Marketing Matters Experiential and BTL Experiential is an excellent way to support belowthe-line direct marketing programmes. Utilising trained brand ambassadors with permission to engage targeted consumers in store, providing relevant information on features and benefits of things like brown goods, white goods, tech products, comms equipment and smartphones. Ambassadors engage consumers with helpful information, give technology updates, product upgrades, specifications for models, explain offers, and assist and deliver sales in store for the brand.
Measurement and Metrics
Experience Counts Experiential marketing is an often overlooked discipline when it comes to the overall marketing mix. Continuing our series of articles in association with the APMC, Ronan Traynor makes the case for experiential marketing.
Experiential and Digital
Experiential activity is easy to measure and the positive impact on sales can be tracked and reported using simple tracking software. Most activation occurs close to the purchase point – the purchase occasion. The activation and sales figures can be compared, pre-activation and during and postexperiential engagement. This is helpful as brands can see their return on investment immediately. Big brands are investing more in experiential. The
While digital and online can be seen as secondary forms of communication, experiential can be viewed
overarching reason for this is cut through to the consumer. Increasingly, consumers are more media
as a primary form of communication which creates the experience or content to be shared online. Good
savvy and can screen out the brand messages that occupy their every waking moment. But good
experiential will link seamlessly and provide a ramp into brand microsites or Facebook pages. At the point of engagement, ambassadors can bring consumers
experiential is targeted, relevant and provides a valuable, positive engagement for consumers, which, in turn, creates a lasting brand memory and
online in real time and increase the amount of likes, visitors, explain offerings, play games. Ambassadors
a measurable increase in sales.
can also gather emails, data that can be utilised by brands in their digital offerings.
Experiential and ATL
The Experiential Checklist Simplicity: For experiential to work, you must take enough time to make the engagement and message
Experiential can bring above the line (ATL) brand campaigns to life at point of sale, in retail, on trade,
as simple as possible. Strip out layers or complexity. Relevance: It must be relevant to the consumer in question.
brand experiences to targeted consumers. The results of good experiential marketing include
off trade, at festivals, on match days or through road-shows. Specific campaigns and brand stories
Occasion: It needs to be activated at the right occasion to reach the targeted consumer, morning,
a measurable increase in sales and trackable increase in brand love.
can be told and activated at the right occasion with the target market, reinforcing the ATL campaign, creating more resonance with consumers, deepening the brand affinity and increasing sales.
night, commute, leisure, etc. Opportunity: It has to be deployed at the right opportunity, with friends, in store, at the game, in the campsite, at work, etc. Permission to engage: The brand ambassadors need to be aligned to the consumer and the engagement. For example, older ambassadors with carpentry and DIY skills would be better positioned to sell the features and benefits of a jigsaw in a homecare store. Brand specific recruitment: You need to recruit the best brand ambassadors who should be positive, open, engaging and knowledgeable about the brand. Training: The more training on the engagement and the brand, the better the engagement. Uniforms and clothing: These should be brand relevant, impactful and clean. Memorable: It should deliver a memorable, positive, brand message. Targeted: Know your consumer and aim your experience at them.
A
t its simplest, experiential marketing is about creating and delivering engaging
Why Experiential? “I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand” – Confucius. It works. Experiential drives sales, builds brand affinity, engages consumers in a positive fashion, yields a trackable return on investment, works tactically and strategically for brands. It also amplifies the work of other disciplines, especially digital by creating an experience which will be shared online by the consumer. Experiential is about bringing your “Brand Story” to life. Brands can claim to be youthful, cuttingedge, sophisticated, discerning and irreverent but we are defined by our actions not our words. So a brand can and should, talk about what they stand for. But to be credible they must also act in a manner consistent with this message. It is the tangible delivery and realisation of the brand promise. Where does experiential fit around the discipline table, within a multi-agency team? Experiential campaigns are powerful as standalone executions, however the real benefit of experiential is as an amplifier and enabler of other disciplines.
Experiential and PR Experiential and PR together can bring the brand message to life. Utilising brand ambassadors with permission to engage the target audience at the correct occasion like PR events and PR opportunities, thereby amplifying the PR brand message in the process. This can happen pre-event, during and post events. Working with the PR team to identify the relevant brand occasions, the passion points for the consumer and the brand, showing up and creating engaging platforms at those opportunities
Experiential and Sponsorship Experiential can also amplify brand sponsorships by helping fans at sports events to engage with their sport and brand. It can also work very well at music events when brands create fun areas to dwell with friends and the brand. The closer you are to the sponsored event, the greater the consumer affinity for the sponsor. Experiential is especially relevant on the night of the concert, on match day, in the campsite at the festival or at “the Ploughing.”
28 | IMJ SEPTEMBER 2012
Ronan Traynor is managing director of Verve, The Live Agency. In association with APMC.
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