Avery Dennison Apparel Solutions Blog

Digital Smarts: Consumers connect with products, brands benefit

Introducing digital emotional intelligence (DEQ)

As consumers, we know that emotions inform almost every human decision—driving our behaviors, underpinning relationships, and leading to loyalty. As digital technology becomes increasingly ubiquitous, it is changing the dynamic of our emotions and our connection to brands. And it’s time for brands to benefit.

Building on our partnership in #BornDigital™ apparel and footwear, Avery Dennison released a report that seeks to understand this change, explaining the role of physically experienced emotions in a digitally connected world, and how data reveals a new dimension of brand experience that integrates technology with humanity. We call this “Digital Emotional Intelligence,” or DEQ.

On November 8, Avery Dennison hosted a breakfast and briefing to discuss DEQ at our New York Customer Design and Innovation Center (CDIC). Moderated by Piers Fawkes, founder, PSFK, the event brought together expert panelists, including Uri Minkoff, president and chief executive officer, Rebecca Minkoff; Bill Toney, vice president, global RFID market development, Avery Dennison; Andy Hobsbawm and Liz Bacelar, founder, The Current & Decoded Fashion. The panel also marked the release of the Rebecca Minkoff #AlwaysOn smart bags, powered by Avery Dennison’s JanelaTM solution.

Janela on display at NRF

From left: Bill Toney, Vice President Global RFID Market Development at Avery Dennison; Uri Minkoff, President & CEO of Rebecca Minkoff;   Piers Fawkes, Founder of PSFK; Liz Bacelar, Founder at The Current & Decoded Fashion;  Andy Hobsbawm

“Brands that use digital technology to connect more emotionally, personally and contextually will win.” - Dr. Phillip Powell, research fellow at the Institute for Economic Analysis of Decision-Making (InstEAD) at the University of Sheffield and a chartered psychologist of the British Psychological Society, Digital Emotional Intelligence Report

The discussion centered on how brands can maximize the use of connected products and technology to leverage data and learn from their consumers emotions, as well as their purchasing behaviors. Having access to key consumer data will facilitate brands to deliver personalized experiences to consumers, leading to increased sales and a stronger connection with their audience, as the report mentions.

Uri Minkoff discussed the launch of the #AlwaysOn products, which leverage DEQ to further engage with consumers: "We are constantly looking for ways of how the fashion system doesn’t make sense and how we can change it for a more modernized culture and consumer,” Minkoff said. “We are here today because there is this beautiful thing called IoT that fashion hasn’t taken advantage of.”

Connecting products to the digital world enables a whole new realm of conversations between brands and their consumers. Andy Hobsbawm explained that “good personalization is emotional and powerful. If someone feels the brand cares about them and knows them, it’s an emotional experience.”

Retail has never seen such a competitive marketplace as we are seeing today and it has become clear that digitally savvy brands are ultimately positioned to win. Bill Toney highlighted that “brands now have the ability to make changes a lot faster on the manufacturing side and being able to learn more and more about the consumer on an emotional level is a truly powerful thing.”

At this critical moment for our industry, insights into how to use this digital shift to your advantage can be a key differentiator. Industry leaders are already using technology like RFID to give consumers the ability to buy how they want and when. The next level in engagement is to leverage this unique digital identity as a differentiator to drive deep emotional connection between the brand and the individual to truly personalize every interaction. As brands adopt DEQ in their business models, they can truly understand the wants and needs of their consumers, resulting in increased brand loyalty and ultimately sales.

Read headlines from the report launch.

For more information on DEQ download the report, and visit our website to discover more on JanelaTM .

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