brand nirvana

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Karmarama, part of Accenture Interactive, is the UK’s most progressive creative agency.

We combine creative excellence with technology-inspired solutions to help brands better engage with people.

We’re proud to be one of the most effective agencies in the UK winning the DMA Grand Prix for the last two successive years, and we’re the highest ranked creative agency in The Sunday Times Best 100 Companies to Work For again this year.

The c u s t o m e r

is dead.

Long live the human being.

Have you noticed that the world is obsessed with the customer?

The customer is always right. The customer

is king. Customer service. Customer journey.

Customer-centricity. And, of course, “the

customer experience”, any self-respecting

company’s number one priority.

It all comes from a good place. Every company’s

trying to do its best for the people who buy

its products, use its services and consume its

content. But perhaps everyone’s got it wrong.

Perhaps this relentless focus on the c-word has

lost sight of what’s behind it – a human.

There’s a famous saying that if a person talked

to you in the way advertising does, you’d punch

them in the face. Rather than smile and brush

this sentiment off, it’s worth considering what’s

behind it: people don’t necessarily want to be

spoken to like a “customer” – they want to be

engaged with as the living, breathing, well-

rounded human beings they are.

This is where things can start to go wrong in

the communication and marketing industries.

Reducing a target audience to the term

“customer” strongly influences the way brand

custodians behave. Nowadays, few relationships

with brands exist solely in the moment of

consumption. Only thinking, talking and

pursuing people as the transaction they might

make, as faceless figures with credit cards and

pound signs over their heads, means brands will

only ever be sellers and the audience will only

ever be buyers.

We’re missing a trick here. These people are

so much more than “buyers”. They have full

and active lives, of which they’re only spending

money for a small percentage of time. Yet this

is where brands choose to spend the majority of

their communication budgets.

The rest of the time the audience is participating

in culture and feeling human emotions, such as

love and excitement at best, and frustration and

anxiety at worst. If brands can speak directly to

these moments – with insight and empathy –

they can become more than sellers and start to

play a meaningful role in their audiences’ lives.

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Imagine, then, if we all started seeing and

empathising with “customers” as human

beings and equipping brands with more human

characteristics? There’s a very simple way to do

this: upgrade “customer experience” to “human

experience”, switching out “CX” for “HX”. This

simple move can open up a completely new

way of communicating.

But it doesn’t stop there. Once you’ve reset

the way you refer to your target audience, you

can start to think about how this will affect the

way you behave. What does a “human-centric”

brand look like? What kinds of things does it do?

Where and how is it distributed and who does it

partner with?

We have long embraced this kind of thinking at

Karmarama. So we’ve decided to test it out to

find the true value of treating people as humans

rather than customers and distil tangible steps

to do so.

With a little help from our friends at Accenture

Research, we’ve made an interesting discovery:

brands that demonstrate more human-like

behaviours and treat their audience more like

humans than customers create such strong

emotional bonds with people that they become

irreplaceable. This is a highly preferred necessity

that people desire, often irrationally, and are

even willing to forgive when things go wrong.

However, our research also shows that many

brands and businesses still aren’t getting it right,

with a significant number of people still feeling

like they are being treated transactionally rather

than cared about as a person.

As we’ll see, it doesn’t have to be this way.

Through a variety of research techniques, we

have identified the eight steps necessary to

get to a more empathetic, near transcendental

state that we’ve called “Brand Nirvana”.

So if you’re ready to come with us, we’ll guide

you through these steps to enlightenment so

you can elevate your thinking, your brand and its

performance… because the customer is dead, so

long live the human being.

In a world dominated by technology, and with an abundance

of choice and diminishing trust in business, brands need to

work harder than ever to earn loyalty and create a valuable

bond with people.

It is no easy task, so our research set out to break down the

challenge for brands and offer a solution. At the heart of this

lies a mindset change – a change that can help brands create

deeper emotional connections, surpassing expectations and

eventually reaching a state we call Brand Nirvana.

Executive summary

50% 50% D R I V E R S F O R P U R C H A S I N G D E C I S I O N S

Emotional drivers Practical drivers

32%

1st 1st

2nd 2nd

78% T H E N E X T G E N E R A T I O N W A N T S D E E P E R R E L A T I O N S H I P S W I T H B R A N D S :

T H E M O S T E F F E C T I V E B R A N D C U S T O D I A N S V A L U E A M O R E H U M A N E X P E R I E N C E :

T O P - R A N K E D E M O T I O N A L D R I V E R S T O P - R A N K E D P R A C T I C A L D R I V E R S

of marketers who have successfully shown a return on CX investment cited treating customers as humans as the biggest opportunity for improving brand experience, compared with 22% of all marketers.

of millennials actively engage with brands, compared with 68% of Gen X and 54% of boomers.

Product / Service quality

Positive experience across channels

Value for money

Being treated as a human, not a customer

Engaging with people as humans has clear commercial benefits

Our analysis suggests that the average person

plans to increase spend with a brand they have

recently purchased by 9% over the next

12 months.

This rises to 56% for those who are the most

engaged and loyal.

Tellingly, these people are more likely to value

emotional drivers such as “being regularly

surprised in a good way” and “being proud to

be a customer”.

Done well, HX can lead to Brand Nirvana. Our

research has helped us to identify eight steps

at the heart of HX – the path to Brand Nirvana.

By treating customers as humans, with empathy

and understanding, brands can create strong

emotional bonds with their audiences. Instead of

CX, we call this HX – human experience.

This suggests that engaging with customers as

humans offers a spend premium of up to 47%.

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Steps to

Brand Nirvana...

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The story so far Dishearteningly, our research has found that

brands are falling short when it comes to key

HX indicators. We surveyed 2,000 people

about the top three brands they buy from

most regularly.

Only 19%

Only 19%

Only 19%

Only 13%

agree that brands engage and influence their life beyond products and services

agree that brands care about them as people, not simply customers

say they feel generously rewarded for their loyalty

believe brands actively encourage complaints to improve products and services

Only 19%

Only 19%

Only 27%

Only 30%feel brand employees strive to give them the best possible experience

agree that every interaction with the brands is excellent

choose to buy from these brands without considering others

say they’re interested when brands bring out new products – whatever they are

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Once upon a time…

…it all seemed so easy: create a product that

was better than the competition, brand it well,

sell it at a competitive price and watch the

money come in.

