Think About It

Give a customer something of value, and they’ll love you for it.

Unless you don’t give them a clue about how to use it.

This brand experience lesson is brought to you by the Atlanta Falcons.

In the Falcons’ case, the thing of value is a parking pass – one pass per game, sent to season ticket holders with their ticket packages.

A parking pass isn’t a complicated tool. You present it at the right time and park your car in the assigned lot. One catch: You have to find the lot.

Earlier this football season, we set out to enjoy a Falcons game, thanks to the generosity of a season-ticket-holding friend. In addition to the tickets, we had that week’s parking pass, which was clearly marked “Lot I” (or maybe it was “Lot 1” – the font made it impossible to know for sure).

The parking pass had instructions for use – “PLEASE PLACE PASS ON DASHBOARD” – but it had absolutely no information about the whereabouts of Lot I.

No map. Not even an address.

On the way to the Georgia Dome, we passed signs pointing to Lot A, Lot B, and the orange, gold and silver lots. But Lot I’s whereabouts remained a mystery. Defeated and resentful, we forked over the cash to park in the International Deck – which starts with an “I” but, despite our prayers, was not the actual Lot I.

The tale of Lot I is especially sad because the Falcons organization appears to be deeply committed to improving the “fan experience.”

They’ve spent a small fortune updating the team logo and booking pop stars for halftime shows. Yet they seem to have forgotten that the fan experience begins before that magical moment when you step across the threshold of the Georgia Dome. Parking, as mundane as it is, is part of the fan experience, too.

Where does your brand experience begin? With delivery of your product or service? With your contract? With your initial sales call? Or sometime before that?

Customers form opinions of a brand during every step of their journey. So it’s crucial to make sure their every experience reflects the brand in exactly the way you want them to see it.