Experiential marketing: living the brand in an immersive experience

Nowadays, all we talk about is experience . Experiential marketing (or experiential marketing ) is now configured as an essential technique in the field of marketing and communication. However, we are aware of how much the pandemic has undermined its founding principles, directing the experience economy towards a more and more virtual.

Yet, in this context, we are particularly keen to remember and emphasize its importance, with a pinch of nostalgia, but with the strong hope of returning to experience the emotions and involvement that only certain physical interactions can give.

What is experiential marketing?

As many of you already know, experiential marketing (whether focused on entertainment , education , aesthetics or escapism ), is an approach that takes the end customer seriously, not only when selling the product , but also along all the phases that precede and follow the transaction.

This helps to create a competitive advantage for the company but, above all, an added value for customers, being able, in fact, to create a lasting bond between consumers and a brand.

Also referred to as engagement marketing , experiential marketing is a marketing strategy that allows people to have an immersive experience related to the brand . The exclusive enthusiasm for the functional and physical characteristics of the products is left out.

What is exalted are the sensory , behavioral and emotional values, intended as distinctive elements of the experience in the purchasing process. All with the aim of building a customer experience based on five dimensions: think (experiences that involve cognitive learning processes), feel (experiences that arouse emotions), sense (experiences linked to sensory perception), act (experiences that spur the consumer to assume certain behaviours), relate (experiences deriving from social interactions).

Brands that use experiential marketing, therefore, aim to make consumers live a memorable experience with the aim of increasing brand awareness , purchase behavior and, finally, loyalty .

Why is experiential marketing getting more and more successful?

There are numerous factors that push brands towards an increasingly customer-centric approach and that influence the popularity of the experience as a marketing strategy. First of all, consumers themselves have a more positive opinion of a brand after attending an event or having had a related experience.

Furthermore, the saturation of digital activities continues to increase curiosity about physical experiences in the real world. However, the same proliferation of media channels increases the impact that social media can offer to live experiences.

Finally, technologies such as augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) should not be forgotten, which can be used to improve real-life experiences, reducing the boundary between physical and digital.

The risks of experiential marketing and its metrics

Not all that glitters is gold, of course. One of the most significant limitations associated with experiential campaigns is the difficulty of identifying the tools to correctly evaluate the effectiveness of the campaign. Indeed, every experience is unique and, consequently, unrepeatable . Furthermore, each of us experiences it differently, in relation to our sensations and emotions. Certainly, however, an excellent technique is to study, reinvent yourself , offering experiences that are always varied, in order to be able to replicate the success of the most acclaimed campaigns.

It is therefore relevant to measure the consumer experience through certain metrics , both qualitatively and quantitatively. Thus, the company could understand the most effective stimuli to offer to the consumer, in terms of satisfaction , loyalty and propensity to purchase .

Among the main metrics are: the mode of approach (the individual's desire to explore the environment and what is related to that particular experience), the degree of avoidance (the opposite situation), the degree of satisfaction , the volume of individual purchases , the time spent inside the store , the degree of time/purchase conversion , the propensity to purchase , the degree of return , the intensity of the emotions aroused in the consumer (today technology allows, through maps of heat, to understand if an individual experiences emotions and with what intensity during a contact with a product in a store), the number of contents generated online and not , the memory of the experience (the precision with which an individual remembers the characteristics of the experience), and so on.

Winning experiential marketing case studies

The goal of this article, however, is to make you "immerse" (virtually, unfortunately, and hopefully for a little while longer ) in some of the experiential marketing campaigns that have attracted the most attention and fascinated the most in recent years…

So, let's get started!

HBO WESTWORLD EXPERIENCE

2018, Austin. Giant Spoon recreates the famous set from the hit television series Westworld in a Texas ghost town during the popular film and music festival, South by Southwest (SXSW). The set has particular and detailed characteristics.

First, there is the possibility of attending a pre-experience meeting that includes elements of the television program, in the same country where the installation is located, Austin. Later, in a kind of " initialization experience ", people are invited to go through a portal to officially enter the reality of Westworld.

There is, therefore, a chance to stroll through familiar scenes from the TV series, including The Mariposa Saloon ; all, of course, surrounded by western- style food, drink and entertainment. In fact, dozens of actors populate the area, playing androids who interact with the "guests".

There is also the possibility for all visitors to take part in some storylines , in the constant search for easter eggs to gain access to additional experiences. Hundreds of people create content on the live event: influencers, in particular, film and interview the hosts . Finally, the day after the event, an email is sent to the participants with personalized material (photos, videos), to ensure that the event can be told in detail.

