Brand Experience Toolkit [August 2007]
Brand Experience Toolkit [August 2007]
The Brand Experience
2.0 – The Brand Experience
Brand Experience Toolkit [August 2007]
Brand Experience Toolkit [August 2007]
The Brand Experience: an overview
The Brand Experience is a simple way to understand how our target audiences (members, supporters and enablers) experience (or
interact with) the AIESEC brand. The interactions and touch points they have with AIESEC will shape the impression of what
AIESEC is to them, and by being conscious of this we can manage the kind of experience we would like our target audiences to
have with AIESEC.
The Brand Experience has several elements that will be discussed in more detail in this toolkit. They include:
• Our competitors (organizations offering similar products to our target audiences)
• Target audiences (our potential members, enablers and supporters)
• Physical manifestations (the first interaction point to AIESEC for our target audiences)
• Benefits (what our target audiences get out of engaging with AIESEC)
• Our Values (reflective of The AIESEC Way)
• Discriminator (what distinguishes us from our competitors)
• Essence (what we do in AIESEC, what we are about)
The next few pages of this toolkit will explain each section of the Brand Experience in more detail.
2.1 – The Brand Experience: an overview
Brand Experience Toolkit [August 2007]
Brand Experience Toolkit [August 2007]
Our Competitors
Our competitors are other organizations that offer
similar experiences to our target audiences as we do.
They may be slightly or even very similar to us, based
on what they offer. These include organizations
offering:
• Work abroad opportunities
• Volunteer abroad opportunities
• Cultural experiences
• Skills development
• Networks
Although there may be a few common competitors for AIESEC across this globe (ie) IAESTE for internships or JCI for volunteer
opportunities, your direct competitors will differ from country to country, and perhaps even from city to city. It is important that you
are aware of such similar organizations and the work they are doing so that you are able to identify how AIESEC differs from their
activities.
2.2 – Our Competitors
Brand Experience Toolkit [August 2007]
Brand Experience Toolkit [August 2007]
Our target audiences
As seen from our Balance Scorecard, our target
audiences can be divided into three distinct groups of
people:
• Members
• Enablers (TN takers, mentors and
learning/content partners), and
• Supporters (financial and in-kind partners, Board
of Advisors)
The kinds of characteristics we would be looking for in potential members, enablers and supporters include:
Characteristics for potential members:
• Young people – recent graduates and students
• Youth interested in world issues
• Those who enjoy challenges
• Open minded active learners
• Those with an interest in leadership development
• Passionate and determined
• Those looking for learning and development opportunities
2.3 – Our target audiences
Brand Experience Toolkit [August 2007]
Brand Experience Toolkit [August 2007]
Characteristics for potential enablers:
• TN takers o Companies expanding to other countries o Companies that needs and employees with specific characteristics o Companies with strong CSR or a willingness to start o Issues focused; market leaders
• Learning/content partners o Organizations working with issues relevant in society o Global organizations (with global reach) o Research-based organizations o Individuals with specific skills/knowledge/experience in a particular field
• Mentors o HR companies/specialists o University professors o Alumni o Industry specialists
Characteristics for potential supporters:
• Sponsors, financial and in-kind o Organizations working on similar issues relevant in society o Companies/organizations that are working with youth o Organizations with the same end benefit
• Board of advisors o Industry specialists o Alumni o High profile people
2.3 – Our target audiences
Brand Experience Toolkit [August 2007]
Brand Experience Toolkit [August 2007]
Physical manifestations
This layer includes all the external touch points (or
interaction points) our target audiences have with
AIESEC. Thus, their first interaction point with AIESEC
will affect how they experience our brand.
This layer includes things such as our marketing
materials and visual branding guidelines (including our
logo), but also extends to much more than this.
The first interaction point that our target audiences have
with AIESEC including everything from physical
meetings to our website, conferences, even our Code of
Ethics, all shape the way our target audiences will
understand AIESEC.
Please note: the visual guidelines are currently being
refreshed. The newest version is expected to be released in
September 2007.
2.4 – Physical manifestations
Brand Experience Toolkit [August 2007]
Brand Experience Toolkit [August 2007]
Benefits
Benefits are what our target audiences (or stakeholders)
get out of engaging with AIESEC. While the benefits are
the same for all target audience groups, the reasons why
they are a benefit for each target audience differs based
on the different “experiences” that these audiences have
with our brand.
These are the benefits that our target audiences experience when they interact with AIESEC.
• Societal impact
• Personal and professional development
• International experience
• Global network
2.5 – Benefits
Brand Experience Toolkit [August 2007]
Brand Experience Toolkit [August 2007]
Although they are benefits for different reasons, the above four are benefits for all of our stakeholders, or target audiences. The
chart below explains this in more detail.
