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What is Experiential Marketing?

by Fred Roed on 05/10/06 at 10:50 am
1 comment

Ok, Shane, just to keep you quiet, here is a decent article that delves into an explanation on Experiential Marketing.

I don’t believe that experiential marketing is one specific marketing tool. It’s an idea. A mindset. A focus on creating fresh connections between brands and consumers out in the world where things happen. Connections in the form of experiences that are personally relevant, memorable, interactive and emotional. Connections that lead to increased sales and brand loyalty.

Red Bull’s Downhill Xtreme and Big Wave Africa events are good examples of big business getting ‘experiential’. With regards to small businesses / individuals exploring this technique to achieving brand awareness, here are some examples (some more relevant than others) that I could think of:

• A cooking school holds a ‘Valentines’ Day Cook-off’ with couples competing for a sponsored prize of an all-expenses paid cooking course.
• A stationery store sends a mailshot to its customers containing the lid for a classy ball point pen with the message: ‘Pick up the rest of this pen at our store and enter our handwriting competition this coming Saturday’
• A creative studio gives each of its client a wire baobab tree with a pack of square paper – encouraging their clients to scrawl creative ideas on the paper and pop them on the wire branches: an ‘idea tree’ of sorts.
• An advertising studio gives prospective clients a bag of cut-out fridge magnet words and pictures with a small metal sheet. The instructions in the bag explain ‘Do-it-yourself advertising’ with a final message saying: ‘Should you want help with the process give us a call.’
• A film director promoting his idea for a movie stands at a traffic intersection with a cardboard cut-out saying: ‘I have written a film and I’m looking for 1000 investors with R1000 to risk. Please help!’
• A new restaurant’s waiters approach people in a shopping mall with a voucher and a mint wrapped in plastic. On the voucher is written: ‘This is a voucher for one free after-dinner mint, attached. Please note that this voucher is only redeemable in our restaurant.’

It is well-worth reading the full article about ‘experiential marketing’ – click here.

Fred Roed is the marketing guy in the Ideate crew. Fred is the CEO of web marketing company World Wide Creative and the co-founder of online learning portal Heavy Chef. Fred loves writing about people out there doing marketing right. Follow Fred on Twitter here. View more articles by Fred Roed.

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