Clients have evolved, and brands need to follow their motives for interaction or they risk loss of revenue and loyalty. This requires brands to truly understand their target audience and empathise with their (unspoken) needs. In this keynote, senior brand strategist Stef Verbeeck zooms in on the myths we all believe about our clients, and how to deal with the challenges facing marketeers today. His philosophy: by focussing on authentic experiences, brands can win crowds and grow successful easier than ever.

1. Authentic customer
experiences are the
new branding

2. Hi there!
brand strategist
author
speaker
@stefverbeeck

3. State of branding today
1

4. times have changed

5. 40.000 brand messages a day

6. 84% of millennials
don’t trust advertising

7. adblock usage grew 31% in 2016

8. 42% of consumers
don’t trust brand stories

9. 5 years
4 months
3 years
5 months

10. evolution in branding and marketing

11. USP
unique selling proposition

13. ESP
emotional selling proposition

15. XSP
experiential selling proposition

16. “Creating experiences
is the new branding.”
Brian Solis

17. Brian is right, you know

18. is more willing to buy
from brands with an
emotional experience
52%

19. is likely to spend more
on brands with excellent
customer experiences
86%

20. has renounced buying
intentions because of
poor customer
experience
89%

21. expect brands to invest
more in their brand
experience
87%

22. and yet…

23. almost no brands are truly
focused on customer experience

24. Boards prefer quick wins
in efficiency, campaigns
and internal processes

25. “For 30 years, we forgot we
had clients at all.”
Bernd Bosch, CEO belux

26. this mediocricy leads to loss of clients

27. Myths about your clients
2

28. clients are rational beings
brand myth

29. spoiler alert: they’re not

30. clients are idiots

34. • 5GB hard drive
• 2inch 160 x 128 pixels screen
• Firewire connector
• 10 hours of battery capacity
• 170 grams heavy
• Supports MP3, WAV, AIFF
• Price of $399

35. “It’s a thousand songs in
your pocket”

36. “blah blah blah blah”
every brand ever

37. “what’s in it for me?”
every clientever

38. smart brands speak in emotions

43. people don’t buy
products and services

44. they buy emotions
from brands they like

45. rational loss of money
<
emotional win from purchase
=
SOLD

46. auto pilot pilot
reflectionperception intuitionINPUT
DECISION
EMOTION RATIO

47. this is the same for B2B brands

48. we know what clients want
brand myth

49. spoiler alert: you don’t

50. “If I had asked people what
they wanted, they would
have said faster horses.”
Henry Ford

53. “we want it!”
(but we won’t buy it)

54. how aware are you of their
customer journey?

56. take away their frustrations

57. Efteling created an exit
experience for visitors

58. listen and co-create

59. IKEA embraced the concept
of IKEA hacking

60. be part of their world

61. Coolblue knows how to
create fans during delivery

62. great CX is in the small things

63. “True brand experience
is in the details of every
interaction.”
Denise Lee Yohn

64. technology will set us free
brand myth

65. spoiler alert: it won’t

66. buzz word competition

69. trends will come and go

70. authenticity eats technology
for breakfast

71. Hema supported Gay Pride
with a limited product line

72. human interaction always wins

73. Telenet visited 30.000
families and businesses

74. innovation should benefit the client

75. Amazon Go allows for
shopping without cash or cues

76. technology should
disrupt for the better

77. Combell offers free 24/7
support for even small clients

78. become your own client

79. Becoming an authentic brand
3

80. aim for true customer centricity

81. forget B2B/B2C, the future is H2H

82. offer an emotional motivation

83. technology/media are just tools

84. everyone is responsible

85. offer an experience to remember

86. “People will forget what
you said and what you
did. But they will never
forget how you made
them feel.”
Maya Angelou

87. talk to us about your brand
check our work at pavlovbranding.be
set up a meeting at hello@pvlv.be