Experiential marketing is all about engaging your audience and innovating ways to interact with them in a memorable way. It's also known as engagement marketing, interactive marketing, or interaction marketing, and it's likely placed into event marketing. Experiential marketing allows the audience to do more than simply purchase stuff or services from a company; it also allows them to experience the company. Emotional connections between the brand and the consumer are formed through memorable and distinctive experiences. Experiential marketing not only promotes customer engagement, but it also frequently improves it. There are major benefits to experiential marketing, such as personalized engagement, stronger connection between product and emotion, brand awareness, and lead generation.
According to Forbes in the 3 Reasons Why CMOs Should Embrace Experiential Marketing blog, experiential marketing and advertising can help to strengthen a long-term link between customers and a brand. These campaigns have the ability to determine an integrated approach. Although the most central objective is to experience a brand in a real, online environment, you may still want to engage in an online discussion about it.
These examples of live streaming activities demonstrate that brands may still activate connection and provide consumers with unique experiences.
Red Bull: Stratos
On October 14, 2012, if you were online, you most likely saw a live stream of the "Stratos" jump. For virtually as long as Red Bull has existed, it has been at the forefront of extreme sports coverage. However, in 2012, the corporation took its content marketing to new heights, setting a global record in the process. Red Bull's marketing campaign, named Stratos, features Felix Baumgartner, an Austrian skydiver who cooperated with Red Bull to set the world record for highest skydive. Red Bull placed Felix in a small communication tube and shot him up into the stratosphere using a giant helium-filled balloon to pull off this incredible stunt. And what's even more impressive is that his solo climb and preparation for the jump allowed him to set yet another record before safely landing back on Earth, Red Bull live streamed the entire event, which received the highest viewing traffic of any live stream ever broadcast on YouTube, with just over 8 million viewers. It's such a unique experience to be able to observe something new, even if it's a little stressful. And the better the outcome, the more it will be remembered and reminisced over by your audience.
Music For Hope
Since the event was held in the heart of Milan, a COVID-19 hotspot, considerable planning was essential to protect the safety of the crew and performers as well as the old cathedral's sanctity. Using our global network of talent to find a local cameraman and team in Milan to set up in the cathedral at different times and with safe distance from other visitors. With three cameras, a drone, and a Steadicam, we supplied full production, with special attention paid to the audio setup, which was undoubtedly the most significant technical aspect of the project. It was critical to capture the lovely music and vocals clearly and without echo in order to do honor to the incredible cathedral acoustics. It was a struggle to coordinate with the Italian production team, which included directors, creative directors, and producers, to operate a full production inside a historically gorgeous, old, and highly fragile location while adhering to Coronavirus safety rules. With 20+ crew members traveling to numerous places for drone footage, the team had to be extremely flexible and work long hours in the lead-up to the event to guarantee that nothing was missed and that the high-quality broadcast was provided without a hitch. In a pandemic scenario, organizing insurance for the location, the artists, the public, and the crew in numerous languages and with Italian translations was also a difficulty that our team rapidly overcame.
"Many organizations and individuals, including artists, have been eager to reach the public remotely in this very difficult time to offer comfort, entertainment, and inspiration, and we were humbled and privileged to have this opportunity to help deliver Andrea Bocelli's breath-taking performance to millions on Easter Sunday," said Jake Ward, Sales Director at Groovy Gecko. "Even though Bocelli is a national hero and treasure, it was the music that appeared to resonate with so many around the world and it was really poignant," said Craig Moehl, Founder and Managing Director of Groovy Gecko. It's a joy and a privilege to be a part of such a historic event, and to assist in delivering relief and a message of hope to so many people all across the world."
With over 121 million impressions and 2.8 million people tuning in live to watch Bocelli's moving performance, the results of this live stream were incredible. The poignant performance broke the record for most-watched classical music concert on YouTube, with more than 28 million views in the first 24 hours and more than 41 million views overall as of this writing.
Live Stream Shopping in China
In China, live stream shopping is a significant part of the retail environment, and it's been dubbed a cross between an infomercial and a television comedy. Influencers organize live shopping experiences on China's leading online retailers not just to sell things but also to connect with their audiences and increase brand awareness. The highlighted influencers are compelling, convincing, and sympathetic individuals who show the audience how to use the products. This informal kind of conversational commerce encourages people to buy without the pressure that comes with more formal sales approaches.
