Here's to more brand and customer interactions

Guests enjoying themselves on a Sunday afternoon
Guests enjoying themselves on a Sunday afternoon
Image: Supplied

As the years of traditional marketing methods slowly fade away, companies are moving more towards customer experience to promote their brands and access customers.

This has proved successful for many companies over the years as it not only offers companies a chance to interact and get feedback from their customers but also offers them an insight into their favourite brand.

Product launches have become more than just street posters, newspaper adverts and mall tastings or presentations. These days brands give clients, media and other stakeholders a full experience of their products and those who are lucky enough to attend these launches get to "brag" on social media about being the first to taste/experience the product, further helping the brand to push product visibility and create interest and curiosity. 

SowetanLIVE attended a product launch last week and a customer experience event on Saturday; both events were hosted by leading brands in the country.

Nescafe invited a number of customers, media and celebrities to an exclusive event for the pre-celebration of International Coffee Day.

Guests were taken on a culinary journey with Nescafe as the key ingredient.

The coffee brand treated those in attendance to a two-course meal curated by chef Luyanda Mafanya. The coffee-inspired food was accompanied by signature classic iced coffee drinks.

While interacting with the chef and learning more about the brand through the marketing team, guests enjoyed live DJ sets by Akio and Kaygo.

Another interesting event was the launch of the Johnnie Walker Blue Label Nomad bottle on Heritage Day.

The whisky brand took a number of influencers, celebrities and members of the media to the Cradle of Humankind for a visit to the Sterkfontein Caves and some sundowners at Moledi gorge.

The trip to the World Heritage Site was in keeping with the theme of the day and the new label design which pays homage to the country’s heritage.

The illustration on the bottle depicts a journey to the Cradle of Humankind as the brand’s famous Striding Man follows the Shweshwe-patterned pathway past the rare Blue Diamond of Cullinan, re-discovered Waterburg Copper Butterfly as well as the flamboyant Bird of Paradise flower.

To end off the day after an exhausting 500m walk through the cave, guests enjoyed cocktails made with the drink while enjoying the sunset and beautiful scenery.

Both these brands offered guests a memorable experience and a chance to get intimate with their favourite product and in return they got invaluable social media exposure and word-of-mouth marketing. A win for all involved.

Whether this results in an increase in product sales and brand loyalty remains to be seen; it is however great to see brands talking to and listening to customers.

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