Through this activation , HBO has a clear goal in mind: to create hype around the show in an alternative way, leveraging word of mouth . In fact, with hundreds of thousands of impressions , stories and even mainstream media coverage, it certainly has.

COCA COLA WORLD CUP 2018

2018, Zurich . To mark the start of the 2018 World Cup, Coca Cola is launching an augmented reality initiative outside the city's train station. This way, participants are able to showcase their soccer skills on screen by interacting with Swiss soccer player Xherdan Shaqiri. Subsequently, they can take a photo and take part in a competition to win the official ball of the Fifa World Cup. This initiative manages, in a short time, to involve football fans (and not only), giving them a souvenir that connects the brand at the most famous sporting event in the world.

TD BANK: AUTOMATED THANKING MACHINE

2014, Canada . TD Bank, in an effort to reward its customers' loyalty , hands out $20 to every customer at more than 1,100 branches, while thousands of other online banking users are notified that they would receive a deposit directly to their their accounts. In particular, those who are physically present in some of the branches are the protagonists of a suggestive experience. As noted in the #TDThanksYou video, four TD locations across Canada surprise select customers with targeted gifts as part of their customer appreciation day and film their invaluable reactions. People are persuaded to participate in a focus group for a new ATM; instead, they find themselves in front of an “ Automatic Thanking Machine ” which, in thanking them, distributes them various gifts, including travel tickets.

Below, the emotional video that went viral in just a few days.

GUINNESS EXPERIENTIAL MARKETING

2019, China , in the heart of the bustling Jing'An district in Shanghai. The Guinness brand introduces a completely new brand experience: the Guinness Gatehouse , which represents the first adaptation of the well-known Guinness Storehouse concept, the phenomenally successful 'Home of Guinness' in Dublin. In fact, it offers the inhabitants of Shanghai and its visitors the most iconic dark beer in the world and a vast range of Guinness beers, within a space of 1000 square meters entirely dedicated to the brand.

The experience includes five different elements:

• Brewing Vat : a 280º projection showcasing Guinness' heritage, the art of its brewing and its unmistakable advertising.
• Brewers Dining Room - Celebrate the best of the company and food pairings, including the 'Guinness & Oysters bar'.
• Surge & Settle bar : where consumers can enjoy a wide range of Guinness beers and cocktails. Plus, they have the option to pour their own pint and print a “STOUTie” on their beer (i.e., your selfie printed on top of the foam).
• Back bar : a private dining room to enjoy an exceptional Flavor by Fire experience, surrounded by murals, designed by a young artist and exhibited at the Asian Illustration Festival , at the Powerlong Museum in Shanghai.
• Guinness Shop : Complements the experience by inviting visitors to discover a wide range of Guinness products and merchandise .

MISEREOR: ALTERNATIVE CHARITY

One of the many hurdles for charities trying to raise donations for the cause they pursue is that their target audience often doesn't realize how much a small contribution can make a real difference. The lack of transparency in the donation process often causes people to decide not to do so.

Misereor, the German charity for international development, tackles this problem brilliantly. The initiative consists of creating the world's first interactive display capable of accepting credit card donations and placing it in multiple airports.

For example, as you can see in the video below, a loaf of bread is displayed on the billboard : when a person inserts their credit card for a donation, the image moves as if the card is actually cutting a slice of bread. Afterwards, a thank you message from Misereor appears on the screen, accompanied by a link inviting you to donate the same amount each month.

The high-impact campaign has found success among the population, thanks to the possibility that anyone has of verifying the destination of the money donated to charity.

HBO'S ESCAPE ROOM AT SXSW

2017, Austin . Each of us knows what an Escape Room is: the famous game in which a group of people, locked up in a particular room, must solve a series of puzzles in order to get out. Riding the wave of popularity that the game has achieved in recent years, HBO creates a mega experience at the 2017 South by Southwest festival, combining three separate rooms into one huge mystery.

Each room represents a recreated set from a popular HBO show. Specifically, the three shows are Veep , Silicon Valley , and Game of Thrones . Each challenge is connected to the storyline of the show. Visitors first enter what is a recreation of VEEP's Oval Office, and have 5 minutes to solve the mysteries and continue on to the next room, the home of Silicon Valley hackers. Once the hacker challenge is solved, participants enter the room dedicated to Game of Thrones and by solving the challenge on a 3D map, a door opens to the last room with the iconic Iron Throne.

