Imagineering

Imagineering: the whole new thing?

Samuel Bedrich*

A few days ago, I was presented with a document called “Imagineering: Engineering for imagination in the Emotion Economy”, written by Diane Nijs, from the NHTV Associate Professorship Imagineering.

In her text, the author discusses Imagineering as the new subject in marketing’s evolution, and through her work, she explains why we should expect some changes in the society.

INTRODUCTION

We live in a world full of paradoxes: the globe is becoming smaller thanks to internet; there is also growing concern for conservation, and the interest for human rights seems to be the shape of the future… but in the other side, an enormous and outrageous gap between the developed and the “emerging world” is showing no signs of reduction. On the contrary, the distances seem to be wider and wider[1]

When I think of this inequality, I do not imagine poor and rich countries, in the “north-south” known structure (“northern nations are the rich ones and southern ones are the poor”), but on the increasing distance in lifestyles, education possibilities and quality of life within a single nation[2].

I have always thought that all the marketing strategies are very interesting and useful, but in such a diverse world, they relate only to a small part of the society[3], since neither all of the world’s 6’000 million people are potential consumers, nor has “globalization” already reached the whole geography of our planet (happily, I would say). Moreover, some critics accuse, marketing is guilty (at least partially) for the consumerism, convincing people of buying things they don’t really need, instead of suggesting them to be concerned about their education or environment.

It is true however, (as the author points out), that: “Imagineering is an instrument similar to marketing. It may be employed for the realization of bad and good objectives”[4]. It is real too, that (less frequently) there is a socially responsible marketing. So if there is still some light at the end of the tunnel and we have the chance to shape a new world, maybe we should be more cautious with our responsibilities as marketers.


WHAT EXACTLY MEANS IMAGINEERING?

According to Diane Nijs, “Imagineering is the art of management to combine soul and professionalism into ‘inspiring’ business operations”.

Isn’t it what you have been trying to do with your enterprise all of your life? Well, yes…. and not. Let’s try to clarify.

In a sense, we could say that a good impresario is the one that sacrifices his life for his business, and convinces a few fellows to embark on this adventure, sharing his philosophy to create a recognized brand or company. There is, of course, a lot of “soul” in there.

Now, think of the customer: in the past, a client would go to a supermarket and buy a bottle of water because he knew it would extinguish his thirst. Quick business: you needed it, you picked it up.

But things change, a few years passed, and the same patron would come in to the superstore and find more and more brands. Which one to pick up? Designs started to change, appealing on the optical sense, later on the tactile… Today, when you take a look at the shelf and discover that there are as many water brands as fish in the ocean, well… you feel a bit lost and start asking yourself: “why should I pick that one instead of that other?” Ok, you got it… it’s time to recall that mom, in her last email, told you that you should help those poor kids in Africa. Unexpectedly, the label on that bottle reads: “$0.001 of the payment made on this product will go to starving communities in Ghana” That bottle has a soul!

Ok, perhaps my example is a bit rough on marketing (let’s then say $0.002), but well, the intention is to show you that Imagineering appeals principally on your emotions and experience (which we will explain a bit later). That is: you don’t purchase a product anymore because it satisfies your need, or due to its quality (those factors, today, are inseparable from any good), but because the company that produces it, has a “vision statement” that meets yours.

Did you support Lance Armstrong’s campaign against cancer because he had cancer? Many people do! You might have ended up contributing because of Lance’s himself, his image: the guy who never gives up, and overcomes misfortune.

Recently, several TV shows all over the world appeared: in Germany, one was called “Idols”, in Mexico “Alcanzar una estrella” (To reach for a star) and “La Academia” (The academy). All of them showed the “making of a star”: from the very beginning, until he/she reached national (and even international) popularity. TV fans could vote for their candidates, and also, through internet, post comments on what activities they wanted “new stars” to perform. They would really feel emotionally attached to the artist they “contributed” to create. (And, in the other side, “experienced” been an artist themselves, and “discovered” that the opportunity is given to anyone)

Really emotional, isn’t it? According to the article, 60% of the viewers in Germany followed the program.

Imagineering deals with a little bit more that this. One of the best examples is the famous Disneyland: a “vision statement or creative thought” made by someone (Walt Disney) and that many others have adopted: a fantastic land, a world of your own.

