Brand Engagement: Our Favorite Brands Mirror Our Best Relationships

The most successful brands are focused on delivering personal experiences that build and strengthen relationships. Photo of the Waitrose Cookery School in London by Tim Soar, © Gensler.

Many of us have the same New Year’s resolution every year. After spending time with family and friends over the holidays, we make the same promise to ourselves—beyond X number of visits to the gym weekly, we tell ourselves that we must be better at nurturing our relationships in 20XX. It’s the realization that January 1st isn’t about new beginnings, but about building on what you’ve already created.

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Giving Thanks: A Brand Love Letter

Photo source: thecoveteur.com

Do your customers or clients love you enough to write you a love letter? Will they proclaim their love for you from the mountaintops? Congratulations if they will! This kind of emotional engagement equals loyalty and revenue for your brand.

Gensler’s 2013 Brand Engagement Survey polled over 2,800 US consumers and the results reveal that there are three keys to brand engagement. Achieve these three things and your customers will love you – really love you.

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Brand Engagement: Brand at Work

Mars Food Headquarters, Rancho Dominguez, California. Image © Gensler.

When you ask someone what their favorite brand is, they often respond with an answer that represents a product they’ve bought or a business they’ve patronized. Amazon, Starbucks, and Lowe’s are a few of my personal favorite retail brands that many participants also identified as their favorites in our 2013 Gensler Brand Engagement Survey.

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Brand Engagement: Involve Me and I Understand

Brands that involve customers in two-way conversation can spark emotion and engagement. Image © Gensler

One thing that’s clear from Gensler’s 2013 Brand Engagement survey: high-emotion consumers will have more connection to a brand than low-emotion consumers. And connection leads to commitment: 94% of survey respondents said they would recommend a favorite brand to friends and family, and more than half said they would be “devastated” if a favorite brand went away. But why do we have such strong emotions about brands? I thought about the old proverb, often used in the context of education: “Tell me, and I forget. Show me, and I remember. Involve me, and I understand.”

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Brand Engagement: Designing Experiences with Emotion

The ColorPlus store in Bangalore, India, breathes life into the culture and craftsmanship of the brand. Photo by Prasad Durga, © Gensler.

Engagement has become a big buzzword in the brand world. How is engagement defined? How is it measured? There can be many variables depending on who’s involved so these questions require some thought. At Gensler, we stay focused on the consumer, the end user – engagement is a very human word, after all. To me, the consumer is “engaged” when he feels like a brand truly understands him. The brand knows what that consumer needs and wants, and delivers on that. The moment when you realize someone understands you often comes as a surprise, and it’s that moment that can seal a solid relationship. Buzzword or not, this connection is critical for brands who want to stand out in our crowded world.

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