Now, the rules of business have changed.

At a time when 69 of the world’s 100 biggest

economies are corporations, the public is

scrutinising the behaviour of companies in a

way they haven’t before – expecting more and

punishing those deemed to be unsatisfactory.

Our research found that 71% of people care about

the impact a brand can have on them and on

society – above and beyond their products and

services. This rises to 78% and 79% for millennials

and post-millennials, suggesting that this trend is

set to grow in importance for future generations.

But it would seem that business is not doing too

well. Public trust in business is at an all-time

low. The latest results of Edelman’s annual trust

barometer show that in the UK, only 43% of the

population would say they trust business. For

the younger generation, this is even lower at

38% – a worrying stat considering the increased

importance this audience puts on brand behaviour.

Over the past decade, it has largely been

the behaviour of financial institutions in the

spotlight, getting a public battering in the fallout

from the financial crisis. But now all eyes have

turned towards Silicon Valley. Tech companies

have historically been seen as “the good guys”

– knights in shining armour, using innovation

to connect people, giving them the freedom to

share their stories and democratising the use

of technology.

But recent scandals around the misuse of

people’s data, combined with cybersecurity

concerns have had a wide-reaching domino

effect, toppling people’s confidence in the safety

of what they share online and in the honesty

at play when tech companies talk about their

altruistic intentions.

This matters because trust is important.

It’s the foundation of any strong brand.

It encourages the adoption of innovative

products and services.

It creates loyalty and it encourages people to

make purchases again and again.

The advertising industry has not escaped the

effects of this. Last year, Phil Smith, Director

General of advertising trade body ISBA,

commented that the public thinks less of

advertisers than it does bankers. Some of the

home truths buried in this statement centred

around the over-reliance on the techniques of

digital advertising. If you’d punch someone for

speaking to you in the way adverts do, you’d call

the police if someone stalked you the way ads

do online.

According to the latest report from Ipsos Global

Trends, 82% of people believe online ads get in

the way of what they’re doing. If you’re thinking

about success as clicks, then sure, relentless

online advertising is a win. But the truth is,

we should be thinking about the very human

emotion that these ads are evoking – annoyance.

That’s not success in anyone’s book.

One of the results of the sometimes blunt

targeting of online adverts has been the

meteoric rise of ad blockers. According to the

same study, 47% of Britons claim to use them.

In a bid to create efficiencies and extract value

from every interaction with people, we’ve

created a disconnect. We’re not offering people

rewarding interactions, but ones that strip

brands of humanity, empathy and authenticity.

This is the human experience gap in action.

In this new environment, brands need to

radically rethink the real-world relationships

they’re building with the public. A renewed

humanity is important, even if it involves

losing some of the efficiencies that technology

has enabled.

“Marketers have embraced technology that

identifies the stimuli to optimise transactions,”

says Alex Schlaubitz, VP Marketing, Lufthansa.

“The focus on customer data has diminished

the role of creative storytelling. However, as

marketers, we should prioritise building lasting,

trust-based relationships – even if this means

walking away from a concrete sale.”

It’s true that these are uncertain times in which

to be a brand, but there is a way to rise above

this groundswell of distrust.

By speaking people’s language, showing that we understand their experiences – good and bad – we can build up the trust we may have lost and start to close the human experience gap.

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People buy brands for all sorts of different reasons.

The ones that tend to come to mind are quite

practical, such as product performance or price.

After all, when you voice it aloud, it makes more

sense to buy something based on tangible benefits.

But there are also a range of emotional factors

at play in any decision. In fact, our research

found a perfect balance between the two – with

people ranking practical considerations as 50%

of the reason for buying a brand, with 50% owing

to emotional drivers, such as being “regularly

surprised in a good way” and “being proud to be

a customer”.

Emotions are important. This hasn’t escaped clients

– those we spoke to rate emotional reasons even

higher at 66%. The challenge is in activating this

knowledge and creating positive emotional bonds

with people.

It’s the successful combination of these rational

and emotional reasons to buy that can help brands

embed themselves into the unconscious mind,

becoming the preference.

“Brands exist as a series of memories – experiences

that build associations in people’s brains,” says

Charlie Hiscocks, former Global Director of Brand

Communications, SABMiller.

“The role of marketing is to create alignment

between what is in consumers’ brains with what you

would like to have in consumers’ brains. We want to

be front of mind with the right set of associations

because a lot of choice is subconscious.”

But finding the right way to balance these two

drivers can be a challenge, as is figuring out how

they interact with each other.

It’s not hard to be more human

Humans need to feel as well as know that something is worth buying or interacting with.

There are four things to consider:

People’s brand experiences are connected, so thinking and action must be too

The balance of emotional versus rational drivers

can be viewed as a form of infinite loop – we call

it the Karmic Loop – where every experience

a person has of a brand interacts with every

other experience they have of it. Good or bad,

every experience is connected, everything is

consequential. Again, a bit like how we interact

with each other – we remember the good people

and want to be with them more, but we also

remember the bad and want to be with them less.

When we asked people to give a value to a

range of emotional drivers, they pointed to

“I have the same positive experience with

a brand whether online or in-store” as the

most influential. Understandably, they want a

seamless experience and it seems now there’s

an increased expectation that, regardless of

whether this experience is in different locations,

on different platforms or with different

technology, it really should be connected.

Connected ExperiencesCulture Consumption

Connected experiences consist of three major elements

Connecting these experiences is essential to

ensure people have a consistent, smooth and

expected series of interactions. We’ve broken

this down into three simple elements that we

refer to as the three Cs: Consumption of a

brand’s products or service; search and

purchase within the Category; and the role the

brand plays in Culture.

It’s the connection of the three Cs that helps

create more human-like experiences that flow

across all elements seamlessly because it better

represents how people genuinely experience

brands in the real world.

No brand is ever experienced in isolation – it’s

always in the context of one or more of the

three Cs. This connection, therefore, creates a

series of more human-like behaviours that act as

a powerful bond between brand and those that

engage with it.

