Because progress cannot be halted, Steve Heyer CEO argues that companies have to be smart about the way they market themselves, always seeking new methods because new things are coming upon them. Such did he advocate ten years ago, and now people marvel to see how right he was. He delivered a keynote speech bearing this message to a group of 400 media, ad agency and entertainment executives during an “Advertising Age” conference in 2003.
Heyer is actually the CEO of one of the biggest hotel companies in the world. Heyer was already in this seat when he began to expound on his original message to marketers in 2003. He stated that his aim for the company was to have it market the experiences that could be had in the hotels instead of the quarters themselves.
Experiential value is of prime importance here. We deliver memories.” This is a complete change in perspective and approach, although the product and services did not change at all.
Another of the points he made was that businesses had to face a powerful trend towards customization in goods and services. The prediction, as we see now, came to pass. And this is most apparent in the computer and digital industries.
Nowadays, various businesses in media are in trouble because of the changes in technology. The development of applications capable of ripping sound from CDs, for instance, led to music producers suffering. Internet users indiscriminately downloaded the latest and most popular hits for free.
There was pandemonium in the song-production business, Heyer noted. The circumstances had changed, Heyer said, and so should the methods of distribution as well as reproduction. Heyer insisted that even those in television had to look out for how the new circumstances could affect them.
What Heyer advocated was the shift from emphasis on the item to emphasis on the experiences associated with it. In the interview explaining his marketing strategy for Starwood Hotels, he furthered explained that they are now a company engaged in distributing entertainment and unforgettable experiences. Their focus now is not anymore on the beautiful hotels with a total worth of billion dollars but on the opportunities to create memories.
Hence, the company has actually struck up a partnership with the Victoria's Secret brand in an effort to market the experience of being in a Starwood hotel (and watching a Victoria's Secret runway show, in this case). The Victoria's Secret shows command a good bit of attention, and only select guests of the hotels are allowed. Here we see the application of Heyer's concepts.
Heyer has not restrained from making critiques of Hollywood practices, like the meaningless appearance of brands in scenes. The CEO has spoken of it as a random, ill-advised technique. Heyer argues against the practice by calling it both a useless appendage to the plot as well as a useless tool for a business.
Steve Heyer CEO is someone who knows what he is doing: he even used to be chief of Coca Cola, one of the biggest businesses in the world. It was during his work then that he showed what he meant by smart and relevant brand appearance in a video shot. Heyer set Coke glasses on the judging table of a famous talent show on television.
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