In the future, Nijs argues, Imagineering will deal with all the company: creating value for products, convincing the customer that they are not only communicating with machines or cold personnel, and above all, forging the perfect mix for the “emotion economy”: people + planet + profit.

AND HOW DID WE GET HERE?

For the author[5], there are certain factors that were mixed altogether to create this picture:

First of all, the economy has been experimenting changes. A few centuries ago, people lived in the agricultural era: most of products had a value because they were extracted or grown, thus giving them a price depending on the resources needed.

Then came the industrial era: labor costs and mass production were the most important, and everything had a value depending on the combination of factors. Up until this moment, we still bought physical produces, but after a few years, services appeared and started to elevate prices for non-traditional goods.

Finally, as we explained a few lines before, arouse the need to differentiate between competitors: quality was no more an advantage; neither service nor flexibility. What then? A little more interiorization: emotions (“feel the power”, “be part of this”, “fulfill your dream”) and sensations: most of marketing is now appealing to as many senses as possible, within a single moment.

Additionally, communication changed. As our diagrams explain, the way the information is shared, is extremely distinct. In the present, internet provides the possibility to have an atomized world, where information can come from all over the planet… provided you are “online”, of course.


Fig.1 Shows small communities (blue circles) with people (red circles) communicating among themselves and information going from one community to the other through word to mouth.


Fig.2 Shows mass media’s “ruling”: a single way message to people

Fig.3 Depicts an intercommunicated world, where media, internet and people intervene, still with an unequal power, but in a two ways information exchange


The result from the last diagram is that with the emergence of internet, showing your discomfort with someone or something has become easier: media broadcasts transformed itself from a one way channel (Mass media to Auditorium), to a real communication (real, because feedback is now a realizable thing). You can send an e-mail to Mr. Bush, Exxon or Naomi Klein expressing your opinion and emotions on certain subject. (It is clear that we still need Mr Bush to answer back, but, at least we can feel that we wrote and shared our concerns. Today, at least, less famous persons do worry about getting several e-mails per day- and respond them).

In fact, if internet hadn’t existed, disagreement protests would still have had been possible (let’s not forget history and Cartism in the UK, XIX century), but worldwide web has made it much more accessible[6] and, as Nijs says: “managers have to learn how to steer the “company” car…while closely watched by the Argus-eyed people, armed with every conceivable communication method”

Yes, we arrived to this point because of communication efficiency, and we came to so particular terms that not only have companies to struggle for the market share (the shelf space in the supermarket or the percentage of product sales in the market), but also for a share of customer’s “heart”. In different words: companies as a whole have to “match” with clients, accordingly to their beliefs, associating subjectivity to it: “responsible, honest, trustworthy, friendly, ecological…”

For the author, companies will need “…a split vision, simultaneously focusing on information and imagination, on reason and emotion…Experience and emotion taken together make up the latest form of competition strategy… not a single component in society will escape. Politics, religion, media, businesses, non-profit organizations, cities and destinations are seized at everywhere as if they were the last straws to clutch at in customer/guest relations".


IS IMAGINEERING REALLY DIFFERENT FROM THE OLD GOOD MARKETING?

One of the most famous marketing books is called “22 immutable laws of Marketing”, by Al Ries and Jack Trout. It was written in 1993. At the time of the first edition, the book was credited to be one of the best guides to business[7].

One of the marketing laws insisted that “Marketing is a battle of perceptions”. Believe or not, when we think about Imagineering, we are still talking about perceptions: emotions are subjective, and the more emotive is our product to the customer, the more he will perceive it as the most convenient.

Imagineering call us to be more touching with our clients and urge experiencing and emotion, Isn’t it what Marlboro has done for years? “Come where the flavor is”. The proposal appeals our senses: we see the cowboy in the Rocky Mountains, enjoying the “taste” of freedom; and the experience of “riding in the wild, “like in the old times”. Their advertising never tell us that the company is environmentally responsible, or that the British American Tobacco Company contributes with a given amount per purchase, to develop a lung cancer cure…and we still consume their products

Ok course, some products confront us to direct emotional stimulus: when we look at the advertising of an NGO such as “one.org”, we do get the sense of being “pulled” by the emotional aspect: we watch people who have made a difference in history: like the anonymous student in Tiananmen Square, back in 1989, or Gandhi. Later, the advertisement reads: “this is the power of one”. The organization invites you to participate in several programs, but it is not a product on sale. In this case, some people are willing to join just because they feel the NGO‘s rationale is equivalent to theirs.