Connected ExperiencesCulture Consumption

Category

Brands must think and act like humans too

The basics of the human experience are

straightforward and obvious when we think

about people’s needs to have a more balanced

functional and emotional experience.

Our research found that the second most

influential emotional driver was “a brand treats

me like a human, not a customer.”

Despite this, we found that when we asked

marketers which innovations or practices would

have more influence on improving the brand

experience, behavioural economics came bottom

with 19%, while enhanced payment technologies

shot to the top with 57%.

Think more human: viewing people as humans

rather than customers allows the brand to extend

into a bigger role in their lives. It helps them

to think beyond selling and to create deeper,

more emotional bonds that make the brand

experiences more meaningful and desirable.

Be more human: the more a brand can act with

the emotional intelligence of a human rather

than the transactional behaviour of a seller, the

greater the opportunity to resonate with people.

Acting with empathy allows you to adapt to all

the different aspects of the brand experience

across the three Cs.

When a truly human experience is created, the brand has reached nirvana

This is where the bond created by the

human experience can drive brand preference

as well as sales performance, while helping

to safeguard the brand from the impact of

negative experiences. It’s based on the

following insights:

A

A brand that behaves more emotionally,

empathetically and with positive cultural

resonance will be preferred over more

transactional, functional brands. In turn,

preference builds long-term loyalty and

lifetime value.

B

If this is communicated and acted out in a

fully connected way, the brand will be able

to deliver practical information, experiences

and sales in a more balanced manner, driving

performance and efficiencies.

C

A brand that delivers on these points will

create goodwill. If there is enough of this

positive emotional feeling towards it, when

things do go wrong (as inevitably they

occasionally do), people will be quicker to

forgive. We call this the Bank of Karma – if

you’ve got a healthy balance, you will be

able to handle the odd expensive shock.

This is clearly an enviable position for any brand

to be in – to become the preferred, the default,

the only one. Many brands may believe they

are already there, but our research suggests

differently. When we asked people whether

they choose to buy familiar brands without even

considering others, only 19% agreed.

Given the hyper-competitiveness of all markets,

it’s essential for brands to establish the type

of preference. Through our research we have

identified eight steps a brand can take to reach

this nirvana-like preference position, which will

ultimately help them build a healthy balance in

the Bank of Karma along the way. We’ll explore

these in the next chapter.

F E A T U R E D C O M M E N T

Mike Baxter, Product and Content Lead at Goal Atlas

The transcendental power of surprise and delight

Marketers need to deconstruct how purchase

decisions are made. Consumers often find it very

hard to distinguish between brands. The trouble

is, marketers think everything can be solved by

an algorithm – but that’s superficial. Instead, they

need to tap into emotional cues if they are to

nudge consumers towards their brand.

We know quite a lot about the impact experiences

make in people’s minds. There’s something called

the peak-end rule, which states that we don’t

remember all brand experiences as a nice cross-

sectional average. Rather, we filter out the worst,

the best or the last and give them undue emphasis.

Many brands manipulate this bit of human

psychology to great effect. For example, one of

the top-rated hotels on TripAdvisor in Los Angeles

is not a brand you’d expect but an unremarkable

apartment block called the Magic Castle Hotel.

Rather than spending millions doing it up, they’ve

worked smarter: a red telephone next to the pool

is answered by someone saying,

“This is the popsicle hotline!” and you get a delivery of ice lollies.

It’s an out-of-the-ordinary experience, delivered

at low cost but with high value. It dominates

people’s memories – overpowering the bland or

the disappointing ones.

Some brands do this very well and reach a

position of almost untouchable preference.

To benefit from this thinking, brands need to

consider what small things they could do that

won’t transform the bottom line in costs – but will

delight and surprise people. And this comes back

to considering the human experience of people

who come across a brand.

For example, if you’re an airline and you see

someone with stroppy children trying to get

through the airport quickly, give their kids a lolly,

and they don’t care that you fly planes, they love

you – whatever you do. You’re interacting with

them as a human being – taking a human problem

and solving it in a simple yet effective way.

This surprise and delight moment will be the

dominant memory and will encourage forgiveness

for any mistakes made in fulfilling other needs.

Shortcomings can be overridden by delighting

with some small pleasure.

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We’ve explored the need for brands to take a more human, connected

approach, balancing practical and emotional benefits with equal measure.

By delivering joined-up experiences and engaging with people in a way

that empathises and speaks to their lives beyond “buying” mode, we can

create a special bond that builds preference and drives performance.

This allows brands to reach an almost altered state, whereby they come

to dominate their category and build long-term loyalty, so that even when

they make a mistake, they have built up enough goodwill with people that

they are easily forgiven. This is a state we call Brand Nirvana.

We know that this requires a change of mindset from the brand. Thinking

about its target audience not as customers, but as humans. But how does

it work beyond that? What are the steps a brand needs to consider to

reach this transcendental level?

Through research that asked people about their best and worst brand

experiences, and conversations with brand custodians about where

experience succeeds and where it fails, we’ve been able to identity eight

steps to help embrace human experience thinking and action, which

ultimately lead to Brand Nirvana.

1. Human Purpose

2. Enlightened Employees

3. Connected Creativity

4. Reciprocal Relationships

5. Committed Service

6. Diversified Distribution

7. Continuous Innovation

8. Full Transcendence

Eight Steps to Brand Nirvana

S T E P O N E – H U M A N P U R P OS E

The new opportunity for brands is to deliver a greater sense of purpose within the heart of the experience itself

Human Purpose

The concept of giving a brand a sense of

purpose is now commonplace. People are

increasingly looking to brands to have a

deeper meaning beyond positioning or selling,

as confirmed by our research, which found

that an average of 73% of people care about

the impact of brands above and beyond their

products. By blending profits with purpose,

it’s possible to give people another reason to

buy – aligning to what they believe in or giving

something back to society to create goodwill.

However, it’s easy for a brand to have a purpose

that is worthy and self-serving – too much about

client ego and too much of a leap of credibility

for what the brand genuinely is or does.

The new opportunity for brands is to deliver a

greater sense of purpose within the heart of the

experience itself.

