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Aiming Before You Fire:The Evolution of the Experiential Marketing Industry.

BY RICHARD CRUZ

PROJECT MANAGER, VITAL EXP

rcruz@vitalexp.com

1 1 5 E a s t 2 3 r d S t r e e t , N Y, N Y 1 0 0 1 0 • t e l e p h o n e : 2 1 2 - 9 9 5 - 9 5 2 5 • V i t a l E X P. c o m

Aiming Before You Fire:The Evolution of the Experiential Marketing Industry.

Introduction

Take one quick gander into the vast databank that is Wikipedia, and enter the term “experiential marketing” into the search bar. You’ll notice that there isn’t a unique article associated to the topic, but that it interestingly redirects you to a subtopic of its “Advertising” article- the subtopic being “future”. Rightly so. Given these tremulous economic times, our beloved industry is undoubtedly the first to feel the aftershocks, causing many professionals (including myself, to be honest), to feel apathetic, frustrated, and confused. While these sentiments are justified due to diminish-ing budgets and less abundant RFPs, the “below-the-line” industry is undergoing a metamorphosis that will eventu-ally change the way that brand experiences are considered and approached.

Shifting Perspectives and Paying Attention

Traditionally, the term “experiential” has been synonymous with the tactical executions of activations, sampling, and event marketing. While this may be true to a certain extent, the time has come to change industry standards and em-brace the discipline for what the word “experiential” truly implies: providing a brand experience for the consumer that will humanize and contextualize your message. This means adopting new disciplines and competencies and putting them into practice- strategically first, tactically second. An effective, modern experiential marketing campaign needs to utilize an interdisciplinary approach in order to deliver one clear, scalable experience in a context that reso-nates with your consumer.

Interactive = Experiential

Below-the-line agencies, like our creative and traditional media-focused counterparts, have quickly had to adopt competencies in the interactive arena to account for the cultural shift that has changed the way that consumers, well, consume. This expansion of repertoire, paired with the experiential agency’s core skill in direct consumer insight and understanding, illustrates that the marriage of live and interactive brand connections needs to be considered prior to the dawn of any marketing outreach campaign.

To be frank, a “democratized culture” is the best description for the culture we live in- and those in the marketing & advertising industries, especially on the strategy/account side of things, have to make peace with the fact that the brand/consumer conversation is no longer one-sided.

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Some examples of brands that have embraced include , Budwieser, DeBeers, and PepsiCo (click the image to view campaign):

“Bud Camp” (Agency: Mosaic Experiential)

“DeBeers Gallery Of Moments” (Agency: JWT)“PepsiCo Zeitgeist @ SXSW”

The above campaigns got consumers (and press) talking fast. The fallout that these campaigns experienced through word-of-mouth, web, and PR/media exceeded expectation, and provided excellent qualitative results. They also ac-complished a successful return-on-ideas that now serve as paradigms for a successful 21st century experiential mar-keting should be approached.

So what’s the takeaway?

Savvily integrating web, retail, and live interaction in a manner that translates to your target is a formula for success. Further, the phenomenon of social networking has granted marketers insight into their consumers’ lives, passions, and dispositions- so why not take advantage of this awareness to create programs that emotionally drive home your bottom line... after all, the brand-to-consumer-relationship is a fragile, ever-evolving one and is built on mutual trust.

Establishing a methodology is crucial to measuring the effectiveness of an integrated campaign- that means sticking to your bottom line, and subsequently taking a good, hard look at the playing field before developing a strategy.

Make yourself aware your competitors’ experiential effort`s, and not only WHAT they do, but WHY they do it.

Re-identify your target- as simple as it sounds, having a keen understanding of your target’s likes/dislikes, habitual tendencies, and where they fit in on both macro/micro social levels will allow your brand entryway into their lives on a genuine basis.

Contextualize and Aim In- utilizing non-traditional approaches to execution can be favorable. If your outreach has been consistently conducted through direct-mail, find out where they live online and tap them on the shoulder. Make sure you’re at point-of-purchase, whether e-commerce or retail, engaging (not preaching) your target with same mes-sage.

Ultimately, the process isn’t “wash, rinse, dry, repeat”- your brand objectives may remain the same, but your con-sumer is a fluid entity who lives off series of various experiences.

Vital EXP is an award-winning, full-service general market experiential marketing agency that specializes in creating creative, integrated ideas that conquer the mundane and engage consumers. For more information/RFP, visit us at www.vitalexp.com

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