aQlog
Currently in Heathrow flying to Brussels after a wonderful day of tramping around London. Visited the Globe Theatre for the first time. Fabulous and working theatre that is the product of American actor Sam Wannamaker’s hard work and fundraising determination to rebuild . Altho he died before the reconstruction was finished his vision and passion propelled the dream forward. Our tour guide, Simon, was a superb brand ambassador for not just the Globe but for the theatre world. Knowledgeable and personable. Simon shared his passion with a group of 20 “guests” to the birthplace of Shakespeare’s plays. Even though we were all at different levels of insight and information concerning the Bard and his plays, Simon created a performance that resonated with all of his audience…..or dare I say “customers”.
Simon was not acting…..but he was performing. He took his responsibility of treating our group to a memorable and pleasurable customer experience. He was authentic and he was rewarded at the end of tour with a warm and extended round of applause. Simon seemed to beam with pleasure at the recognition and appreciation.
As we slowly drifted away from our new friend , I noticed that the other group that had started at the same time we had, had silently dispersed. We had crossed paths (they toured clockwise, we went counterclockwise) with them several times during our 40 minute experience. They seemed bored, or detached, or unhappy. Some seemed all of the above. I also noticed that their guide, let’s call her Carly, appeared tired, distracted or somewhat mechanical. She seemed to be speaking in a monotone. Likely a recipient of the same “training or scripting”.as our man Simon, she was clearly interpreting her “role” differently. There was no round of applause from her group as they broke up.
Maybe tomorrow Simon will have an off-day, and Carly will be a star performer. I don’t know. What I do know is that my experience was better than I expected and I will refer others to the Globe.
Positive word of mouth or word of modem after rewarding customer experiences is still the best branding method available in effective integrated communications.
Now we are being paged to Brussels flight. Off to Antwerp to do a presentation entitled “ Getting Whole Brain Branding Right”.
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