It is right that, as the article points, the new economy has some particular characteristics: the developed world has arrived to an age of abundance, and when you cannot have just more of the same, you look for distinctions that nowadays can only be offered by emotionally-charged elements. As Nijs quotes Kell, “This new economy has three distinguishing features: it is global, favorably disposed towards immaterial objects and it is strongly interlinked”

For the same author, the main difference between marketing and Imagineering is that, in the first one, most decisions, and product creation is based on client’s views: through interviews, focus groups or surveys, while in the latter, it is the company who sets a main vision, regardless of client’s opinion.

In our belief, between those subjects, some things are dissimilar while the main themes prevail. For instance, added value means awarding an extra to the core product. In the past it was quality, then service and today in encompasses experience and emotion. As businesses become more and more specialized, it is clear that companies will need to keep thinking on finding ways to distinguish from their competitors, but in the end, we are still looking to grant “something else” to our customers.

Today, as yesterday, a product whose price-cost relation does not match your needs would hardly be considered as a good one and worth a repeated purchase.


SO, IS THIS STILL A BATTLE FOR CONSUMERS?

Well, yes. Morales[8] (an anthropologist) says that culture (no doubt we could apply it to Marketing) is like a fruit: soft, velvetish and sweet in the outside, but the interior is just like knocking on wood”…so this is not the discovering of America.

Imagineering, like Marketing is a matter of catching clients. It’s only that in this new era of information and technology we need to take into consideration that our senses are much more awaken, thus forcing strategists to offer a more sensorial relation with clients: not only visual, but, as we are seeing now, but listenable, touchable, tasteable and smellable.

People will want to “try” our product before purchasing it. If they like it, they will want to know more about who made it and, as the relation grows, be part of that “tribe” or “world” that we offer. But, watch out: if, at any given point of his experience, anything goes wrong or not accordingly with his emotions and feelings, he may abandon us…. and hundreds of competitors will be willing to welcome him.

As clients are aware and much communicated, there is no room for false promises: if you promised to be different, don’t act as if you were: be.


AND, HOW DO I COMPETE IN THIS EMOTION-ECONOMY?

Well, you guessed right, there are also rules, as in any marketing strategy. Nijs found 10 basic rules to help you make your way in this emotional world. Use them at your own risk.

1.

The “broad vision” or the “creative thought” occupies center stage. As we explained before, the main point of Imagineering is that the biz plan is based on the ideological starting principle of the organization, for instance, Disney’s “Family happiness as a social basis” In simple and plain words it could just mean “Why did you decide to start this business? C’mon… it’s not only because of money, huh?”

2.

A Company becomes a (subjective) personality. A living company. If you decided to go green and started an environmentally friendly company, please don’t go out in the street dumping cans of hamburger’s packages: you are the image! What about, again in simple words, “Get involved and preach with the example!”

3.

Everything has to communicate continuously. Technology has helped you to come closer to your customers: now, they want to scrutinize every step you take. You have to be in touch with them. Like a small kid, you have to tell them stories: with technology, you won’t need to do it yourself, what about a good “multimedia storytelling”, where you are able to appeal client’s emotions? Does the new verb “Blogging” says something to you?

4.

Not an ordinary story but a serial story. Dad didn’t tell you a single story! You have to keep telling. As Abilio Estévez[9] (a Cuban writer) says: “Why do people love to be lied at? Maybe because we are all representing again and again the Thousand Nights and a Night: every writer is a Sharazad, and every reader is the sultan Shariyar…” Indeed… the soap opera repeats itself over and over.

5.

Everyone, colleague- competitors and guests/customers, is invited to join. The author browses through the Harley Davidson’s experience: if you feel very related to the brand or company, you can contribute and be part of it, co-creating products and strategies The brand will grow stronger and convince more adepts. Let’s call it “The Linux strategy”

6.

It concerns an integrated approach, it affects all in one. Once that your company has its “broad vision”, everything that is created should gravitate around that core idea, from the physical appearance to the media; personal and social context. Let’s name it “The three musketeers’ concept”: one for all, all for one… and congruency is such a complicated thing!

7.