Societal impact
Benefit for members Benefit for supporters Benefit for enablers
� To have an impact on a certain issue
� Learning opportunity � Providing the same experience
to others
� Knowledge sharing � Feeling of supporting to make an
impact in society
� Leadership development � Feeling of contributing to having an
impact on society through others
Personal and professional development
Benefit for members Benefit for supporters Benefit for enablers
� Self development (leadership development, self-discovery, skill building)
� Supporting development of others
� Feeling of supporting to make an impact on society
� Access to top talent; having top talent in their organization
� Feeling of supporting to make an impact on others
2.5 – Benefits
Brand Experience Toolkit [August 2007]
Brand Experience Toolkit [August 2007]
Global network
Benefit for members Benefit for supporters Benefit for enablers
� Peers, alumni, businesses all over the world
� Connect to youth around the world, other organizations
� Alumni, youth around the world, other organizations
International experience
Benefit for members Benefit for supporters Benefit for enablers
� Exchange opportunities, global learning environment, international conferences, etc.
� Interaction with members who have international experience (open minded/worldly)
� Branding and positioning � International conference
involvement
� Diversity in workforce � Branding and positioning � Interaction with members who
have international experience (open minded/worldly)
2.5 – Benefits
Brand Experience Toolkit [August 2007]
Brand Experience Toolkit [August 2007]
Our Values
Our values are an important part of the Brand
Experience. The organizational values defined in The
AIESEC Way were not made to be written up on a wall
and forgotten about. They dictate how we should act
according to our value system for the organization. Our
values are also what our target audiences experience
and live when they interact with AIESEC, thus they
definitely determine how others view us and experience
our brand.
Imagine a TN taker hears all about the ambitious top talented youth that
exist in AIESEC during his first interaction at a conference and decides to
taken on an intern for himself. Imagine that intern meets all his
expectations of being a bright, ambitious and passionate young person
that makes a big difference in the company. The impression that TN taker
will have of AIESEC will be quite good, because of the way he
experienced our brand. Now imagine the same situation but in a negative
way, this is not how we want our stakeholders to experience our brand.
That is why values are so important and interlinked with our brand.
• Demonstrating integrity
• Acting sustainably
• Activating leadership
• Enjoying participation
• Living diversity
• Striving for excellence
2.6 – Our values
Our values
Brand Experience Toolkit [August 2007]
Brand Experience Toolkit [August 2007]
Differentiator
Youth driven impactful experience
Our differentiator is what makes us unique, or simply
put, what sets us apart from the competition. This layer
is very much linked with the next (the essence). While
the essence may not be unique to our competitors, our
differentiator is the unique point—how we do what we do
differently than our competitors.
Through discussions held at the Global Brand Principles
meeting held in May 2007, we came up with three
concrete things that we feel as combined set us apart:
• Youth driven – the concept that AIESEC is run by youth for youth
• Integrated experience – the AIESEC experience comprised of leadership opportunities, an international exchange and a global learning environment
• Impact/activating positive leadership – making a positive impact on society
To express these three differentiators in one sentence we have come up with the phrase: Youth driven impactful experience. Each
part of this phrase has a strong meaning behind it.
2.7 – Differentiator
Brand Experience Toolkit [August 2007]
Brand Experience Toolkit [August 2007]
Youth driven
This emphasizes energy, passion, emotion, and leadership or leading, essentially what AIESEC is about. It also reinforces
the fact that we are youth run.
Impactful
This is about the kind of experience that our stakeholders have when they engage with AIESEC, and the positive impact it
can have on them and/or on society.
Experience
The complete yet individual experience that our stakeholders have with AIESEC from a member’s AIESEC experience to a
TN taker’s experience with an intern to a sponsor’s experience at a conference. This experience draws together all aspects
of the AIESEC experience – leadership opportunities, international exchange and a global learning environment.
What the differentiator is not
This sentence is not meant to be used explicitly to explain AIESEC. The essence behind this statement is what matters. When
you are explaining what sets AIESEC apart these are elements that should come up in your explanation, though the actual phrase
“youth driven impactful experience” is not meant to be a slogan.
2.7 – Differentiator
Brand Experience Toolkit [August 2007]
Brand Experience Toolkit [August 2007]
Essence
This is the essence of what we do as an organization.
This may not be different to our competitors, but it is the
centre of our actions. Our differentiator is how we do
this differently to our competitors.
Our essence is taken from the essence of the brand
promise: activating leadership.
AIESEC is about providing the platform and necessary tools for youth to develop themselves, so that they can have a positive impact on their environments.
Through activating leadership we also want to communicate the important role the individual plays in the experience - the self-driven element. We do this through the concept of AIESEC as a platform of opportunities from which individuals can drive their own experience. The essence of activating leadership can be captured in three simple elements:
• AIESEC is the platform - individuals drive their own experience
• We help individuals to both develop and discover their potential • Our ambition is to develop people that will have a positive impact on society
2.8 – Essence
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