Create an experience

Internal branding and quirky, unusual above-the-line advertising activities are de rigueur for big brands these days. In the business of brands, what’s new and exciting now is the interactive and in-person experiences companies are dabbling with, for both visitors and clients to enable them to really experience the brand.

Called soft branding, these activities aim at converting every visitor into a potential buyer of services and products, and ambassador of the brand. In-your-face advertising campaigns might build brand recognition, marketers say, but often can’t touch upon the nuances of organisational culture. Rituals like taking every visitor through an art gallery as they wait for a meeting, or engaging them in the latest console games as they pass time in the lobby are ways a company can stamp its uniqueness

“Companies are reinventing customer is king and opting for something called guest is god approach. They are embellishing their existing internal branding practices to do this,” says Harish Bijoor, a Mumbai-based brand and marketing consultant.

Take, for instance, MindTree Limited, a leading IT services company. Its Bengaluru headquarters comprise an imagination room fitted with soothing white and blue tiles, and an orchard which fashions a green leafy entrance. Every visitor to the campus is also taken on a tour through an art gallery of works by the children of the Spastic Society of Karnataka.

Krishnakumar Natarajan, the company’s CEO and MD, says the practice embodies the core element of the MindTree brand—a set of values they call C.L.A.S.S. (caring, learning, achieving, sharing and social responsibility). “We believe in personifying the brand and the values that our company stands for. If our visitors can sense the culture of the company right there standing in the hallway, then it directly connects the visitors or consumers to our core values,” explains Krishnakumar.

Beyond enabling the touch and feel of the brand, and stamping its essence on visitors, innovative ideas like these can be powerful tools for creatively using every touch point to gain more customers.

Hidesign, the leather accessories brand, is based in idyllic Puducherry. Knowing that many of its visitors are also tourists in the area, Hidesign has worked out two detailed tours. First, is an exposure to the step-by-step process of how their hand-crafted products namely handbags, wallets, belts, are actually made. Every visitor is then taken on a tour around their green factory which has been built using mud-baked bricks from the factory site itself. This unique visitor culture helps the brand show-off its main attributes—attention to detail, an eco-conscious ethos and a creativity that isn’t mass-produced.

“A visitor immediately identifies the work area with the brand, with its beautiful natural surroundings and the great raw brick architecture of Ray Meeker. The visit into the work area shows the passion that drives Hidesign, the painstaking step-by-step craftsmanship that creates a great bag,” says Dilip Kapur, the company’s founder.

These methods can also help establish a differentiation from other players in the industry. After the BP oil spill last year, an oil major simulated a mandatory security drill for all its visitors.

Beyond talking to potential customers, these rituals can also serve as a fantastic tool for employee buy-in. Hyderbad-based Electronic Arts, an interactive entertainment software company, promotes visitor engagement with their Game Room which houses consoles like the Microsoft XBox, Sony PlayStation, Nintendo Wii and even a regular pool table. It also doubles up as a team-building exercise. Often, employees are encouraged to make use of these facilities. The Game Room energises a visitor, as much as it helps employees come up with new ideas, especially in the collective sessions they have. Ideas for several cool games developed by the company came from these gaming interactions.

According to marketing experts, a well thought-out soft branding exercise will have a positive 360 degree impact on the company—right from how the CEO conducts himself or herself, to the understanding of the company by those who make up the lowest HR level. In a competitive, talent-strapped economy, passing on your values can lead to huge benefits for any company. “Informal branding or other such creative company cultures offer distraction, softness and differentiation to a brand’s existence which is very important,” adds Bijoor. It creates a work environment that encourages open thinking and a free flow of ideas.

It also humanises the company. For example, a company which offers apples to visitors at its reception desk makes them feel truly welcomed, not like well-handled or managed traffic. “Making offices like living rooms is nothing but social changes getting reflected in official practices,” explains Anand Halve, co-founder of Chlorophyll, a brand and communication consultancy. It establishes a rare visual and emotional connect.

Despite the advantages, companies must consider these initiatives properly before running with them. There is a danger of over-reaching. “Companies should stick to one specific cause. Efforts must be made to build that up so that people can associate with your brand for long,” says MindTree’s Natarajan. The joy of living and imagining is the biggest takeaway at MindTree. The company logo, campus tours and the art gallery are all in sync with that goal, he adds.

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