How Westfield used digital to draw customers back into the physical realm
By Andrew Birmingham
Republished from Which-50's Irregular Insight's newsletter. Subscribe today
"Does it always have to be digital?" That's a question that comes up a lot in marketing according to Michaela Brockstedt, president of Brandsavvy.buzz and a former VP of marketing at Westfield in the US where she lead the in house design agency called Westfield Design Studio.
"The short answer is no," she says, adding that the key is to understand the strength of the various marketing vehicles you have at your disposal.
Brockstedt is speaking at next week's Global Marketing and Advertising Forum* in Sydney and Which-50 caught up with her in advance of her presentation.
"There's a long list of digital customer touch points and there is a long list of analogue customer touch points. The most successful campaigns are those that manage to knit those two things together so that you can leverage both the strength of the technologist and the artisan."
Brockstedt has first hand experience of how powerful this combination can be. During her time at Westfield, she and her team built a unique campaign for a new shopping centre in La Jolla California at the University Town Centre that turned a familiar digital idea into a real world physical experience.
The campaign involved building a 'real' Pinterest board which contained information and prizes from local merchants and which looped back to the real online experience of Pinterest – as well another digital channels like Facebook.
"One of the things that you do when you go shopping in a shopping centre is that you window shop. And one of the thing you do on Pinterest is you Window shop virtually."
The campaign was a reaction to this idea that you have to make everything digital, said Brockstedt. "How do we stick it in a iPod, how do we get it in a smart phone. We wanted to flip that on its ear."
(Image source: KitchenKonfidence.com)
"The key to it is, 'what is your emotional response at the end of the day?' One of the things from a digital perspective is that you are at a distinct disadvantage. You don't have the same ability as you do in the real world to use a physical experience to effect how someone feels."
"But it's when you can create something offline that elicits a lasting emotional response that can then be shared online – that is the little Medici effect that makes it powerful."
According to Brockstedt, we are at a point in the world where technology is basically a given. "You can't get away from it unless you really go off the grid," she says.
One of the downsides of digital is the recognition that despite all the connectivity, people say they often feel more lonely and isolated.
"However, I think there is a shift now where it's no longer about digital creating the environment that keeps you isolated but instead it is about finding ways to allow digital to facilitate the opposite. How does digital actually bring us together as people."
"We should look for things that allow us to draw each other back out of the digital realm into the connected physical realm - and then to celebrate that online again. It's powerful this idea - that there is an emotional currency that people want to share."
That's the most powerful kind of content according to Brockstedt.
"When you can provide that and facilitate that, then you win."
Which-50 has partnered with ADMA to bring you a series of exclusive interviews with leading data science thinkers around the world. If you missed them, here are links to some of the interviews:
- Jean-Paul Isson, Global VP of BI & Predictive Analytics, Monster, Canada
- Minakshi Srivastava, Vice President, Bank of America, USA
- Greta Roberts, CEO, Talent Analytics, USA
Isson, Srivastava and Roberts will all be visiting Sydney to present at the ADMA BI & Analytics Lab Conference on 30 July. The ADMA BI & Analytics Lab is part of ADMA Global Forum, the largest, global, data-driven marketing, media and advertising event for the Asia Pacific, held over the week of 28-30 July.
As part of our partnership, Which-50 has been able to secure a special 2-for-1 rate for our readers! To get this Which-50 bonus, all you need to do is visit www.admaforum.com.au, enter discount code WHICH50 and register two people. If you have a bigger team, you can email the team at ADMA and they’ll help you process group bookings!
Which-50 will be there. We look forward to seeing you there too.
For smart insights and analysis around digital disruption visit Which-50.com and subscribe to our Irregular Insights newsletter. Andrew Birmingham is the editor and publisher of Which-50.