalty.