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Behind a lot of successful marketing campaigns recently has been a common denominator of experience. Forbes reported one study found CMO’s stated they would be investing around 21-50% of their marketing budget on Experiential Marketing.
Modern consumers are becoming more used to quick and efficient buying processes, preferring brands that offer the best content experiences. Through this experience, it is possible to establish strong and lasting connections, increasing the brand’s reach through recommendations and positive feedback.
In this scenario, qualified products and/or services can no longer be relied upon and it is necessary to adopt a strategy focused on Experiential Marketing. But can this significantly benefit your company? In the following we will discover:
What is Experiential Marketing?
What are the benefits of Experiential Marketing?
How are brands using Experiential Marketing?
Experiential Marketing is a strategy that focuses on engaging the consumer through branded experiences.
The idea is to focus on the buyer persona’s enjoyment, generating a positive feeling that they can then associate with the brand. In the case of most experiential marketing campaigns, the products or services on offer are secondary to the experience of the consumer. Generally speaking, experiential marketing campaigns take place where there is a large volume of footfall such as shopping centres, festivals and train stations and typically looks to impact on the audience’s everyday lives.
A campaign of this kind of marketing can take several forms but generally speaking, it creates some kind of live experience of the product. In today’s world, this experience could be either physical or virtual. Regardless of how the experience is delivered, there are a few key points to consider when running experiential marketing campaigns. These include:
Without a doubt, the main benefit of Experiential Marketing is engagement. After all, it is the production of immersive and extremely interactive experiences, helping to make the lead brand message natural.
Whilst entertaining the consumer, experiential marketing also helps to convey your brand message with less noise and interference. This is fundamental when dealing with the modern consumer whose attention is hard to not only attract but also retain.
Another characteristic of modern consumers is also tapped into by Experiential Marketing. The modern consumer’s propensity to provide feedback, refer friends and influence is an ever-growing opportunity to grow your reach organically and Experiential Marketing taps into this. Providing content that transforms a lead into a satisfied consumer which will increase the reach of your company organically is extremely valuable.
The benefits of Experiential Marketing aren’t however just in marketing metrics but also in sales. According to a study by Event Marketing in Event Track 2016, 74% of consumers say that after engaging with experiential marketing campaigns they are “more likely to purchase”.
The evidence of increased sales continues as well, as one study states that between 50 – 80% of all word-of-mouth recommendations are motivated by Experiential Marketing campaigns.
In short, there are three core benefits of experiential marketing:
We are going to now look at two great examples of Experiential Marketing from two European giants: Heineken and Red Bull. Although these are of course huge brands with seemingly infinite marketing budgets this does not mean Experiential Marketing isn’t for all businesses from SMEs to global powerhouses.
HEINEKEN
Heineken is one of the companies that excel in its application of Experiential Marketing. It does this firstly through one of its main commercial partners, the UEFA Champions League. As a sponsored event, the company runs numerous campaigns aligned with Europe’s most elite footballing competition.
With this partnership Heineken can, without even mentioning the product associate the consumption of the competition with the consumption of Heineken, thus generating purchasing triggers.
Another significant part of Heineken’s Experiential Marketing is through their Heineken Experience Museum in Amsterdam. Located inside Heineken’s oldest factory the museum comprises interactive games, experiences, and history. The museum intends to create interaction with the brand and its value to increase consumer loyalty.
RED BULL
The example of Red Bull is one that we could not leave out of this conversation as it was one of the most ambitious experiential marketing campaigns ever.
The project revolved around Felix Baumgartner, a skydiver whose courage, energy, and passion for extreme sports encapsulated everything to do with Red Bull’s identity. The project saw Felix embark on a world record-breaking skydive, which would see Felix jump from 128,000 feet above the Earth. Becoming the first person to ever overcome the sound of speed without the help of an engine this campaign certainly broke a few records. Watch here.
Highly anticipated by many, the event was watched live by around 8 million people. With the success of the jump and the campaign consumers begin to associate the extreme positive feeling of achievement with the Red Bull brand. Since the video has been repurposed by Red Bull to create even more content and exposure for the brand.
If you are looking to maintain lasting and profitable connections with your consumers, it’s time to start thinking about Experiential Marketing as a key part of your strategy. Choosing an experiential marketing agency such as GottaBe! is often the most effective way to get started. As we mention above the benefits are clear and this is not just an activity for the powerhouse brands. Experiential Marketing does not have to be expensive, there is scope to still achieve amazing results on a local scale.
Why not discuss experiential marketing with us? We have helped brands including Dominos, OLA Cabs, Specsavers and Western Union with their marketing. Book a call with one of our experts today.
