It is wise to adopt a mutable concept of marketing, according to Steve Heyer CEO, to answer the shifting demands of consumers. Heyer's notes on this were given long ago, yet they prove true now. 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.
Steve Heyer is a person of great importance in the business world, not least because he is one of the chiefs of Starwood Hotels. Heyer was already in this seat when he began to expound on his original message to marketers in 2003. The trick, according to him, was to focus on selling fun, not a bed or a room.
He said, “We sell experiences. The goods, for Heyer, were the entertainments to be found in the resorts. Heyer and his idea of marketing experiences blazed a trail in the marketing industry following that, for the freshness of the proposed outlook.
In the 2003 speech, he proposed to marketers and media leaders to become more customized and personalized in delivering their services and products, and aim for the empowerment of consumers. Nowadays we see that Heyer was right. Nowhere is this more visible than in the technologically-centered industries.
We are seeing old forms of entertainment being given a run for their money by fresh avenues of media distribution. Just for illustration, when software for musical piracy was introduced, the support from consumers was so overwhelming that the music industry almost immediately saw a setback in profits. Millions of music lovers began switching to MP3s on the Web for their music fix.
Heyer's conference speech talked about the panic music-producers went through during this time. For Heyer, this was only a reminder that people needed to constantly change their approaches to meet fresh issues. Heyer insisted that even those in television had to look out for how the new circumstances could affect them.
Steve Heyer argues that modern marketing efforts should focus on the creation of cultures, not products. The idea behind the marketing for Heyer's hotels company is now that of entertainment that cannot be found elsewhere. Their focus now is not anymore on the beautiful hotels with a total worth of billion dollars but on the opportunities to create memories.
To this end, Victoria’s Secret has been called on to partner with the hotels to produce The Limited Victoria Secret shows for exclusive viewing in the hotels. The Victoria's Secret shows command a good bit of attention, and only select guests of the hotels are allowed. This is a clear example of marketing an experience.
The CEO was also critical of how Hollywood is “slapping” logos and brand names in movies out of context. To Heyer, this is absolutely devoid of context. Heyer argues against the practice by calling it both a useless appendage to the plot as well as a useless tool for a business.
One of Coca Cola's former leaders is actually Steve Heyer CEO. And with Coca Cola, he demonstrated contextual placement of brands into TV programs. What he did was to put a glass of Coke in front of each judge in American Idol, a popular TV series.
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