Over the three days of the activation , over 1,500 people walk through HBO's Escape Rooms, generating a lot of press coverage. Even the original cast of VEEP and Game of Thrones are among the attendees.

https://fb.watch/4mqzEdL2mY/

THE ASTON MARTIN CASE

2014, Colorado . The Aston Martin has been an iconic car for a long time, especially thanks to the legendary car chase scenes in many James Bond films. In 2014, in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, several Aston Martin owners have the opportunity to drive their cars on a snowy mountain track , pushing the cars to the limit, just as if they were in a scene from 007. The test drive it includes a braking circuit , a slalom course , a skidpad and a full race circuit . All parts of the experience are supervised by professional drivers.

Although only a select few Aston Martin owners are able to drive on ice, the experience is shared across various social channels and goes a long way towards boosting the visibility of the Aston Martin brand . The campaign proves so successful that the company continues to pursue this experiential strategy every year since 2014.

DELTA'S STILLNESS IN MOTION

2015, Vancouver, TED talk . It is often all too easy to get caught up in the frenzy of everyday life, especially for those who are on a constant journey; and this Delta knows it well. On the flip side, it's easy to think that being active and moving at a faster pace translates into greater productivity. In reverse. In fact, the company aims to underline the importance of slowing down , and demonstrate that, sometimes, taking a break during the day, and simply staying still , can be a great way to improve productivity .

Delta devises, therefore, an original method to sharply contrast the speed with which airlines are often associated. It creates an immersive experience that encourages people to actively practice stillness . Participants receive a small sphere and, after entering a glass room, place it on a small pedestal in front of their seat. They would then sit down and place their hands on biometric sensors that would synchronize the lights with the individual's heart rate. The sphere on the pedestal would then capture the lowest recorded heart rate , pulsing like a calming light.

After the relaxing experience, participants are given the sphere as a gift that serves as a reminder to slow down when feeling stressed. Participants are encouraged to share their experience on social media and are provided with several photos to do so. Total Stillness In Motion campaign generates 9.3 million Twitter impressions for Delta; in fact, the immersive experience is able to create an indelible memory for those who have entered that room.

SENSODYNE: GREAT SENSITIVITY TEST

2014, London . Aiming to launch one of its latest products in an alternative and memorable way, Sensodyne partners with UK marketing agency Hotcow, to create an experiential marketing initiative within London's Potters Field Park. The experience consists in the distribution of samples , in the organization of outdoor games and even in a public lecture on oral hygiene. More specifically, the setting at Potters Field consists of three separate zones where individuals can take part in different experiences.

• Zone 1, or the sensitivity zone , offers a ten-minute dental sensitivity check by professional dentists. Participants can also win prizes by playing “How Sensitive Are You?” such as free product samples, tips and demonstrations from key brand representatives.
• Zone 2 features a giant four meter high molar with the iconic Tower Bridge as a backdrop. The brand ambassadors invite participants to take selfies with the molar and share them on social media, or to have a professional photo taken and then retrieve it online after the event.
• Finally, zone 3 represents an attempt to break the world record for the largest oral care class in the world (about 230 people attended the public class that afternoon).

The experiential strategy achieved a reach of over 4 million people. Over 6,000 Sensodyne samples were distributed and 200 sensitivity checks were conducted. The strategy proved to be a successful campaign that significantly increased brand awareness and brand engagement while educating consumers about the importance of tooth sensitivity.

OREO: TRENDING VENDING MACHINE

2014, Austin . During the SXSW festival, Oreo rolls out an initiative called Trending Vending, which leverages 3D printing technology, aiming to allow users to create, mix and remix the essential building blocks of an Oreo – cream flavors, cookies, shapes and colors – to create highly personalized and never-before-seen products in a matter of seconds. The result: In just over a minute, users can design countless personalized cookies based on Twitter trends , print them on demand, and enjoy them right away. Each machine can create over 10,000 different cookies. For the creation of 3D printing, Mondelēz (Oreo's parent company ) collaborated with the design studio MAYA Design and Twitter.

Through the combination of its cookies and social trends, Oreo aims to guarantee consumers unique and innovative experiences. On the other hand, Oreo is known for its social media marketing strategies. In this case, it's combining the media attention that 3D printing has been receiving lately, with the growing popularity of Twitter, to become a trend on social media itself.

The goal of the Trending Vending project is to rapidly prototype a new experience that pushes the boundaries of how consumers interact with brands and, then, test it on a global stage.