Brands like Abercrombie and Fitch and Topshop have made a conscious effort to recruit shop staff to reflect and deliver their brand values. Why then am I so bothered seeing, each night on my journey home, a gathering of Topshop’s young trendy ‘experiential marketing team’ hanging out at Oxford Circus all smoking whilst sporting a t-shirt with the brand proudly emblazoned on it?
One of the things I like about Topshop/man is that the staff working there reflect the style and target customers of the brand (OK, so I maybe pushing the upper age limit of being target market, but still). This may not register immediately with the average shopper when they’re making their purchase decisions, but I’ve no doubt that subconsciously they feel more comfortable about asking for assistance and shopping in locations where people who look like them work.
Essentially this means that Topshop’s retail assistants could be seen as their experiential marketing staff. They’re integral to the look and feel of the shop and delivering the brand experience to customers. Being a brand ambassador doesn’t start and finish within the four walls of London’s biggest shop however, it starts and finishes when the branded t-shirt is put on and taken off.
Smoking has taken on a pariah status amongst many today, me included. I have friends of both sexes and various ages who won’t date people purely on the basis that they smoke. If this is an important consideration for them in regards engaging in one type of relationship, it begs the question of how it affects them in building others too e.g. the relationship between the brand and customer.
While I don’t necessarily have the same strength of view as some of my friends on tobacco, seeing Topshop/man staff lounging about smoking and flicking their fag butts into the street does considerably take the gloss off my impression of the brand. Being involved in representing client brands myself, both individually and through experiential marketing staff I manage on a client’s behalf, I’m always extremely sensitive to the behaviours displayed at all times. I wonder what Sir Philip Green thinks?
By Malph Minns on October 2nd, 2008
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I couldn’t agree more with you Malph. When creating live brand experiences for brands like BA, Guinness, RBS and Aviva it is absolutely essential that the agency and promotional staff that are employed to bring the experience to life understand that each interaction between themselves and the consumer must represent the brand and its values – they are the face to the brand!