Jun 1, 2005 12:00 PM, By Erik Hauser

It is amazing how renaming something can lend epiphany-like clarity to a subject. This is certainly the case with “experience marketing.”

The term “experience marketing” can replace all other discipline labels since it encompasses — well, everything. Everything we do as humans, good or bad, is an experience. Any interaction that a consumer has with your brand/product/service is an experience. Experience marketing is every marketing initiative that a company sets out on, all tucked together under one big umbrella.

As humans, we are byproducts of three things: genetics, our experiences and our environments. When marketers use the term “experience,” they tend to take a giant step back and fully grasp the need for a consumer to have a seamless experience with the marketing and advertising initiatives that they are sending out.

Don't confuse “experience marketing” with “experiential marketing.” Experiential marketing falls under the experience marketing umbrella.

What about “integrated marketing”? That word made brand executives believe they should be tying together their marketing initiatives with other departments within their organization (media, p.r., events, direct, etc., etc.).

But well-executed integrated marketing plans have been a virtually unattainable goal for companies with several different brands having several products/services. Why unattainable? Because most marketers haven't had the “Ah ha!” moment of realization that every touch point must seamlessly flow into the next, so the brand becomes one unified experience.

This way of thinking is not lost on all brand executives. For example, Ron Tonini, president of Picture Marketing, Inc., has built a company based on the shift.

“We're in the throes of a sea change,” Tonini said recently. “We are seeing the shift to marketing that proactively interprets consumer's desires, versus marketing that tries to anticipate consumer's wishes. It's a shift to consumer-generated marketing or self-generated content: consumers participate in creating the content of the marketing that is reflected back at them. The ‘content’ that each person will generate in this new marketing world is deeply tied to his or her life experiences.”

Experience marketing defines the future of marketing. In a consumer-controlled market, it's the only way to maintain an adequate degree of relevance.

Several companies have begun to not only grasp this shift, but assign executives to answer it. Wells Fargo just renamed Tim Collins from senior VP of integrated brand implementation to senior VP of experience marketing. How will this impact Wells Fargo's marketing initiatives? Does it signify a dramatic or a subtle shift?

Time will tell. It may indicate that more industries will soon find themselves weighing an experience marketing-based model. Why? It works, and the companies that provide the great experiences will certainly be the companies that capture market share. The key is to win the hearts and minds of consumers, and consumers will ultimately reward you with their almighty dollars.

In the end, it all boils down to one thing: The deeper and more intricate experiences companies can provide, the more relevant connections they will forge with consumers. Companies, by designing great experiences, will satisfy the consumer's senses, allowing them one thing — experience marketing bliss.

Erik Hauser is creative director and founder of Swivel Media, San Francisco, and founder of IXMA, the International Experiential Marketing Association. Reach him at erik@swivelmedia.com.

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