What brand experience trends will matter to marketers in 2014?

Executives from global brand experience agency Jack Morton Worldwide have shared their list on what’s next.

“We think that the trends that matter have a few things in common: they’re about elevating brand experience thinking, they’re about integrating experience with new technologies and media channels, and they’re about experience fuelling business results, especially at retail,” says Josh McCall, chairman and CEO of Jack Morton.

Their list:

1. Relevant retail
   “The big trend for retail brands is building relevant experiences around what consumers actually want,” says Richard Vincent, head of consumer in Jack Morton’s London office. “Last year there was a lot of talk about ‘showrooming’ and other presumably negative consumer behaviours that were seriously troubling to retailers. This year, the brands that are growing are the ones that embrace consumer needs, for example promoting their in-store experience as mobile-friendly.”
2. The rise of the CXO
   According to Katie Chatfield, head of strategy in Sydney, a big opportunity for brands is elevating brand experience within the organisational structure. “Experience is enormously complex. Think of all the touch points in a customer’s set of brand interactions: no one person controls them all, but if one goes wrong, the customer doesn’t blame the call center manager, she blames the brand.”
3. User experience writ large
   “In 2014 we’ll stop thinking of user experience strictly in terms of online. User experience thinking should really be the way you think about the whole experience – because today, experience is the net sum of every interaction a person has with your brand, online and offline,” says Leesa Wytock, head of digital in the agency’s New York office. “What user experience thinking means in practice is an overarching ethos of building experience around human needs and behaviours that can influence action. It impacts design, it influences how we creatively use technology and it’s defining for how great brands build customer interaction and even develop products.”
4. Owned media strategies for content marketing
   “Brands are desperate for content,” says Dan Carter, senior creative director in Jack Morton’s Shanghai office. “They want campaigns their consumers will want to participate in and share. We think a huge area of need is the inherent interest that comes with experiences consumers can witness or engage with live. In 2014 we believe brands will invest in owned media strategies that give them that – experiences that create intrigue, fuel conversations and foster engagement. For consumers, experiences are the ultimate currency – they represent something to remember and share across social networks.
5. Big data gets small
   “Big data is one of the most over-used, least understood terms in our industry,” says Steve Mooney, MD of Jack Morton’s Boston office as well as leader of its global creative council. “In 2014, the big opportunity for brands is using information to enhance customer experience – to ‘get small’ with big data. We know from research that consumers put a premium on better brand experiences – they’ll pay more for them.”