Experiential marketing centres around a ‘brand experience’. Such brand experiences are designed for consumers and could be events, campaigns or giveaways. For example, Google set up a campaign to encourage consumers to use the Google photo app. Anyone who went to along and shared a photo on the app would be given a free cupcake. The gift created a positive experience associated with the brand. Furthermore, another canny brand – Zappos – set up an experiential marketing campaign off the back of Google’s. They set up shop opposite to the Google event and waited for people to emerge with cupcakes. They then offered a trade. Essentially, they gave away their products to anyone who would trade their Google cupcake. They thereby make the experience fun and very memorable.
So, in short, experiential marketing is the type of marketing event whereby a company constructs an experience for consumers which promotes positive interaction with their product or service.
How does experiential marketing benefit the brand?
You might be forgiven for thinking that giving products away for free will not increase sales. However, there is a consensus among marketing companies that such experiential marketing taps into a person’s psyche. Experiential marketing does this by activating all of the human senses while the person is engaged with the product or brand. In effect, the senses spark emotions, emotions cause the experience to be stored in the long-term memory and, so long as that memory is of a positive interaction, those memories make a person more likely to become loyal to a brand. Therefore, while the initial campaigns gave away products for free, those campaigns resulted in an increase in the number of new and loyal customers.
Will experiential marketing be the next marketing trend?
It is difficult to predict because not all companies can budget for free giveaways, large consumer events or campaigns. However, it does seem that experiential marketing is not just a technique for the biggest corporations. It is becoming increasingly common for recruiters to receive requests for experiential marketing candidates from marketing agencies and departments.
Karen’s tips for those looking for Experiential Marketing Roles
If you have a Degree in Digital Marketing and you have completed Google Analytics courses, then you are on the right track.
Lastly, employers in Experiential Marketing are always keen to see advertising experience or any high vis brands experience on a CV.
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