The physical context: everything has to be “right”…and where possible, all senses will be involved in the experience. Nijs’ example is very illustrative: “If a camp site chooses the broad vision ‘with more respect for man and nature’, the guests will evaluate everything, including any brochures and the swimming pool”…to name a few. It would be just like receiving your mother-in-law at home: she’ll check from tip to bottom.

8.

Socio-Ecological context. Yes, even if not all the customers do, there is a growing concern over this situation: clientele care. Perhaps much less about their own procedures than yours, but, well… you’re the one willing to sell.

9.

The media context. This is perhaps the segment where we have been undoubtedly perceiving changes: customers are annoyed of getting the same kind of advertising: everyone is zapping during commercials… media companies are being challenged by the audience; they need to find new ways to reach the client. SMS has been, until now, a good response, as well as small images during programs, but much more is needed: merchandising, new spaces like Germany’s Autostadt (autostadt.de) and multimedia communication.

10.

The personal context: play the game subjectively. Just as in the old marketing days: you have to innovate and break the rules! Two sentences describe best this “new” formula: “Nothing is written” (Lawrence from Arabia), and “The only thing I know is that I know nothing” (Socrates). CK Prahalad (One of the originators of Co-creation), notes Nijs, “believes in the ‘Chief Immagination Officer’, as the person who is responsible to remove any creative obstacles from the organization and to keep the passion burning”


AND…WHAT’S THE PLACE OF IMAGINEERING WITHIN TOURISM?

Tourism, by definition is one of the activities or products, where the customer gets fully involved in an experience: he stars his own film form the moment he boards the plane (or whatever transportation vehicle), and his senses will be completely alert during the entire trip. Every tourist has a need to escape from his reality, so, in that sense, tourism is like living your dream, but it still has limits.

If we were to apply the full concept of Imagineering to tourism, we should be more emotional and experimental (think of “The Game” –a film with Michael Douglas)[10], and perhaps even fictional (what about a virtual trip to the past, as in Bradbury’s “A sound of thunder”[11], or virtual reality travels… what would they be called? Virtourism?), but if we are to stick to reality, we could consider ameliorating consumer’s experiences, like feeling the rush of a game hunter with arrows and bows, or living the mystical ceremonies of indigenous people.

Apart from just emotions and experiences, Imagineering is needed to assure customer’s return, because even if places have a magic of their own, we cannot guarantee client’s comeback. Many tourists apply the basic schema of “been there, done that” and, in a world with so many travel possibilities, that is not helpful to ensure sustainability: that visitor might never revisit.

If we are able to touch tourist’s heart or motivate him to get involved in some kind of social relation, we will assure that he will come again. Call it sponsorship, school program support, friendship, love… you name it! Developing countries should be aware of this, since tourism is normally among their principal objectives for progress.


CONCLUSION

Marketing is an ever evolving activity. It is clear that in a developed world, where competition is fierce, and new technologies as well as new processes are discovered each day, there is a strong need to find new ways and alternatives to attract customers. New technologies have been of tremendous impact in the way companies and customers interact. Internet, above them all, is the generator of personal and immediate communication

As it was reflected at the beginning of the text, the strong disparity between the rich and the poor causes these marketing processes to be different from one country to the other, from one economic sector to the other. Just like in the product’s international life cycle, there is also an “Ideas and strategy’s life cycle”: what seems very modern in certain societies may be already useless in another reality; while Imagineering is the new marketing strategy for a market where abundance is common, for others, the need for quality products or good service hasn’t been satisfied…and this happens too within a single market, in different socio-economic segments.

The same lack of correspondence occurs with education level: inside a sole country, some people have passed only through elementary and secondary schools (a very large majority), while a very small minority have had access to graduate and postgraduate programs. It is clear that each of these groups understand communication, advertising, and marketing strategies, according to their own cultural background.

Involving emotions has been done for years, however, internet provides a much closer approach to people’s lives, thus making it more emotional, permissive and intrusive. Ethics have always existed in marketing and advertising (there are codes of conduct for almost any profession), and dealing with emotions encompasses a lot of moral principles, and it is exactly at this point where we should make a serious pause in order to reconsider marketing and Imagineering limits.

As the author points, experience means to surround customer with elements that will make a given product more enjoyable (she exemplifies with a cup of coffee: if you drank it in Venice, accompanied by a live music band, your senses would be caught up and perhaps you’d be interested in repeating the experience) AND paying more (in the example, for that simple beverage). But, when you include such an atmosphere, the problem remains on the ethics of it.

