Earlier this week, Robbin at the Brains On Fire Blog, wrote about a presentation by Steve Knox, CEO of P&G’s Tremor Unit, noting that the ultimate victory in marketing is cultivating advocates for your brand. Interesting post, you can read it here.
Mr. Knox suggests that one way we create trusted advocates is through disruptive experiences. He talks about how the brain is programmed to create models of how the world operates (called schemas), then uses those models as shortcuts to help us quickly analyze and assess the world around us. As long as experiences match the expectations of the model, we don’t think much about them.
Disruptive experiences don’t fit the models and require the brain to power up and try to understand what is happening. They refocus our attention and get noticed. Which is why disruption is such a powerful branding tool.
As long as the disruption is true to the brand ideals, it stands a good chance of being noticed, processed, and talked about.
Which got me thinking about a few brand experiences that break expectations:
• The enormous bag of fries you get from Five Guys (don’t order the large unless you’ve brought several friends).
• The way you are entertained while standing in line at the Magic Kingdom (compare that to all the other lines you waste time in).
• The unexpected overnight upgrade you get from Zappos (versus waiting for days or weeks for orders from other vendors).
• The Coca-Cola Happiness Machine (free Coke—just push the button).
By creating experiences that are unexpected, they break through our models of how the world works and get noticed. And we tend to share them with our social networks.
How are you creating disruptive experiences so your customers notice and share your brand stories?
Check out the basics of the presentation, here.
