Steve Heyer CEO is a strong believer in the concept of constant adaptation in the industry in reaction to changing times. These are bold words that were spoken by this visionary business leader almost a decade ago and people continue to refer to them today. 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. There were several occasions where Heyer enlarged on what he had meant about finding innovative marketing approaches in the famous conference long ago. Heyer's stated goal was the marketing of amusement, as opposed to the marketing of lodgings in the hotels.
Heyer's emphasis was on the marketing of an experience. We deliver memories.” Marketing in this manner was new back then, and quite an original concept.
The needs of consumers, he explained, had also shifted to customization and were now exerting their strength in full force on the market. This is precisely what one now observes in businesses: customization. This is a theme most strongly supported by digital products and companies nowadays.
Nowadays, various businesses in media are in trouble because of the changes in technology. 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. Consumers went online in droves when songs started becoming downloadable on sites for free.
The music industry momentarily went into chaos, which is a scenario referred to in Steven Heyer’s keynote address. The circumstances had changed, Heyer said, and so should the methods of distribution as well as reproduction. Heyer insisted that even those in television had to look out for how the new circumstances could affect them.
Essentially, he was saying that the time had come for businesss to market a culture, not a product. In the interview explaining his marketing strategy for Starwood Hotels, he furthered explained that they are now a company engaged in distributing entertainment and unforgettable experiences. In other words, consumers would have their eyes trained on what the hotels could provide, not the hotels themselves.
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). Along with online bidders, only preferred guest members of Starwood can buy tickets to the elite fashion event. Such shows how cultural marketing may be used.
Steve Heyer has also made negative remarks about a growing trend in the LA film industry: the insertion of brands in random shots. He calls the practice a “contextless” insertion of brand logos into movies or TV programs. He doubted that such appearances would actually bring up sales in any way.
One of Coca Cola's former leaders is actually Steve Heyer CEO. It is from that time that we may take an example of what he means by properly contextualized brand "cameos". 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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