My family just moved overseas, and we had a three hour layover in Amsterdam’s Schipol airport exactly during my children’s nap time. I had heard that there was a great lounge for kids in the airport from some other travelers, so my husband and I set out to find it.  We were so pleased with what we discovered. Nutricia (a baby food company) had sponsored this lounge. It was wonderfully designed and so appreciated in the midst of our travels. There was no blatant advertising anywhere. Just a few small signs saying “Baby Care Lounge by Nutricia.” Not only did it offer six cribs for weary little travelers, but also a place for bathing, changing, and heating up baby’s food. The only thing that could have made it any better was some sound masking to cover up the noises the other families were making. Even without blatant advertising, I can tell you that I would be more likely to buy this brand of baby food because of the great place they offered us in the airport those few hours.

Another experience I had with an effective brand space was a mother’s lounge in Tesco Supermarkets. They offered a private place to feed baby, a selection of their brand of diapers for changing the baby, and some other activities for a toddler to do while mommy is feeding the baby. I will admit to going back to that store numerous times in part because of that one room in their store.

Is there some way you could utilize a brand space to promote your company or product? It doesn’t have to be child- related to be effective. The examples I mentioned above are empathetic brand spaces–spaces used to help a person out. Some other types are brand spaces used for trying things out or for learning things. The one that comes to mind first for me are Apple Stores. Not only are you able to hold and use all their gadgets in the stores, they also offer free workshops about their products and how to utilize them in their customer’s lives.

Think about how you and your company are uniquely capable of helping people and create an experience based on that. It’s very effective advertising, and you know word travels!