The confluence of Brand Experience and User Experience has been happening for some time. Brand marketing has evolved over the last century to become its own science, complete with a myriad of theories on brand positioning, messaging, control and valuation. The champions of brand proliferated, with many companies recruiting armies of brand managers inspired by the successful P&G model. On the flip side, the newcomers to the brand stage were ushered in with the rise of the Internet in the ’80s and ’90s. However, these denizens of the digital realm were relegated to silos within many organizations – Webmasters, Online Marketing Managers, Digital Marketing Exectutives, seemed to operate in the shadow realm of brand strategy.

Today, more than ever, these two worlds are interdependent.  While the proliferation of social media along with the fragmentation of the media audience has posed challenges for traditional brand managers, a new breed of brand architects are emerging that are both digitally savvy and brand astute. This is apparent with the emergence of a new form of agency that is proficient in both brand and the user experience. Case in point: 4ORCE Digital in St. Louis recently invested more than $200,000 developing a state-of-the-art UX Lab for its clients and prospects, and has an entire team of UX experts that perform “deep dives” on the user experience. Why? 4ORCE, like many other leading brand and digital agencies understand that agencies can no longer have credibility talking brand when they are not thought leaders in the digital ecosystems that speak the brand language every day: User Interaction, User Personas, Social Media Marketing, Web Analytics, and the list goes on. Brand IS user experience and vice versa. Perhaps we are entering a new era in Brandology that calls for Brand Experience Optimization. Similar to how SEO (Search Engine Optimization) helps companies optimize their websites so they are front-and-center in terms of relevancy, Brand Experience Optimization is the unification of brand strategy and digital application to transform the customer experience at various touch points – online, point-of-sale, mobile apps, in addition to internal culture. For tomorrow’s leaders, the most relevant brands, will be the most optimized. So, get ready to start hiring your Brand Optimization Manager.