Making the invisible, visible

How do brands stay present when their physical touchpoints disappear?

For most of branding's history, presence was physical. A brand lived in the things you could see and hold: the box on the shelf, the dish on the wall, the logo on thedoor. Visibility and value went hand in hand.

But some of the most powerful brands in the world are now barely visible at all. Visa sits invisibly behind the point of sale, yet touches nearly every transaction. Intel is inside almost everything, yet rarely front of mind. As products become more embedded, more digital and more ambient, a difficult question emerges for anyone building a brand: how do you stay relevant when the audience can no longer see you?

In this edition of our In Conversation series, NewTerritory's Director of Client Partnerships, Nadja Orwell, speaks with Jack Holloway at NewTerritory, the global design and brand experience studio with teams in London and Atlanta and deep experience across hospitality, rail, automotive and aviation. Together they explore what it means to make the invisible visible: how brands whose physical footprint is shrinking can retain meaning, memorability and a place in people's lives, even when there's nothing left to point at.

NO: Brands used to be defined by their physical presence, the box, the logo, the storefront. What's changing, and whyis "invisibility" suddenly a strategic problem rather than astrength?

JH: For a long time, physical presence was the brand. If you could point at it, you could brand it: the box, the dish,the door. Visibility, and often even tangibility, carried the most meaning.

What's changed is that so much of what we buy, and use has been embedded, digitised or subscribed. All of it working seamlessly in the background to help us run our lives. Whether its a set-top box being replacedby an app, a bank branch becoming an API, the iconic Yellow Pages becoming digitised.

None of that is a design failure, it's usually a better product. But it strips away the physical real estate brands used to lean on to say who they are.
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NO:  When you talk about "making the invisible visible," what do you actually mean? Is this about being seen more, or about being felt and remembered differently?

JH: It's actually both. But not in the sense of just plastering a logo on more places.

Sometimes the solution is an innovation challenge -reimaging of physical touch points or systems. Often though its about being intelligent about the feelings evoked when a brand does show up, however briefly or indirectly, ensuring that this moment carries a brand signature so that it is felt and remembered.

Sky is a good example of this playing out in real time.For years Sky's presence in your home was a dish on the wall and a box under the TV, both of which are disappearing as everything moves to streaming. Rather than let that presence evaporate, Sky built their product into their own television: Sky Glass - buying back its real estate in the living room.

NO: Visa and Intel are fascinating because they're everywhere and nowhere at once, ubiquitous, but rarely front of mind. How do brands like these stay meaningful when the customer never really "sees" them at the point of experience?

JH: Visa and Intel earned that ubiquity by investing in being trusted for something critical. Both brands built just enough presence at the edges of marketing and experience, so a simple sticker, sponsorship deal or sound are all that is needed to evoke that feeling of trust synonymous with these two brands.

“Intel Inside” was originally a co-op marketing programme. By paying PC makers to put the sticker on the box and in the ads, they created just enough awareness to drive sales.Buying their way into everyone else's marketing. Visa does something similar with sponsorship of large events to offset the lack of attention the brand receives at the till.

NO: So, what can a brand experience design studio like NewTerritory do about this? When a brand's physical footprint is shrinking, what are the levers, design, experience, environment,that let it stay present and recognisable?

JH: The honest answer is that you need to pre-empt the innovations and design purposefully into them. Signatures might be re-established in language, service choreography, even in motion, sounds or ambience within space.

Loyalty platforms are good examples of brands that have always had to operate within these constraints of being a back-of-house brand. Take Nectar and Avios for example. Neither of them have a storefront, they exist as a number attached to an account. So, they've had to find other ways to stay ever-present with gamification, status tiers, memorable rewards, a partner network that keeps the brand turning up in many contexts.

NO: A lot of the brands facing this aren't consumer-facing at all, they're embedded deep in other people's products and experiences. Why should those businesses care about brand experience as much as the household names do?

JH: Airbus and Boeing are a powerful example of this. Passengers never used to buy an Airbus or Boeing flight; they book aflight with a carrier. But now the aircraft type is quietly becoming a factor in consumer decision making. The search tools now let travellers filter out specific models, cabin comfort because the experience is becoming differentiated. This never needed a consumer-facing brand campaign from either airline; it just needed signatures that made the two brands relevant in the conversation and created a new way for them to compete – not just in the eyes of the carrier but now also the consumer.

NO: Stepping back from the detail, if a brand is watching its physical presence fade, what's the single most important shift in mindset it needs to make to stay relevant in the years ahead?

JH: Stop measuring presence by ownership of the touchpoint and start measuring it by authorship of the experience, regardless of who's actually delivering it. A brand that's shrinking physically hasn't necessarily lost relevance, it just needs to be strategic about how it re-establishes customer loyalty.
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