Huffington Post, Raconteur, UK: Cognizant’s UK Head of Business Consulting for Retail, Consumer Goods, and Travel and Hospitality, Outlines What Brands can Learn From a Two Century-Old Beer Festival

“Oktoberfest’s popularity endures and this year the two-week festival is expected to attract over six million people to Munich,” says Trish Young. “Many brands seek to attract similar levels of consumer engagement, footfall and spend, so what can they learn from the traditional festival and what can replicate thanks to next-generation technologies?” Excerpts:

“To stand out against the competition, build brand loyalty and engage with the customer, digitizing the customer experience is essential.

Brands need to enhance the customer experience if they want to seriously capitalize on the popular ‘pop-up’ or festival opportunity — it is about getting people back for repeat visits, week-on-week or year-on-year, tempting them into the flagship store.

Brands need to ensure a cost-effective yet convenient approach to ‘taking a chance’ on setting up stall at a short-term location.

While Oktoberfest has been able to rely on this no-frills approach, part of the overall customer experience, other brands, particularly in the events and food festival industries, need to consider how to apply existing and emerging technologies to drive consumer engagement, footfall and spend.

Delivering a superior customer service is critical for all brands amid heightened consumer expectations.

With pop-ups and street festivals ‘on trend’ right now, brands have an opportunity to use digital technology to improve the customer experience, drive loyalty to ensure consumers come back for repeat visits and ensure that brand engagement continues, even after the festival has finished — and in preparation for the next one.

In order to maintain seamless contact and ongoing contact with customers, it is essential for brands today to apply next generation technology to their own customer experience.”

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