Of course, there is nothing wrong with Venice and the cup of coffee, but, what if you were in the Caribbean and, in order to make your experience more agreeable, the locals were kept behind a wired fence, and services like water or electricity, were provided only to your hotel, while residents lived in cabanas without them. Would it be fair to create an artificial world like this one? Are there some limits to Imagineering?

When you start dealing with profits through emotions, there must be a limit. It has been a common thing in the last few years, to present reality shows on TV. In European countries there are fixed schedules to transmit them, so that kids can’t see them, but in Latin America, rules are not respected and, as Hispanics are quite more emotive, those shows become a terrible influence on people’s behavior, mainly in the less protected groups (under educated, kids, teenagers).

Who decides, then, the limits to manipulation of emotions? If there is a social responsibility in the companies, shouldn’t it be reflected in those cases? If we are arriving to the conclusion that the only source of competitive advantage is emotion, we are getting to the limits or rationality. Just think of politics: does it mean that people will decide on candidates based uniquely on emotions?

We saw it already in Mexico, when rightist candidate’s strategy was designed on condemning leftists of being aggressive; we lived it also in Peru, where leftist candidate was accused of promoting militarism and violence; since US 9/11, Bush government has been exploiting citizen’s emotions to violate civil rights, prosecute innocent people and justify intrusions on foreign countries. How will the future deal with fear manipulation?

Nijs says that marketing creates products based on clients’ needs, while Imagineering generates them from the company’s main vision. I support the idea that every enterprise starts because someone has a vision. Where, if not, would be originality? As the firm evolves, comes the mixture: you have to start asking customers what else they want form your product in order to keep buying it. In the end, marketing, as well as Imagineering, is the activity of providing the customer with the experience, product, or service that he is willing (or dreaming) to get… AND pay.

When I see those advertisements where a stunning Barbie-like girl promotes a beauty product and she dresses like a princess in a castle-like house, in order to get ready for the prince-like guy that will take her out for diner, I remember Estévez sentence and recall to myself that marketing is the art of offering an invented world to someone who loves to believe that he can live in a fictitious world while, deep in his heart, he knows that this planet doesn’t exist.

The best marketers insist that the practice of this subject should be much more ethical, let’s hope that with Imagineering, through this interrelation created by internet, and the continuous increase on the quantity of people who cares about the environment, we will see a bit less of profit making marketing, and a bit more responsible one.

In the previous years, sustainability and development were seen as conflicting terms. Marketing’s central vision is to increase sales, while sustainability calls for responsible purchases and less consumerism, will we attain a “sustainable marketing”? It seems difficult to me: as long as we become more emotional and less rational, sustainability and equity will still be another utopia

NOTES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY

[1] Krugman, Paul. El Gran resquebrajamiento, co-edición Universidad de los Andes, Colombia, 2004
[2] Take for instance, Mexico, where, of the 105 milllion inhabitants, 28’569,473 have gone through some education, and only 8,43% -2’409,436- have a technical or university degree (Data from Mexico’s Education Ministry, 2000-2001 Figures have not shown a significant increase in the last 5 years)
[3] Paradoxally too, this small proportion is the one who owns mosto f the world’s wealth
[4] Page 29
[5] In this text, the author is Diane Nijs, while my own comments are written in first person.
[6] I would still insist that we should view things in their real context: in the developed world, internet access is very wide, while in countries like Peru, only 0,3% of the population (around 810,000 out of 27 million) have internet access.
[7] Time has passed and some people still think they did an excellent and perennial job, while others blame them of being too simplistic.
[8] Morales Sales, Edgar Las culturas latinoamericanas ante la Globalización, la Mundialización y las Integraciones Regionales Publisher in “Cuadernos de Investigación de la Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México”, Cuarta Época, No. 29, pp. 152-153
[9] Estévez, Abilio. Tuyo es el reino, 1997. Ed Tusquets (Colección Andanzas)
[10] The Game (film) Directed by David Fincher, 1997 (starred by Michael Douglas and Sean Penn)
[11] Bradbury, Ray A sound of a thunder. 1952, several editors

Samuel B. Morales G

Bachelor in International Negotiations, ITESM, 1997. Currently studying a Master Degree in Ecotourism, UNALM, Peru; http://andaryego.blogspot.com/