This is the key distinction between brand

purpose – which is rapidly becoming a hygiene

factor in marketing circles – and human

purpose, where the brand seeks to involve,

share and encourage people to share in

their purpose. A human purpose is about the

heightened experience a person can have with

the brand, not the heightened experience the

brand wishes to play for its own gain.

A distinct human purpose provides a more

significant role for a brand to play in people’s

lives, where it can solve bigger, more profound

problems. It is the foundation upon which every

other aspect of the experience is formed and

allows the brand to be seen as genuinely helpful

and necessary.

While awareness of this important step is

increasing, our research found that only 19% of

people feel their favourite brands care about

them as humans, not simply as customers.

Human purpose in action

Our research highlighted some strong performers

in human purpose – brands that people feel go

beyond merely providing a service and give them

closer access to something they really believe in.

The Co-operative Group was often referred to,

with its community-led status and investment

decisions cited as a clear symbol of the brand’s

integrity. Importantly, this strength of conviction

and purpose has been able to shield the brand

when things have gone wrong.

“Their ethical policy is second to none. They don’t invest any of their money in arms or in anything unethical, and that means a lot to me. I’d rather my money went to something good. I have stuck with the Co-operative Bank despite recent difficulties that they’ve had and I will continue to do so.”

“I like the idea that it’s a co-operative and the members, including myself, get some sort of slight loyalty bonus. Also, they do give money to the local community and they tend to be in locations where other shops aren’t, so they serve a need for those people who can’t really get to a large supermarket. They’ve got my loyalty.”

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Case Studyfirst direct: the human face of banking

first direct always takes pride in its human

interaction, principally through its famously

responsive and empathetic staff. A recent

relaunch saw it commit to a purpose that offers a

younger generation of savers the opportunity to

“live a life less ordinary”.

By understanding its savers better and

recognising their need for unparalleled levels

of banking flexibility to assist them in their

unpredictable lives, first direct has created a

strong bond with a new generation.

Fundamental to this is seeing beyond the

customer, referring to this new generation as

“makers”, celebrating them, respecting them and

searching for every possible way to serve their

needs better.

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A company must carry its values and purpose internally as well as externally. If a brand says one thing in public but acts a very different way in private, this can create a disconnect that people will pick up on

Enlightened Employees

It’s also missing an opportunity. Carrying brand

meaning “behind the line” can galvanise employees

and ensure they understand and are committed to

the bigger brand ambitions. This allows them to

form a partnership with the buyer where they can

proactively deliver the best experience possible.

They become a living embodiment of what the

brand stands for and are able to act quickly

and intuitively.

Disappointingly, our research found that only

30% of people feel employees of their favourite

brands constantly strive to give them the best

possible experience.

Part of this is also about carrying human purpose

from the top down. If the most senior managers

have not bought into the values and how to best

deliver these, or at the very least act as a sponsor

for them, it can be difficult to realise the potential

this has for the company.

Our research found that, while some companies

are achieving this, there are still some that

struggle. A quarter of respondents told us their

senior management buy into the broad concept of

“purpose”, but don’t communicate this to the rest

of the organisation. The same total again suggested

that their business prioritises profitability over

customer lifetime value, and 20% told us that

each department has its own agenda.

With no clear employee alignment, it’s difficult to

realise objectives.

Enlightened employees in actionOur research indicated that an aligned and

empowered workforce expresses itself in

two ways. Firstly, there’s the way employees

are treated as human beings rather than an

exploitable workforce. With employee working

conditions and rights such a newsworthy

topic, generosity or decency towards them

is recognised and appreciated.

Secondly, there’s the way that employees

really understand the purpose of the brand

they represent and its role in delivering a more

human service. Empowering employees to act

in moments of need, or simply to surprise and

delight, is the stuff of legendary service.

“I would sign up to Arthouse cinemas again. It’s a true independent cinema and it pays the London minimum wage – not something that’s done throughout the cinema chains in London. I think that’s really something that’s worth supporting.”

“I phoned up Tesco’s customer services to complain about my Clubcards – the points weren’t accruing on one card. When they investigated, they actually discovered that a large number of my points had expired. As a goodwill gesture for their error, they refunded those points and I was very surprised by that. The lady that dealt with me was very professional, very caring, understood my concerns and resolved my problem. Tesco is a great brand and I thoroughly recommend them.”

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“I’m quite loyal to John Lewis because I feel you’re treated specially. There are plenty of staff to talk to and if you’ve got a problem, they’ll be able to find what you’re looking for in store. But they also offer a little bit more with really good guarantees on their products. I think it’s a case of good old-fashioned customer service – that’s why I’m loyal to them.”

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Case Studyao.com: more purpose through more care

ao.com is a successful online business famed for its

service and efficiency. At the heart of this is a desire

to care more for the people that buy from it, as seen

in a desire to always deliver with “super-human

endeavour”.

At every point of contact with its audience, ao.com

searches for ways to empathise, solve problems and

deliver solutions. ao.com has incentivised staff to

go the extra mile and call centre staff have freedom

to do anything they think is “fair and reasonable” to

resolve issues when they arise. “Our rule is that you

treat every customer as if they were your gran and

fix how you would for her.”

Call centre staff are empowered with the freedom

to despatch a new product the same day a

customer calls up with a complaint and can send a

bunch of flowers without any barriers for approval.

The result of this committed workforce can be

seen in a five-star Trustpilot score with an 89%

“excellent” rating.

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It’s essential for any brand to have a fully connected experience, where every action or reaction is seamlessly integrated with the next. This ensures that wherever anyone experiences the brand, it’s always consistent, matches their expectations and can be relied upon

Connected Creativity

There is clearly work to be done here, but

having a powerful, creative platform and an

organising thought at the centre of these

experiences ensures this consistency. It helps

to develop stronger emotional bonds, ensures

expectations are met and means experiences

and feedback loops are seamless rather

than disjointed.

Every touch point, whether that’s advertising

or the interactions people have with staff,

needs to be consistent. This helps the brand

to look strong, trustworthy and genuine.

And it’s possible to further reinforce these

emotional bonds through the creation of

behaviours or experiences that are designed

to be as distinct or as memorable as possible.

“For a brand like ours, product experience is key,”

explains Ben Carter, UK Marketing Director, Just Eat.

