Today as I walked along the mint fresh greens at the Half Moon Bay Golf Resort, California, in the wee hours of the morning, after successfully hitting three birdies on the first nine holes, I felt amazing. And as always I tried to lay a finger on what made me feel this way. Was it waking up an hour earlier than I normally do? Was it the beautiful sunrise that I just witnessed? Was it the sweet success that kissed my golf club after a week of trying to outdo my golf buddy? I guess it was the impact of the overall experience of doing what I love more than anything else in the world and the successful win that followed soon after that resulted in this exhilaration.
After all great experiences impel great performances. Fuelling positive impacts. A lesson that not only holds true to the golf course, but every aspect of my personal life as well.
Half Moon Bay Golf Resort, California
It is a proven fact that once a customer test drives a car, his chances of buying the car drastically increase. Simply because he has taken back a positive experience. An experience that led to a direct impact.
Similarly we enable millions of prospective customers a first-hand run of brands that can enrich their everyday lives. Creating experiences that impact. Like in the case of SAP India with The Innovation Express.
An experience unique to the Indian IT space, The Innovation Express didn’t just put another SAP banner over another ballroom entrance with the expectation of businesses coming over, but took SAP right to their doorsteps. We transformed a large bus into a travelling showcase that featured live interactive demo stations, allowing customers to experience SAP solutions first hand. Resulting in an impact that far exceeded anyone’s expectations – connecting with over 500 prospects, over 1000 key customers and reaching over 1.2 million people via social media. However, for us, the best high was when The Innovation Express was declared as one of the most successful demand generation cum sales acceleration campaigns that SAP India has executed in the last nine years!
And that’s the kind of impact that lives on forever. Believe me, it wasn’t easy getting all this on road. Travelling more than 5,000 kms. in less than a month and a half , halting at 12 cities in 5 states, each with its own set of permissions, regulations and taxation laws to tackle with. To add to these countless challenges, the most pressing concern was to do away with the myths surrounding SAP, as a player too big, too complex and too expensive, esp. for small and medium businesses. And the Innovation Express was that very radical change required to reach the masses. Initially it seemed really complicated when we first took off, but as SAP and our teams worked together as a single unit and mapped out the logistics and the processes, the world and SAP leaders themselves deemed the experience as close to flawless.
Resulting in us bagging 3 acclaimed International awards* for “Best International Event”, “Best Industry Innovation” and the “Experiential Marketing Campaign” of the year. Surely, one for the books!
After all, shouldn’t every experience in this space be nothing but Disruptive. While at the same time effectively impacting the client’s business. Just like in the case of real life. Where experiences define our special moments. Leaving behind a positive imprint. Shaping our very essence and thoughts. Providing a sense of theatre and drama and propelling us to think beyond the horizon.
Cheers!
Sameer Tobaccowala