1. Brand Management
Brand Strategy
Service Design
Experience Design
Customer Experience
Service Branding –
Designing for distinction
White Paper and Case Study by Rlevance Consulting

2. Human Centered Design is a great thing…
2

3. 3
…it helps to provide better ways of serving needs…

4. 4
…it makes things easier…

5. 5
…and it makes things more fun

6. Designing human centered results
in solutions that »work« for people.
6
But let‘s look a bit more into the details
when designing human centered.

7. Creating a solution for a given situation
7
→ ideal solution for [person × situation]
Situation
Needs Goals Capabilities Restrictions

8. 8
Taking humans as primary measure doesn‘t come without downsides
ideal solution
for [person × situation]
task:
designing for a
commercial situation
similar solutions for
competing brands
HCD
Brand A = Brand B = Brand C

9. 9
Resulting in experiences that do not distinguish from each other
Source: Rupert Platz, http://de.slideshare.net/r000pert/why-youre-a-brand-shaper-knowingly-or-not-and-what-you-can-do-about-it?

10. 10
Especially important for large-scale services offers, you do not want the
same experience as your competitor

11. 11
Yet differentiation is necessary as today‘s customers face an abundance of
commercial choices

12. 12
When creating service experiences, it is not
enough to design for human centeredness.
To ensure economic survival, it is vital
to design for distinction.

13. 13
Designing for distinction

14. 14
There is one tool that specializes on that…

15. 15

16. 16
A brand is a what people think and feel about
a product, service, or organization.

17. 17
Branding means designing for the cognitive world of thoughts,
attitudes & emotions, not for usage in specific situations

18. 18
In the long run branding inspires an emotional bond through relevant
meaning

19. 19
Branding facilitates perception

20. 20
Branding enables understanding
care

21. 21
Branding makes offers attractive

22. »Fueling a life full of daring«
22
This meaning is packaged as »brand idea« which guides the building of a
brand

23. 23
Creating brands, the very simple version
implementationstrategyresearch
find relevant aspects
looking at customers,
offer, competitors
focus aspects
on a crystal clear
brand idea
attractive,
differentiating authentic
deliver the brand idea
consistently
across touchpoints
& time

24. 24
»Fueling a life full of daring« consistently delivered

25. 25
What are the mechanics of how a brand
can deliver its idea?

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How can brands deliver their idea?
hearing about it
non-direct, second-hand information
seeing it
direct, first-hand information, static
using it
direct, first-hand information, responsive
»I heard about John«
»I‘ve talked to John, now I know what he is like«
»I‘ve seen John, I know who he is«

27. 27
Service brands can focus on options that product brands hardly use:
The service experience
hearing about it
seeing it
using it
Product Brand Service Brand
hearing about it
seeing it
using itexperience branding
communication
branding

28. 28
Service Branding =
Experience Branding

29. 29
How to brand service experiences

30. 30
Using the brand idea to »speak to people« through situations of product/
service usage
Situation A
Brand Idea
Situation B
Situation C
Situation D

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In addition to translating the brand idea as usual into messages and
appearance, we translate it additionally into distinct…
micro services
action/reaction
behavior
features
SITUATION
Goal: to evoke desired thoughts and emotions
according to the meaning of the brand

32. 32
Designing for distinction: Human Centered Design combined with branding
improved solution
for [person × situation],task: designing for a
commercial situation
Improved offer
providing a distinct
experience to
competing offers
„way“ of improvement
according to brand idea
HCD
Branding

33. Framework Branded Customer Experience/Service Branding:
Creating value for the user
Using human centered design
methods to improve customer
situation
Building a distinct brand
Making these improvements
expressions of the brand idea
+
Giving value to customers while building brands

34. 34
Example: Experience Branding for airlines

35. 35
Study Brand Experience Airlines
– Airlines strive to be brands, but mostly distinguish via design and
communication, the experience they provide is more or less the same
– Conducted an ethnographic study of 8 European airlines: experience journey,
pain points, brand perception
– Created service branding ideas for Lufthansa & easyJet

36. 36TV commercial Lufthansa: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Aod5md6Ato

37. 37
TV commercial easyJet 2013
TV commercial easyJet: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2cbLjab_FM

38. 38
Two very different brand positionings
Bringing German reliability
and precision into air-travel*
*) from interviews and communication analysis
Everyone can enjoy
time away affordably*

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Insight and brand idea
Creating value for the user
An air-trip is a complex process
full of uncertainties. For most
travelers, predictability and being
in the know helps a lot.
The brand idea
+ Bringing German reliability and
precision into air-travel

40. Opportunity to create value
There is a trade-off between not wanting to wait too long at the
airport and not wanting to miss your flight. This dilemma is a source of
stress.

41. Idea
To take away the feeling of insecurity, Lufthansa helps with the
Travel Companion: An app that provides necessary information. It
also shows how long it takes to airport with different modes of
transport.

42. Opportunity to create value
Settling in your seat is when you have finally made it after all the stop
and go, and the journey is about to begin. This is a very sensitive
moment.

43. Idea
Lufthansa celebrates this with a new ritual, a very simple printed
schedule of the services planned – taking away uncertainty, as many
people like to sleep, but do not want to miss food and drinks.

44. 44
Insight and brand idea
Creating value for the user The brand idea
Everyone can enjoy
time away affordably+Any air trip offers the opportunity
to do exciting things, meet
friends and enjoy your time away.

45. Opportunity to create value
People are often looking for getaways, and not necessarily need to
travel to a certain destination. Also, it is more about activities and
weather than a specific destination. This is why they are flexible with
dates but have a fixed budget.

46. Idea
easyJet provides the Trip Alert: Users define certain criteria, including
a price point. When all criteria are matched, the user is notified about
his ideal trip, providing the feeling of great value.

47. Opportunity to create value
An air-flight is about the things you do at the destination. For private
travelers this is meeting people and doing great things. Although
planning is fun most find the time for it only in the plane.

48. Idea
The easyJet Trip Planner finds friends at the destina-tion through
Facebook. It is also a bookmarking tool for activities, restaurants etc. at
the destination. It increases the joy when looking forward to the trip.

49. Idea
The easyJet Trip Planner works in offline mode, so people can finally
plan the trip in the plane, matching people and activities and create
an itinerary. This way, easyJet increases the enjoyment of the trip.

50. Through Service Branding two very different stories delivered
50
an enjoyable time
away, affordably
German reliability and
precision

51. More Service Branding projects by Rlevance
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52. Summary
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53. Framework Branded Customer Experience/Service Branding:
Creating value for the user
Using human centered design
methods to improve customer
situation
Building a distinct brand
Making these improvements
expressions of the brand idea
+
Giving value to customers while building brands

54. 54
With Service Branding we create value for users
and also for our clients – delivering a sustainable result
User
needs
Business
needs

55. 55
making companies relevant for people
Illustrators Icons (Nounproject): Herbert Spencer / Stefan Kovac / Ates Evren Aydinel / Creative Stall / Francielly Costantin Senra / DKHN / Inn Style
Rlevance Consulting
Christian Vatter
cv@rlevance.com
Berlin, Germany
www.rlevance.com
all intellectual property rights reserved