“It’s about building more empathy and personality

into the transaction.

“We take time to consider possible pain points across

the order process and address these as best we can.

For example, we understand that not knowing when

the food is going to arrive, or whether there has been

a hold-up, can cause anxiety – so we’ve created a way

to get regular updates and track where drivers are.”

Only 27% of people we spoke to agreed that every interaction with their favourite brands is excellent – whenever and wherever these touch points happen.

“Besides the quality products of Apple, I actually think the newsletters and stuff they send to me is really good and helpful. They’re very informative, they let me know what is happening with the products, what new deals there are and what sort of things they have in the pipeline for the future.”

Connected creativity in action

From our research, we’ve seen that when multiple

touch points work together to reinforce a brand’s

human values, they create a multiplier effect and

a consistency of expectation and experience.

People feel comfortable and safe using products

and services and are encouraged to come back

time and time again.

Apple is a master of connection, with a seamless

expression of its design, service and innovation

across all its channels. Similarly, Amazon excels at giving a fully connected

experience, based around its pursuit of efficiency and

delivery of what people want, when they want it.

“I like to shop online with Amazon for certain products. It’s really nice to be able to read all the reviews and get people’s feedback, and the delivery is really fast and efficient. I’ve got Amazon Prime, so I don’t have to pay for next-day delivery. It’s also divergent with videos and TV series that you can watch through your subscription.”

V O X P O P

V O X P O P

Plusnet provides broadband, mobile and TV

services in a tough and competitive environment

where constant price-cutting and switching are

the norm. To ensure it stands out, is memorable

and distinctive, it employs a connected creative

idea that is “all around care”. It’s a connected idea

that has helped to bring consistency to all that the

brand does.

Using the charm and straightforwardness of its

Yorkshire location and personnel, it ensures every

touch point subscribes to one tone, one idea

and one purpose. With a commitment to “do you

proud”, this connectivity has delivered sales, loyalty

and numerous service awards.

Case StudyPlusnet: from Yorkshire with love

S T E P F O U R – R E C I P R O C A L R E L A T I O N S H I P S

We’ve already explored the power in creating a

genuine and distinct brand with an aligned and

motivated workforce. Done well, this often helps

to create a different kind of relationship with

people, a mutually beneficial exchange based

on two-way interaction.

This comes from both the delivery of the brand

promise and some additional form of reciprocity,

where the brand rewards interaction in some way.

This reward can be emotional, in how the brand

delivers on a wider human purpose or how it

seeks to surprise and delight, often unexpectedly.

Alternatively, it can be more tangible through

improved understanding of needs or payback for

attention, engagement and loyalty.

In turn, people return this reward with greater

levels of engagement, advocacy and ultimately

preference and loyalty. Reciprocity can also play

an important role in overcoming post-purchase

dissonance, where people sometimes feel some

form of buyer’s remorse, especially with high-price

items or first purchases.

Despite the benefits, it seems brands that

achieve this are few and far between.

Extending the brand experience beyond

consumption, where a person enters into a

brand’s fuller experience ecosystem and

feels more involved, helps to create benefit

reinforcement and a sense of kinship.

Reciprocal Relationships

Only 19% of people we spoke to feel their favourite brands generously reward them for their loyalty.

Our research showed that when reciprocity

works well, at its heart is the creation of a two-

way relationship where brand and people interact,

often in a “we do, you do” manner. This quid pro

quo is often simply how we’d expect a relationship

or friendship to happen in the real world.

Reciprocity can also be expressed as an enhanced

service, where people feel like they are getting

more than they bargained for – an additional set

of benefits.

Reciprocal relationships in action

“I’ve been very loyal to a brand called King of Shaves. I’ve always enjoyed their products and I used to do little things for the company. For example, they asked if we could take photographs of the displays in certain stores and, after doing that, we got some of their products for free. Ever since then, I’ve really liked the company.”

V O X P O P

“I’m very loyal to O2. It is brilliant and has great customer service. I get lots of perks, like O2 Rewards, which I’ve used in the past and will continue to use. I really like O2 and it’s different to other brands and I probably wouldn’t consider swapping for a long time.”

V O X P O P

Spotify: rewarding regular users with added extras

Case Study

Spotify is a regular on “most innovative companies” lists

and features highly on NetBase’s most-loved media brand

ranking. The Swedish company has become a leading name

in the music industry, making a variety of artists available

to audiences and legitimising music streaming. But beyond

offering almost unlimited access to a huge catalogue of music,

Spotify offers its users a range of additional services.

The Daily Mix and Discover Weekly services offer bespoke

playlists based on your previous listening habits. The more a

person listens, the smarter the algorithm gets – introducing

new music that suits his or her taste. Most recently, Spotify

has added Fresh Finds and Release Radar – putting new

artists and releases into people’s playlists. The added value

created by Spotify has helped it to gain some 70 million paying

subscribers by early 2018 – up from 30 million in 2016.

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Committed Service

Our research found that only 19% of people feel their favourite brands actively encourage complaints as a way to improve their products and services

A measure of how human-centric a brand is can be

found in its reaction to complaints. Social media

has given people a platform on which to broadcast

their grievances. This could, and should, be viewed

as an opportunity rather than an issue. A platform

for a complaint quickly becomes a platform for a

brand’s timely, human and understanding response.

If there’s an opportunity for humour, this can turn

a short conversation into a “surprise and delight”

moment.

However, our research found that only 19%

of people feel their favourite brands actively

encourage complaints as a way to improve

their products and services.

While all brand experiences have an ambition

to be positive, both brands and experiences are

fallible. Handled well, the seamless switch from

a negative to a positive experience can make

an even longer-lasting impression than an

unremarkable but problem-free brand interaction.

This often requires a move into more of a service

mindset, especially for product-centric businesses.

Key to this is employees reacting better and faster

to people’s needs.

Younger generations are more likely to be

influenced by a complaint resolution. Our research

has found that millennials and post-millennials are

almost twice as likely as older generations to make

complaints about brands they have bought from

(23% vs. 12%). However, these younger people are

also more likely to be satisfied with the response

they get (89% vs. 77%).

