Steve Heyer CEO is a strong believer in the concept of constant adaptation in the industry in reaction to changing times. Heyer's notes on this were given long ago, yet they prove true now. Heyer's remarks on the topic were given some years ago in a gathering of executive officers of various advertising companies.
Heyer currently has the CEO seat in what is inarguably one of the largest businesses in the hotel industry. Heyer's speech given some years ago was expanded on later, during his interviews. He claimed that he is not marketing rooms in hotels but entertainment and lasting memories.
Experiences are the products to Heyer, not the rooms. The goods, for Heyer, were the entertainments to be found in the resorts. Heyer's innovation was in the lens through which he approached the subject.
The needs of consumers, he explained, had also shifted to customization and were now exerting their strength in full force on the market. This exactly is today’s most observable trend across corporations and industries. You can see this most prominently in areas of the market devoted to the provision of digital services.
The latest developments have also spelled difficulty for people in entertainment. 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. Heyer told people in music production that they now had to adapt to this new setting, as it could no longer be stopped. Heyer insisted that even those in television had to look out for how the new circumstances could affect them.
To him, the postmodern cultural product was what made sense, where consumers bought because they wanted the culture. An experience that is not easily replicable is the primary product Heyer is looking to market for Starwood. Their focus now is not anymore on the beautiful hotels with a total worth of billion dollars but on the opportunities to create memories.
Hence, the company has actually struck up a partnership with the Victoria's Secret brand in an effort to market the experience of being in a Starwood hotel (and watching a Victoria's Secret runway show, in this case). Because of the exclusivity of the runway shows to Starwood customers, there is a clear integration of the desire to view a Victoria's Secret show with attendance of a Starwood hotel. This is a case of the product being an experience.
Heyer has not restrained from making critiques of Hollywood practices, like the meaningless appearance of brands in scenes. He found it reprehensible for its lack of contextual significance. Heyer argues against the practice by calling it both a useless appendage to the plot as well as a useless tool for a business.
Steve Heyer CEO is someone who knows what he is doing: he even used to be chief of Coca Cola, one of the biggest businesses in the world. Some of his services for that company actually demonstrate what he is trying to say by "contextual" brand placement. What he did was to put a glass of Coke in front of each judge in American Idol, a popular TV series.
When in search of relevant info about online marketing and business in general, visiting my blog will help.
