Monday, February 27, 2012

The Talents of Steve Heyer CEO

Given the relentless march of progress and history itself, businessmen have to always be ready to react to new developments. Heyer's notes on this were given long ago, yet they prove true now. Heyer spoke of these matters famously in a conference some years past that was attended by many representatives of the marketing and advertising industries.

Heyer is actually the CEO of one of the biggest hotel companies in the world. His words from some years past were eventually continued in subsequent interrogations regarding them. Heyer's stated goal was the marketing of amusement, as opposed to the marketing of lodgings in the hotels.

In this approach, what is being sold is the experience itself. The goods, for Heyer, were the entertainments to be found in the resorts. Technically, what is being offered has not really changed: it is simply the way of looking at it that has.

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. 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. A lot of money was lost by those in the songwriting and production business, for example, because of data-ripping technologies. 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.

What Heyer advocated was the shift from emphasis on the item to emphasis on the experiences associated with it. An experience that is not easily replicable is the primary product Heyer is looking to market for Starwood. In other words, consumers would have their eyes trained on what the hotels could provide, not the hotels themselves.

In order to achieve the goal, Heyer has brought in Victoria's Secret, partnering with it to promote the hotels through the fashions shows being hosted for the lingerie line. Only certain persons in the Starwood hotels are allowed to attend the runway shows. This is a clear example of marketing an experience.

Steve Heyer has also made negative remarks about a growing trend in the LA film industry: the insertion of brands in random shots. He found it reprehensible for its lack of contextual significance. He also said this practice neither improves storylines nor enhances marketability of products.

A look at Coca Cola's roster of past chiefs shall show Steve Heyer CEO on it. 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.


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