This is especially important when thinking about

data and the use of artificial intelligence to deal

with the unpredictability of human behaviour,

where there’s as much chance of getting it wrong

as there is of getting it right. If something goes

wrong, the more human, empathetic and

understanding a brand can be, the better – often

automated responses do more harm than good.

The speed of response, apology, atonement or

resolution is critical to ensure continued loyalty.

Committed service in action

“I have a really positive experience of using Apple products and services and I’ve always received excellent customer service. It has great aftercare and that’s something that makes me more inclined to feel loyalty to a brand and to use it over and over again. I just feel like a valued customer.”

“I was delayed for over three hours and EasyJet’s representatives made me aware that I was entitled to compensation for the delay of my flight. They facilitated it, and they paid out incredibly quickly. I was very, very surprised that they were as efficient as that.”

Stories of service, usually above and beyond what

was expected, were the most referred to reasons

for intense loyalty and bonding amongst our

interviewees. These fall into two clear dimensions:

when great service delivers against your expectations,

and when great service intervenes when something

goes wrong. With some brands, such is the loyalty

that, even when they fail or are the more expensive

option, people find ways to forgive.

V O X P O P

V O X P O P

When Sir Ralph Norris took the reins at Air New

Zealand in 2002, the airline was struggling. The

New Zealand government had been forced to take an

80% controlling stake along with providing a sizeable

rescue package. But Sir Ralph’s people-centric

leadership and strategy kick-started the airline’s

turnaround – it’s now one of the top-performing

airlines in the world and has been voted best airline

5 years running. Sir Ralph switched the airline’s

thinking from “we fly planes” to “we fly people”.

From the entertaining safety announcements

featuring The Lord of the Rings characters, to the

newly appointed chatbot Oscar, who answers 75%

of complaints and queries, often with a song and a

joke, the airline has examined each and every touch

point and added Kiwi humour and personality to

each – including customer service. The airline has

recently been voted Australia’s favourite brand (yes,

in Australia, not just New Zealand).

Case StudyAir New Zealand: people-centric transformation

S T E P S I X – D I V E R S I F I E D D I S T R I B U T I ON

Diversified Distribution

When and where people experience a brand can have a big impact on how much they consider it a part of their lives. Once the fundamentals of the experience are being delivered consistently, it’s possible to explore ways to present the brand outside of the category and the traditional buying journey

By taking the brands and the experience deeper into

culture and people’s lives, it’s possible to find new and

sometimes unexpected entry points. These entry points

can then be used to help widen physical or mental

availability through partnerships – broadening the

experience and keeping the brand ever-present and

top of mind.

According to our research, this isn’t really happening.

Only 22% of marketers cite “partnerships that bring

customers new experiences” as an investment priority

– and it shows. A disheartening 13% of the people we

spoke to agreed that their favourite brands engage with

them and influence their lives beyond the products and

services they provide.

This isn’t impossible to achieve. Clever, strategic

partnerships can carry a brand name into completely

different fields, building on purpose and reaching

people in surprising ways.

Another way to achieve this is to create a new product

that builds on the brand and takes it into a different

category. A powerful way to do this is by moving from

a service to a product or vice versa.

Diversified distribution in action

Our research indicates that once someone has

bought into a particular product from a brand,

they’re more likely to buy more from its range,

often being pleasantly surprised to find new and

unexpected products. Loyalty can carry across

a line, creating multiple touch points.

“I think the brand I’m most loyal to is Tesco because I go on a weekly basis. There are large supermarkets, but also the Tesco Express supermarkets that you find next to a garage or just on the high street. It also has an app, so I can actually pay conveniently and quickly. In addition to the own-brand products, which are very reasonably priced, it rewards me for my loyalty in many ways and that’s why I stay.”

V O X P O P

Case StudyJust Eat: connecting people to food everywhere

Just Eat has always believed in making food discovery

as exciting as possible. A big part of that is constantly

searching for new ways for people to experience and

interact with the brand – whether that’s being among

the first to embrace new technology, or simply using

conspicuous and consistent advertising to make it clear

where and when people can enjoy the Just Eat service.

As Ben Carter, UK Marketing Director of Just Eat says,

“It’s important for us to be where our customers are.

That’s why we’ve made our services available on the likes

of Amazon Alexa and Google Home. We’re making the

customer journey as seamless as possible.”

Surrounding hungry people with more ways to

connect with and experience Just Eat has proved

successful – the business took its 400 millionth

order in the UK in April 2018.

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T E P S E V E N – C O N T I N U OU S I N N O V A T I O N

Continuous Innovation

A human-centric approach can help a brand identify new ways to engage with its audience and reinforce its role in their lives through new ideas and manifestations of its core benefit

How many ways can a product or service be improved to

make it more helpful, useful and enjoyable? As people’s

needs change, their relationship with a category changes;

as cultural shifts occur, brands need to be agile and open

to evolution.

By constantly improving its performance, or seeking out

new ways to offer solutions, the brand will create more

opportunities to bond with people, reinforcing their

understanding and appreciation of it. But we found that

only 23% of marketers identify “co-creation of products

or services with customers” as an opportunity to improve

the brand experience.

People like to see innovation. It helps to confirm that

they’ve chosen a dynamic brand with a dedication to

creating the best possible product. These brands use

innovation to create market leadership in their category,

with the innovations often becoming the new industry

standard over time.

Continuous innovation in action

Of all the brands mentioned in our research

investigation, when it came to innovation, Apple was

frequently referred to, often with huge admiration and

awe for the momentum around new ideas.

Apple keeps a large and loyal audience constantly

excited through the promise of improvements and

innovations that allow people to access new services

and technology in a reassuring and familiar way.

Giving people access to new features and technology

is a recurring theme for brand success.

Innovation that can appeal to new or wider audiences

is especially appreciated.

“I’ve been buying Apple for well over 10 years now. Apart from the quality of the products, I think they have got the ability to innovate, think outside the box, challenge the status quo. For example, fingerprint recognition is a great innovation.”

“We just got the new Samsung washing machine. It’s very expensive, but you can control it from your smartphone – it’s quite amazing. It even has a self-clean function, so looks after itself.”

