Given the relentless march of progress and history itself, businessmen have to always be ready to react to new developments. Heyer spoke of such things years past, almost as though he could see the future with inhuman clarity. He said these things to a good number of the most influential persons in the industry a number of years in the past.
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.
Experiences are the products to Heyer, not the rooms. The goods, for Heyer, were the entertainments to be found in the resorts. Marketing in this manner was new back then, and quite an original concept.
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 entertainment industry is also suffering from certain digital innovations impinging on their channels. When Napster.com, the first music downloading service website, burst into the scene, the music industry lost millions in potential revenue. Suddenly no-one wanted to pay for songs any longer, opting instead to get them free, off the Net.
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. To Heyer, the new cultural trends dictating the market could influence even TV itself, one of the biggest entertainment industries of all time.
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. 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). The Victoria's Secret shows command a good bit of attention, and only select guests of the hotels are allowed. This is the perfect execution of what Heyer meant.
Heyer has also spoken out against slapping on brands in films. He found it reprehensible for its lack of contextual significance. He also said this practice neither improves storylines nor enhances marketability of products.
Steve Heyer CEO used to head Coca Cola Ventures. From his work with them, we can see a smarter way to boost brand visibility without being meangingless. Heyer set Coke glasses on the judging table of a famous talent show on television.
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