As I mentioned in part un of this mini-series, Starhub did a stellar job from an "experience branding" perspective on the day I went to collect my new i-mode phone.
[Quick aside: "Experience branding" is the manner in which a company's service delivery reflects its brand positioning. Say your brand exudes "convenience". This is what your company's brand managers say the company stands for and what they want the consumer to think of when he thinks of your brand. Then your product or service has to reflect convenience as its defining characteristic. If not, you will confuse your customers, or worse, alienate them. It sounds simple but theory and practice are worlds apart. Take my experience with one of the world's largest banks, for example. This bank claims to be centred around the customer (I don't want to reveal the exact catchphrase) but my experience with them was quite different. Result: a broken brand promise.]
Coming back to Starhub, Starhub has positioned itself in recent times as a fun, youthful, innovative brand. (Before its current incarnation, Starhub was focused more on changing perceptions that its cellular coverage was not up to scratch, a perception that has still not gone away completely.) They reflected that brand positioning perfectly when I went to collect my new i-mode phone. How did they do it?
Most fundamentally, instead of making it a "transactional" experience where customers merely chose their phone, signed a contract, paid and walked off, Starhub turned the process into a fun event that encouraged customers to participate.
The event had three phone models on display, game show-style games and quizzes, and demos by i-mode content providers. The gorgeous Vivien Tan (of Mediacorp) walked about greeting customers, running the game show-style quiz and spouting the i-mode spiel. Then there were dozens of service reps milling about (easily outnumbering customers, in fact) offering helpful advice. Friendly, young boy-next-door types in their teens and early 20s, who knew their products well. The type you would expect to go to disinfect your computer after a virus attack. All very natural and unforced.
The upshot of it all was that Starhub's branding message would have been perfectly reinforced in any customer's mind. And this from what could have turned out to be a mere sign-up event. What better impact could any marketer hope for?
Great to learn about your positive feel on the entire programme. I also remembered about the quick service. I didn't have to wait for more than 20 min.
Posted by: imoder gia | Nov 16, 2005 at 08:41 PM