“I thought Nintendo Labo – a construction kit for cardboard – was actually a great idea, as it gets adults, as well as children, looking at how to be creative. I think it’s a really inventive and different thing for a computer company to do and it definitely made me more likely to consider them as a brand and made me more likely to use them in the future.”

V O X P O P

V O X P O P

V O X P O P

The Guardian has been a fearless innovator throughout

its near 200-year history. It was the first newspaper to

appoint a readers’ editor and, in 1995, was one of the

first to launch an online publication, which was the UK’s

most popular newspaper site by 2001.

In 2011, The Guardian announced plans to become a

digital-first organisation, placing open journalism on

the web at the heart of its strategy. Since then, it has

expanded its publishing across every major digital

platform. 2018 saw it reinvent itself yet again – moving

into a tabloid format, offering convenience without

compromising on its integrity.

Despite its main competitors constantly discounting,

The Guardian has always held its cover price, stayed true

to its principles and has recently launched a membership

model, allowing its readers to contribute whatever they

like to continue to support independent journalism.

Around 600,000 readers have taken this up, making

either one-off donations or recurring payments.

Case StudyThe Guardian: two centuries of reinvention

S T E P E I G H T – F U L L T R A N S C E N D E N C E

B R A N D N I R VA

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Full Transcendence

A fully humanised experience means that a brand has now become far more empathetic, attentive and responsive, moving on from obsessing about itself to obsessing about people...

It now thinks less about “me” or “I” and far more about

“we”, having invited the people inside its circle of

influence. These brands have transcended the fixedness

of their products or the conventions of their categories

and are freely able to offer new products, services and

experiences to their increasing audience of admirers.

When a brand is able to deliver a consistently

connected, more human experience, with a deep set of

positive experience credits, it elevates to a higher plane

where the bond people have with it has the potential to

transcend logic, price and sometimes even the delivery

of its promise.

This bond can be viewed as:

Irrational – people will buy it as a default without

considering others

Irreplaceable – people will choose to buy nothing else if their

preferred is unavailable

Irresistible – people consume more, engage more or even pay more

than they need.

All of this adds up to a form of nirvana, where the brand is revered and even forgiven for its occasional fallibilities.

During the course of research, we discovered that

when brands really get it right and act with great

humanity, they were talked about and referred to in

markedly different ways.

Brands that reach the transcendent stage inspire

complete loyalty. Users don’t mind paying a little bit

extra, because they see the benefit in quality and

believe it’s money worth spending.

The most fascinating examples are where brands

have failed in some way and are forgiven. This can

often be because of great service, but sometimes

it’s an irrational affection for the brand that

maintains the loyalty.

But the most transcendent brand of all, and the

most consistently referred to in our study for

outstanding service, innovation and connectivity,

is Apple, which, even when something goes wrong,

still appears to be the preferred option.

Full transcendence in action

“I’ve had a Mac computer for quite a few years now, and I’ve always found that the customer service offered by Apple is excellent. I can go to the Apple store either locally or anywhere in the world and the staff are always very willing to help. The products are well-designed and very easy to use. They’re not the cheapest, I have to say, but sometimes you have to pay for the quality.”

V O X P O P

“Since getting my iPhone in 2009, I’ve purchased various other Apple products like iPods and laptops and I am always going back to this brand because of the quality of the service. When my Apple laptop died, there was no question about it that I would get another one from them. So, I think it makes you feel a little bit part of the club and it’s the brand I trust. And sometimes it’s simply the positive feeling that owning something from the brand gives you.”

“One product I’m really loyal to is Apple and it’s not just because of the quality of the services. Nowadays, the likes of Samsung are offering products that you could say were even better. But there’s just something about Apple that’s made me remain loyal. When you have an Apple product in your hand, there’s a sort of feeling about it – you just feel good using the product and being part of it.”

V O X P O P V O X P O P

IKEA is one of the world’s most successful retailers.

The 75-year-old Swedish flatpack pioneer has remained

true to its purpose “to create better everyday life for

the many people” by making great household design

affordable to almost any budget. IKEA’s brand attributes

are low price, sustainability, form, function and quality

– elements which perfectly balance practical and

emotional drivers.

The brand has clear sustainability targets, which

include increasing its use of renewable energy (most

shops have solar panels on roofs), sales of sustainable

life products and sustainable supply chains. As well

as embracing environmental issues, IKEA places huge

value on innovation, constantly creating new products

and services, and investing in innovation through its

SPACE10 lab in Copenhagen.

Case StudyIKEA: finding its way into home and hearts

When it comes to engagement, the “IKEA effect”

describes the impact of building the furniture at home

– because the brand requires such intense involvement

from the people who are buying it, it creates stronger

memories and affection towards the products.

Behind the line, the retailer is also renowned for its

non-bureaucratic company culture, inspired by founder

Ingvar Kamprad – enthusiasm, togetherness and

willpower are central to IKEA as a workplace.

The combination of these elements has worked well to

create a truly transcendent brand – IKEA is listed on a

huge number of global brand rankings. It has over 350

stores around the world and grew sales by 4% last year

– an impressive figure against a backdrop of declining

retail sales.

F E A T U R E D C O M M E N T

Sara Bennison, CMO, Nationwide Building Society

Understanding the DNA of our brand creates our point of difference

By digging into our history, our values and the very

DNA of what makes Nationwide, it’s clear that the

sense of community and mutual support is very

much at the heart of what we do and what we are.

It runs through how others see us and how we

see ourselves too, underpinning the often-lively

conversations face-to-face in a branch, or a

seamless transaction on the mobile app while on

the move. The reason we were founded – to help

people help other people for everyone’s mutual

benefit – and our original purpose, shapes what

we do today.

It’s really important that we are not seen as a

bank, we are a building society. There’s a big

difference. We have members, not just customers,

who use our services. While our members are

interacting with us more digitally, they do still

value and need humanity, whether that is

delivered directly through the fabulous humans

who work in our front line or through the way in

which we design our digital services of the future.

You start by putting the human, the member,

first, then use new technology to work in pursuit

of providing better services. This is the way to

maintain trust and reputation rather than turning

us all into the slaves of technology.

The experience and enthusiasm of those who work

for us makes them the perfect ambassadors for the

brand. We support our people to feel empowered,

engaging with members on a personal level to

make a difference – one small example is providing

stamps so they can send handwritten letters to

members congratulating them on a new job.

