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BRAND EXPERIENCE Innovation in brand experience: digital vs physical spaces
BRAND EXPERIENCE
By Matteo Melani
In today’s era, where internet has eliminated distances, and the knowledge base of consumers has grown compared to before, brand-experience is played on several fronts: from digital to marketing to physical spaces.
Samsung Store
Brand values don’t just provide information, but also convey emotions while simultaneously communicating clear messages to their targets. For example, Samsung, has made it possible for its user to take a virtual tour of its Milan store on its website. As for the in-person brand-experience, ReSignify Part One, an exhibition dedicated to the legendary fashion designer Valentino held in Shanghai last January, implemented many innovative methods of user involvement. It was in fact a real exhibition that was also delivered via n immersive multimedia journey that delved into the qualities that inspired Valentino’s creations at the turn of the twentieth century and the 2000s. Today, innovation has made it possible to embrace the brand-experience in both digital and physical spaces.
THE ONLINE BRAND EXPERIENCE: SAMSUNG AND SEPHORA CASE HISTORIES
In the digital world, it is essential to find new solutions involving the customer to communicate information, while attracting their interest and inviting engagement. Recently Samsung expanded the services available on its website to make the entire customer experience more functional. This latest initiative allows customers to take a virtual tour in the Samsung Smart Home, a technological showroom located inside the company’s Milan headquarters, to view available products in real time. “The personalization of the online pre-sales experience represents a fundamental choice criterion of the consumer, a consumer that increasingly demands more tailor-made consulting”, said Massimo
Bullo, Head of Digital Transformation of Samsung Electronics Italia.
In addition to virtual tours, Samsung also introduced Masterclass, online training presented by a Samsung expert explaining all the characteristics and features of the new Galaxy S2, optimizing its use for daily activities. Bullo added, “The personalized relationship together with the immediacy and accessibility of our products and our innovations, is the basis of the services that Samsung.com is able to offer consumers today, to engage them, involve them, and maximize satisfaction with the pre-purchase experience.” But the internet is also an entertainment channel capable of reaching a large audience making it ideal for launching new products. To promote the arrival in January of the Elodie x Sephora
collection, Sephora organized a digital streaming event on their site and Facebook page with different well-known artists, including the famous singer Elodie. The event started with an interview with Elodie by radio host Diego Passoni, and continued with a speech by Makeup artist Mr. Daniel, and ended with a performance by Elodie. This is a great example of how a brand-experience can be of high quality, even when it is virtual.
THE PHYSICAL DIMENSIONS OF THE BRAND-EXPERIENCE
Last January the Power of Station in Shanghai celebrated the Valentino among them, emphasizing the processes that led the fashion house to hold the prestige reached so far. Walking through the virtual corridors of the structure, the user could watch large screens with videos of cinematographic scenes or lights (especially red) which, when followed, led to the exhibition spaces. The light installations and the background music enhanced the values of the works on display, such as the studs from the Rockstud collection or the Rock`n Rose perfumes. In addition to being an artistic juxtaposition, the installations also functioned in radical opposition to the objects on display. It was a brandexperience in which Valentino’s creativity was viewed through other forms of art. The choice of Shanghai as its location was not made by chance. China, in addition to being the first country in the world returning to normal following the pandemic, is the home of rich young audiences like Millenials and Generation Z. Thanks to the architecture and technology of the city, Power Station is the perfect location for the event. As the organizers explained, the purpose of Valentino’s Re-Signify Part One was specifically to pay homage to the Italian genius in a context of rebirth, where the road chosen represents a way forward for the younger generation: a message of recovery for this 2021.
The lights of Re-Signify Part One collections that made the iconic fashion house famous around the world, with an exhibit contrasting the myth of the past and the functionality of innovation. In addition to Valentino’s dresses, the museum also exhibited artistic creations by Pierpaolo Piccioli, that dialogue
