Why Customer Experiences Are Critical to 2024 Marketing Success
- In today’s rapidly changing media landscape, businesses must constantly innovate and find new ways to engage their target audiences to create lasting brand memories.
- Engaging experiences such as art exhibitions, music events, culinary experiences, and educational initiatives are helping create emotional connections, bringing customers and the brand closer together.
6:45
Kevin Huang, chief operating officer, SCMP and Jacqueline Choi, head of marketing, Prudential Hong Kong Limited.
[Morning Studio Feature]
In today’s rapidly changing media landscape, businesses are challenged to constantly innovate and find new ways to engage their target audiences to create lasting brand memories.
For brands to be successful in this endeavour, marketing teams must work closely together to create exceptional human experiences that connect emotionally with customers. This was one of the key messages that surfaced in the recent 2024 CMO Predictions Series produced by the South China Morning Post.
Human Connection
“In 2023, we focused on sharing authentic and true stories about our owners, horses, trainers, and jockeys to build emotional connections with our audiences. Can you imagine what courage it takes for a jockey to ride a horse, a 1,200-pound animal, at 77 kilometres per hour,” said Hanane Sabri, head of racing marketing at the Hong Kong Jockey Club (HKJC).
Sabri draws on her own experiences leading the marketing efforts at HKJC to brand horse racing as a lifestyle and professional sport.
She believes that trusted and authentic storytelling complemented by engaging experiences such as music events, culinary experiences, and educational initiatives have all helped bring customers and the brand closer together.
Experiential marketing is growing in importance. Cheuk Shum, head of marketing for Wealth and Personal Banking, HSBC Hong Kong, observed that traditional advertising streams such as outdoor displays and prime-time TV were taking more of a backseat because the media landscape had become more fragmented.
“In the past, when you launched a campaign, it was prime-time TV spots… and pretty much half of Hong Kong knows you launched something. You do the same today, barely anyone notices,” he contends.
Lasting Brand Memories
With engagement levels for ads at a low, marketers must focus instead on creating unforgettable experiences. Shum cites a recent HSBC exhibition on fraud, with 10,000 people visiting in the first week, with each person spending an average of 23 minutes at the exhibition. He said this trumped ads that only momentarily captured the audience's attention.
“We need to find something that has a much stronger impact, and that is something we will continue to do for next year – to create that positive brand association, create brand memory and carve out a message in a much more impactful manner,” Shum said.
Jacqueline Choi, head of marketing for Prudential Hong Kong Limited, couldn’t agree more. She shared Prudential’s role in bringing Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman’s Double Ducks to Hong Kong as a prime example of how the brand prioritises experience to bond with its customers.
Prudential pursued the opportunity to sponsor the ducks’ journey to Hong Kong thanks to a guiding principle of creating impactful events that engage people. Such experiential activities create an emotional affinity with the brand that people remember.
Watch the 2024 Marketing Predictions Series.
- Cecilia Chan, head of marketing and communications, Colliers Hong Kong
- Jacqueline Choi, head of marketing, Prudential Hong Kong
- Dr Winfried Daun, group head of advertising, brand strategy and media, UBS
- Hanane Sabri, head of racing marketing, Hong Kong Jockey Club (HKJC)
- Cheuk Shum, head of marketing, Wealth and Personal Banking, HSBC Hong Kong