If you know your customers as people, and

understand the human experiences that underpin

your brand, there are always ways to surprise

and delight them at different moments in their

lives. So, when one of our graduates had the idea

of sending freshers’ survival packs for university

starters, we took a bit of money from our social

media budget to pay for it. The result was pretty

impressive; we had fantastic organic tweets and

posts from the students, who really appreciated

an original, personal touch.

The key words customers use now are the same

as they have always been – trust, service, value.

However, the way that they define those words

has changed. They no longer simply trust us just

with their money; they need to trust us with their

data. They no longer expect great service just to

be defined by a smile in a branch during opening

hours – they demand speediness and the

certainty of 24/7 availability. And they certainly

no longer see value as just being about a rate or

an incentive. They need to see how we can make

their money work as hard for them as possible.

The important thing for any brand is to remain

constant in its values and focus on its customers,

maintaining what defines the company. Alongside

that, being open to change and innovation will

harness new possibilities, as customers look for

change that will help them, both now and into

the future.

The Karmic Bank Balance

As we’ve seen, human purpose allows brands to deliver

a balance of practical and emotional experiences,

offering more profound, more “human-like” interactions,

which people tend to connect with more powerfully.

On the one hand, it’s all common sense – when an

experience is a positive one, the emotional association

will be positive; if it’s a negative experience, the emotional

association will be negative.

All evidence suggests that the more positive an emotion

a person has with something, the more they seek it out.

Applying this thinking to brands, therefore, makes a lot

of sense: a positive brand experience makes people more

likely to want to engage with it, buy into it as well as buy it,

recommend it and buy it again.

On the other hand, if it’s so obvious, why do so many

brands still fail on some of the most basic measures of

human interaction? While all brands aspire to be viewed

positively, the reality is that these experiences can often

let people down, usually due to a gap between promise

and delivery.

How positive human experiences can offset the bad

It’s possible that any promise gap can be

addressed by the volume of positive human

experiences a person has, essentially building

to a series of positive deposits or credits,

creating goodwill towards the brand.

These deposits can offset any negative

withdrawals or deficits when a brand experience

is poor. This credit-deficit model creates a

form of what we call the Karmic Bank Balance

– where any brand can have a measure of

positivity or negativity associated with it,

each balancing or unbalancing the other.

All of the steps we’ve outlined, which harness

the ideas behind HX in practical terms, can help

to build up credit in this balance and can elevate

a brand to a nirvana-like state of preference.

CO

NCL U S I O N

This is not an easy time to be a brand.

Or indeed a client for a brand. The complexity

of the world we’re operating in is increasing

at breakneck pace, expectations are growing

and unfortunately, public trust is at an all-time

low. But we believe there is a way to turn this

challenge into an opportunity.

The relationship between brands and people

is evolving, with more dialogue and touch

points opening up between the two. By viewing

customers more as humans and creating

connected experiences that speak to people’s

lives beyond buying, brands can interact with

them in a more meaningful way – creating

strong emotional bonds that transcend the

buying experience.

HX represents a simple change in mindset that

can have a transformative effect on a brand’s

performance – eventually leading to a kind of

Brand Nirvana. The eight individual steps we’ve

identified can help get brands to this altered

state of powerful preference.

As we’ve seen, in turn, this can help to create

a healthy Karmic Bank Balance – one that can

protect a brand when things go wrong, creating

a buffer of positive emotions that ensure people

forgive, not forget, their favourite brands.

The time to act is now. While technology brings

many benefits, it is also working against brands,

dehumanising their interactions and creating a

“human experience gap” that threatens to leave

people uninspired and unengaged. It’s not too

late to close this gap and harness HX thinking to

great effect – reaching Brand Nirvana and, with

it, a special place in people’s heart and minds.

If you want to hear more about HX, and how you could apply human experience thinking to your brand, or if you’re interested in evaluating your own Karmic Bank Balance – please do get in touch with us at: [email protected]

Thank you

karmarama.com

AppendixResearch MethodologyResearch and Discovery

Through our database of premium and

publicly available research, in-depth reviews

of all literature on the link between customer

experience and growth.

Industry Insights

In-depth interviews with academics and

marketing leads of major brands, including:

• Alex Schlaubitz, VP Marketing – Lufthansa

• David Wheldon, CMO – RBS

• Sara Bennison, CMO – Nationwide Building Society

• Geoff Seeley, Director, Global Marketing Connections

and Media Activation – Airbnb

• Ben Carter, UK Marketing Director – Just Eat

• Mike Baxter, Product and Content Lead, Goal Atlas

• Charlie Hiscocks, former Global Director of Brand

Comms – SABMiller

Online Quantitative / Vox pops

Consumer survey (n=1,000, April 2018)

• Each respondent had made a major purchase (pre-defined) across Retail;

leisure; hospitality; financial services in the last three months.

• Questions asked them to consider brand performance in the context of

this purchase.

• MaxDiff was used to build up a picture of the relative importance of each

purchase driver in the respondent’s mind.

Marketer survey (n=200, April 2018)

• Respondents spend between a third and all of their time on B2C marketing

activities at large UK companies.

• They were drawn primarily from financial services, retail and technology.

Consumer voxpops (n=114, May 2018)

• Respondents were asked to tell us about a brand they are loyal to and a

brand that recently surprised them.

Consumer omnibus (n=2,000, July 2018)

• Each was asked to respond to a series of eight questions relating to the

top three brands that they most regularly purchase products/services from.

Accenture Research

Accenture Research shapes trends and creates

data-driven insights about the most pressing

issues global organisations face. Combining the

power of innovative research techniques with a

deep understanding of our clients’ industries,

our team of 250 researchers and analysts spans

23 countries and publishes hundreds of reports,

articles and points of view every year.

Our thought-provoking research – supported by

proprietary data and partnerships with leading

organisations, such as MIT and Singularity –

guides our innovations and allows us to transform

theories and fresh ideas into real-world solutions

for our clients.

For more information, visit:

www.accenture.com/research

or contact Jim Clark / Dominic King.

Karm

aram

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London

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3HE

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brand nirvana

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