Sponsored by Singapore EDB:
Connecting people, businesses, and countries is a tall order. How do you do it?
What if you’re a country that wants to establish a brand image as an innovative, creative, and high-tech place for businesses to capitalize on opportunities to do business successfully in Asia?
That is exactly what Singapore’s Economic Development Board (EDB) wanted to do. With a goal to find a creative way to connect its business-friendly governance, access to talent, and innovative thinking to people and businesses around the world, it developed the Coffee Connector—a machine that brings people together to grab a cup of coffee and jumpstart conversations.
The Coffee Connector debuted at The Economist Big Rethink Conference in New York City last month and successfully connected more than 200 people. The video below shows what happened. The machine doesn’t start to work until it detects two people waiting to request coffee. Coffee drinkers enter information to get their cups of coffee and learn about each other in the process. They leave with a cup of coffee, a customized cup, and an opportunity to continue the conversation with a new connection, exchange business cards, and build a relationship that can open doors to career and business opportunities.
Take a look at the video below for the full story and see how the Singapore brand experience brings the concept of connecting the country’s innovation and and business opportunities to the world—two people at a time. How can you connect your business and brand’s promise to consumers? What kind of brand experience can you develop to emotionally connect your brand to consumers? Don’t be afraid to get creative. After all, if Singapore can do it with a coffee machine, you can do it, too. Think outside the box and push boundaries. Consider seemingly unrelated experiences and find ways to relate them to your brand and consumers.
The trick to developing successful brand experiences is to develop experiences that deliver something of value that also indirectly communicates the benefits of your brand to consumers. The key word in the previous sentence is indirectly. If you’re communicating benefits and other marketing messages to consumers, then the brand experience turns into a type of ad or promotional campaign that is far less likely to build connections and relationships that lead to purchases, brand loyalty, and word-of-mouth marketing.
Susan Gunelius
Susan Gunelius is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Women on Business. She is a 30-year veteran of the marketing field and has authored a dozen books about marketing, branding, and social media, including the highly popular Ultimate Guide to Email Marketing, 30-Minute Social Media Marketing, Content Marketing for Dummies, Blogging All-in-One for Dummies and Kick-ass Copywriting in 10 Easy Steps. Susan’s marketing-related content can be found on Entrepreneur.com, Forbes.com, MSNBC.com, BusinessWeek.com, and more. Susan is President & CEO of KeySplash Creative, Inc., a marketing communications company. She has worked in corporate marketing roles and through client relationships with AT&T, HSBC, Citibank, Intuit, The New York Times, Cox Communications, and many more large and small companies around the world. Susan also speaks about marketing, branding and social media at events around the world and is frequently interviewed by television, online, radio, and print media organizations about these topics. She holds an MBA in Management and Strategy and a Bachelor of Science degree in Marketing and is a Certified Professional Career Coach (CPCC).
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