Imagine going to your favorite cafe. Do you already know how the service will be or how the staff will interact with you or how the coffee will taste? Did you choose to visit that café because you liked your experience with the place? Experiential Marketing is precisely this. We remember the experiences we have had with a particular brand. We are attracted to memorable experiences and given an opportunity, would be interested to have that experience again. If we have a bad experience, there is a huge possibility that we would not want to return to that brand.
Experiential Marketing:
- It is an opportunity for brands to interact with their customers. Instead of merely promoting a product, brands can have consumers actively engage with them. It is a brilliant and powerful way to build emotional connections between brands and consumers. Brands can understand the mindset of consumers and create experiences that demonstrate to the customers how the brand is different from its competitors and why it is relevant to consumers. An example of this is the opening of the D Rose Jump Store by Adidas in London. The campaign involved having NBA superstar Derrick Rose open the store. Adidas created a 10-foot-high shelf that had pairs of Rose’s signature sneakers. Customers who could jump that high and grab a pair could simply take it home with them. It was a quite simple event that gave every customer the chance to gain insight into the life of a professional basketball player. Adidas’s message of athleticism and peak performance, their core values, were also promoted through this event.
- When consumers are exposed to experiential marketing, the brands engage with all the senses of the consumers like touch and feel, taste, sound, smell, etc. Brands can choose locations for this type of marketing that tap into those consumers’ interests such as food, music, sports, and professional interests. Each person takes a different memory with them that has appealed to them. 74% of consumers say that engaging with branded marketing experiences makes them more likely to buy the products being promoted.
Experiential marketing is marketing that happens in a physical setting and following are its type:
- Trade shows
- Event Marketing
- Auto shows.
- Sponsorships
- Test drives
- Samplings
- Kiosks
- Contesting
- In-person surveys
- In-store experiences
- Face-to-face marketing
Brands Opt for Experiential Marketing:
- Experiential Marketing creates brand loyalty. Like in the café example given above, consumers choose brands that can give more than just the product. This marketing technique strengthens the identity of the product. This creates a link between the atmosphere at the point of sale for the product and the purchasing behaviour of the consumers.
- Experiential Marketing creates brand awareness. This is especially helpful for small businesses. Through experiences, businesses can develop their relations with customers and increase their customer base. Experiential marketing provides a way for brands to drastically increase their exposure, either through encouraging consumers to share their experience on social media platforms or by making consumers themselves as their brand ambassadors. Research by McKinsey found that experiential marketing is the powerful catalyst for word-of-mouth marketing, with branded experiences accounting for 50% to 80% of word-of-mouth activity.
- Experiential Marketing helps in brand recall. Consumers are bound to recall what appeals to their senses. If the brand creates a good connection with the consumer, it can reap the benefits off it.
Experiential Marketing Misconception:
- Experiential marketing is often thought to be the same as event marketing, but event marketing is simply a part of it. Another misunderstanding is to think that Experience Marketing and Experiential Marketing are the same. Experience Marketing is about the entire consumer experience. It refers to the elements in a consumer’s journey. Whereas Experiential Marketing is more about the entire interaction of the consumer with the brand.
- An experience is like a live advertisement that requires high-quality strategy and creativity. Brands need to target what is most meaningful to consumers and demonstrate their products’ purpose through the experience.
Experiential Marketing Examples:
- Gigabyte, the computer hardware company, immediately acted on its feet when it found out that its most important exhibition events were cancelled because of the pandemic. They offered consumers a digital experience. A clickable booth tour was created that walked visitors through their latest developments in 5G. The company met with its customers, and users online. This experience was created to provide the attendees with what they would have experienced in the live event.
- When Coca-Cola India placed small world machines in malls in Delhi and Lahore. Consumers were given a chance to interact with each other from across borders. It was to promote unity between the countries. After the interaction, the ‘Small World Machines’ dispensed cans of Coca-Cola with the message “Open Happiness”.
Experiential Marketing a Must-do:
- The market is saturated today. Brands must constantly think of innovative ideas and bring their A-game to the table for them to be able to cater to the needs and desires of the consumers, retain them and be loyal to their brand. Experiential Marketing is no longer something that can be kept as an option. It is a must-do. Brands must figure out a way to connect with the consumers and interact with them while giving them a meaningful experience that will bedazzle them.
Very Informative post! The real life examples about cafe and Sports shoes are especially worthwhile observations. Thanks
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