Transmission Wire

Branding alone isn’t enough these days, people want experiences, they
want magic moments and memories to enrich their lives with. To create these
experiential moments requires you to identify and appreciate what creates the
magic for your consumer and enhance it at every ‘touchpoint.’

So how do we go about the daunting task of packaging experiences? Job
number one is taking an honest unbiased look at your brand offering to define the
experience opportunity that makes the most sense. You will need to assess your
brand and how it fares in each of the five core brand components (your brand
should have at least one of these components):

• Transformation
• Optimism
• Individuality
• Involvement
• Adventure

Transformation
Transformation occurs when a brand takes you from one state of mind to another.
The health and beauty category is all about selling transformation (use our cream
and you will look years younger). Transformation brings a very positive, personal
and emotional feeling to a consumer. This in turn equates the brands value.

Optimism
This component of an experiential brand conveys the feeling of pure happiness
with a brand. They give the consumer a reason to smile and expect the best from it.
Optimism can be achieved by the point of view a brand may have. For instance,
every time you purchase brand X, money is donated to a charity. Maybe brand X
uses no chemicals and therefore makes you feel good about using it. Optimism is
the hope that is instilled in the consumer by a brand.

Individuality
Individuality makes the brand a unique, one-on-one connection with the
consumer. One way brands achieve individuality is through consumer customization
(selecting a color or custom build). Another can be the way the individual feels
about the brand (one person feels safe while another feels elite). The point is that
each person takes away something unique from the brand offering.

Involvement
Brands that invite consumers to indulge in a sense of influencing and shaping the
brand experience are at the heart of involvement. Involvement is a more recent
trend in experiential packaging. One brand that became very successful by
concentrating on the involvement component is Jones Soda. By allowing the
consumer to create the labels for the sodas, the consumer became involved in
building the brand, similar to the way consumers were allowed to vote on the next
new color of M&Ms.

Adventure
Lastly, adventure represents the component of brands that convey ideas of
excitement and exploration. Adventure can be the Hummer vehicle promising you
adventure off-road (which is how often?). From a more true experience standpoint,
you would be better advised to take a cue from Edoc Laundry. Edoc has developed a
line of shirts with hidden codes that eventually lead the consumer to a murder
mystery online. Adventure in a brand is especially useful for creating a buzz and
viral marketing.

These five components provide the creative inspiration for developing brand
messaging and communication. Once they are thoroughly uncovered and
understood, consider the following:

• Which experiential components fit with my brand?
• How well are these currently communicated?
• What are some innovative ways to utilize design as a tool to create and extend
  the experience?

It is one thing to know what your brand components are, it is another to
communicate them to others and live up to their promise. In part two of Packaging
Experiences, we will discuss the importance of experiential packaging and the
application of a brand across all of its touchpoints. Until then take a good honest
look at your brand through the eyes of others, you may be surprised at what you
find.

Jim Stringer is the Creative Director for XO Create! which provides expertise in
packaging experiences. XO Create! assists organizations with branding,
positioning and moving product through compelling packaging solutions. To
contact Jim call 678.319.4242