Earlier this year, New York artist Paul Richard struck a deal with the Kmart in his neighborhood to display his art in the store's café. At times, his work pokes fun at the
discounter - but its self-effacing presence in the store has opened up a dialogue and has endeared the retailer to its funky East Village community. According to Marc Gobé, author
of the new book, Emotional Branding: The New Paradigm for Connecting Brands to People, this is a strategic course Kmart needs to maintain if it is going to rebound from its
current low earnings and compete with Wal-Mart and Target. Today's strongest brands are those that are turning everyday customer transactions into special events and relationship-
building experiences. PR NEWS caught up with Gobé to discuss the role of the communications counselor in the equation:
PRN: Your main contention is that we've moved from an industrial economy to an "emotional" economy. Can you explain what this shift means for communicators who
are charged with building brand reputation?
Gobé: Instead of selling products, we are now selling dreams, emotions and experiences. Mercedes has a really fine strategy. They've moved from the concept of "a car
engineered like no other" to their current strategy, which is based more on the experience you can have driving a Mercedes.
PRN: In your book, you discuss emotional branding and "sensorial experiences" largely in the context of ad campaigns. Can you give examples of PR initiatives that
demonstrate a mastery of this concept?
Gobé: Joe Boxer's president, Nick Graham, is a PR machine. He really understands how to create stories that will be leveraged by the media - and how to create emotional
excitement around his brand at minimal cost, which gives him a return on total exposure that's really significant.
PRN: Yes, you mention that Joe Boxer is a $100 million company, yet spends only $500,000 annually on advertising, relying largely on guerilla PR techniques. They
once sent a pair of boxers into space on a rocket, correct? Describe some other stunts they've pulled off.
Gobé: They did a fashion show in Iceland [and flew 200 fashion editors over]. Because it was a small country and they made it such a big event, they were able to meet
with the president of Iceland [and leverage the event to promote tourism in the country]. Television networks worldwide were really interested by this. Some call that event
marketing. I call it public relations.
PRN: You've described Kmart and Compaq as "unemotional brands," while Wal-Mart and Apple are "emotional brands." Where do the differences lie?
Gobé: Not all brands are created equal. The vast majority of brands that are successful on Wall Street are incredibly emotional in nature. And the best of those brands
start with an incredibly deep, valued corporate culture. Abercrombie & Fitch, Starbucks, Apple, Wal-Mart...they each have a culture you can cut with a knife. Apple [was
founded] on the concept that they wanted to create technology that would give power back to people. At Wal-Mart, Sam Walton said that if people at headquarters forgot about their
customers for one second, it would take about five minutes for the salesperson to not care anymore.
PRN: So in the best companies, every single employee is, in essence, a PR person. How do you foster that kind of internal culture if it's not already
ingrained?
Gobé: I worked with Abercrombie & Fitch when they first got started. They had no culture, no brand, no nothing. The CEO, Michael Jeffries, came in and said,
"Everybody is going to wear the clothes we sell." Let me tell you, that changed the culture radically. In the fashion business, there are a lot of people who are not wearing
their company's products because they think the products are not good enough or the clientele wearing the products is definitely not them. Well, you can't build an
emotional brand if you're not completely connected to the people you are selling to. There is a contract between the retailer and the person buying the product. It's not just an
act of buying and selling. It's contract of trust and integrity. When Michael Jeffries said that all employees would wear Abercrombie's clothes, he got people who understood the
customer. They looked like the customer, they wore the clothes of the customer. And they were customers.
PRN: So it's critical for employees to reflect and project a corporation's brand. What can communications staff do to shore up the connection between employees,
senior management and customers?
Gobé: The PR person within the corporation should be sitting next to president every five minutes, representing the people's voice. PR shouldn't be an isolated function
that always operates in a reactive manner [when a crisis hits]. In the best scenarios, the PR person plays a more visionary role in predicting the trends of the future and serving
as an ambassador. As such, it's a job that requires enormous credibility. What PR can do in a big corporation is get those guys [executives] down from their Ivory Towers to walk
the streets once in a while and see that America is changing. That America in 2050 will be non-white. That women are now making 80% of purchasing decisions. The PR person can
help ensure that corporations mirror what the public looks like.
PRN: In your book, you also talk about the convergence of event marketing and retailing as a means of creating an emotional bond with customers. Can you
illustrate this concept further?
Gobé: Sampling has always been a great way to get people to experience your product. Now you take a store like Stew Leonard's, a market in Norwalk, Conn., which is a
celebration of the senses. They have music and tastings, they brew their own coffees so people can experience the aroma. They show you how they put milk in bottles, and have a
mini-processing plant there in the store. The way they present produce is in their own cases...fresh from the farm. The whole idea is to get people to experience products through
their senses.
PRN: Food is obviously a natural candidate for sensory events. Other product examples?
Gobé: The sporting goods store REI in Seattle is set up so you can test the equipment. There's a big rock for rock climbing. They have different floor finishes so you
can see how shoes react to rock, wood and various surfaces. If you want to test an outdoor pack, there's a little trail you can walk.
PRN: In your book, you even suggest that retailers like Home Depot might take their brands to the next level by hosting events such as July 4th barbecues,
featuring live demonstrations from carpenters, painters and such. You also hypothesize that street theater might prove more effective in launching new product lines than
traditional mass-market advertising. Any other big ideas?
Gobé: I think the biggest PR coup would be to sell Viagra in Victoria's Secret.
Marc Gobé
Marc Gobé is co-founder and principal of the international brand-image consultancy d/g*, which has helped shape brands for IBM, Gatorade, Air France, Nestlé, Coca-Cola,
Unilever, Victoria's Secret and others. His book, Emotional Branding: The New Paradigm for Connecting Brands to People, will be published in January by Allworth Press. 212/979-
8900.
Why Consumers Love Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart has reinvented the discount category by catering not only to consumers' value-driven buying needs, but also to their craving for indulgent shopping escapades and
entertainment, Gobé observes.
Consider the retailer's April 2000 bubble-gum blowing contest, held in 2,800 stores nationwide, which awarded one winner $1 million, and also raised money for the Children's
Miracle Network. The event offered families an afternoon of fun and supported a good emotionally-driven cause. Plus, the contest winner later appeared on "The Rosie O'Donnell
Show," giving Wal-Mart the opportunity to bond not only with its customers, but also with Rosie's loyal viewers.
"At a time when stores such as Caldor faltered, Wal-Mart realized it could disassociate itself from the drawbacks of 'discount' with out sacrificing value," Gobe writes. "At the
heart of this change is an attention to the emotional state of its customers."
How are the best companies nurturing emotional relationships with their customers? Watch for Gobé's "Ten Commandments of Emotional Branding" in the Oct. 30 issue of
PRN.