Are you looking after your brand ambassadors?

Firstly a definition: "A brand ambassador is an appointed representative of your brand that animates or brings to life your brand to your potential audience."

Brand ambassadors aren't merely promotional staff being paid a few dollars an hour to hand out samples. They are staff selected to represent the brand at the primary point of contact between your brand and the consumer. Whether this is at a tradestand, sampling in a train station or the check out person of your nearest supermarket they have a large influence on the perception of a brand.



Celebrities are often referred to as brand ambassadors however their main concern is not the profile of the brand. Celebrities accept endorsements either for the money or to increase their own profile or both. Whilst some celebrity endorsements can be very successful they have also been known to screw up on occassion, potentially damaging the brand.

Given that brand ambassadors can be so influential they should be shown respect and treated accordingly. By providing relevant training and explaining the brand objectives they will be better prepared to represent the brand. When given the correct tools they can have a very powerful and successful influence over the perception of the brand. If they don't meet the brand standards however they should be replaced immediately as you would with any other part of the marketing mix.

Supermarkets spend millions of dollars each year encouraging consumers to visit their stores. They publish weekly specials, discount vouchers and a raft of other initiatives to get consumers to buy from them yet the entire experience can be derailed by an unfriendly (perhaps untrained) check out person. Seriously, how hard is it to teach them to pack a bag? It is a frustration that could easily be eliminated and turned in to a positive experience.

What is experiential marketing?

Wikipedia defines experiential marketing as a marketing methodology that attempts to connect consumers with brands in personally relevant and memorable ways. Studies have shown that this approach is more memorable and builds better brand knowledge than any other form of marketing.

The brand experience is not defined by one particular marketing channel and in fact virtually any medium can be utilised as part of an experiential campaign. The key to a successful experiential campaign is that all touch points contribute to a positive user experience of the brand.

In order to be successful an experiential campaign has to be memorable and engaging and convey the brand message. To ensure this is the case an experiential campaign should be considered early in the brand planning process to ensure that the campaign not only complements other activity but is presented in a relevant environment. This may be a proprietary environment such as the V Festival to a sampling campaign to the relevant audience.

With the advent of social media and an increasingly media savvy public it is increasingly important for the health of a brand that all interaction provides a favourable opinion. Handing free product out at train stations isn't necessarily the soltuion.