This has proven to be a winning recipe in the region, with over 560 million people watching live streams in 2020. Surprisingly, live stream transactions accounted for 9% of all internet revenues (an increase of almost 100% from 2009).
Influencer to Celebrity Live Stream
The influencers are at the center of Chinese live stream trends. They each host a four-hour's how' each night, presenting 12 products per hour for a total of 48. It's interesting to note that it's not easy for brands to get their products on these shows because they have to pitch to influencers in order to secure a slot, and only about 1 in every 8 brands gets picked to appear. Influencers have the ability to sell out things in a matter of seconds, making millions of dollars every night. Furthermore, influencers bargain with brands to obtain discounts for their consumers, increasing their influence and success. As video ecommerce has taken longer to catch on in Western nations, the tide is unmistakably moving in advantage of this immersive and participatory mode of purchase. So far, Smartzer's brand collaborations for live shopping events have yielded outstanding results, with an average of 55 percent of viewers engaging with shoppable live broadcasts and CTRs ranging from 20 to 75 percent. China has undoubtedly paved the way for the future of shopping, even if the features of these live streams may be adapted and optimized for western viewers in western markets. Ecommerce as we know it is changing, and now is a fantastic opportunity for brands to embrace it and include a new way of buying that meets changing customer requirements and behaviors.
These experiential marketing examples show that firms can still interact with customers and provide them with unique experiences.
HBO Escape Room
Escape The Room is a common activity in which a group of players is trapped in a room and must solve a series of puzzles to get out. HBO built a massive Escape Room experience at SXSW 2017, combining three unique rooms into one massive mystery. Each chamber was a smaller version of a major HBO show's set. Veep, Silicon Valley, and, of course, Game of Thrones were the three shows. Because it required participants to be totally involved, this experiential marketing strategy was a huge success. Having HBO's brand image for amazing series, creating the sets of these shows for viewers to truly be a part of was a brilliant approach to bring these fictional stories to life.
Coca-Cola’s Vending Machine
Experiential marketing can sometimes go far beyond the product. Experiential marketing, when handled intelligently, can directly address and have an influence on global issues that have been ongoing for years. Coca-Cola set out to achieve just that in India and Pakistan in 2013, by installing "little world machines." The hope was that through virtual interaction, the two countries' troubled relationship could be temporarily put aside and genuine human connections could occur.
These high-tech vending machines were installed in two locations: Pakistan's Lahore and India's New Delhi. They were all put up in busy shopping malls where passers-by could participate in the experience. The vending machines had cameras embedded in them, allowing for live face-to-face contact. The goal was to collaborate with the person on the screen to complete interactive actions such as mirroring gestures and tracing images on the screen. The campaign was a huge success, with a lot of good feedback from the press. But, perhaps more important, it demonstrated that even a cola business can make strong attempts to effect positive change through marketing methods.
Bay Area Google Impact Challenge
In 2015, Google gave $5.5 million to ten groups working to improve the San Francisco Bay area's communities. However, before distributing the money, Google decided to let residents of the Bay Area vote on which cause should be the focus of the campaign. After all, the residents of the town should have the most powerful voices. Google set up interactive posters all across San Francisco that served as public voting booths to encourage Bay Area residents to participate in the process. Each poster featured all ten nongovernmental organizations as well as the main issue they were attempting to address. This campaign was a huge success, not just in terms of raising funds, but also in terms of raising awareness of local concerns in the Bay Area community.
Facebook IQ live
Facebook, which also owns Instagram, has always recognized the value of the information it holds on how people use both platforms. As a result, the Facebook IQ Live experience was established. That data was used to create live scenes that depicted the data for this experience. The IQ Mart was one of them: a "store" scenario that reflected an online shopper's conversion process when making purchasing decisions through social media. "When we understand what matters to individuals... we can be what matters to them," says Momentum Worldwide, the company behind Facebook IQ Live. In other words, we may tailor our messaging to the concerns of our target audiences. Facebook was able to implement this for its own brand by producing this experience. It also established a positive brand image for a few consumers, such as those who were unsure about how to use the platform for business.
Aston Martin Ice Experience
The Aston Martin has long been regarded as a famous car, due mainly to the iconic car chase scenes seen in numerous James Bond films. A braking loop, a slalom course, a skid pad, and a full race circuit were all part of this test drive experience. Professional drivers supervised all aspects of the course, which was held in an enclosed but loads of space. Although only a few Aston Martin owners were able to drive over the ice, the event was widely shared on social media, increasing Aston Martin's brand awareness. They've continued to run this experiential strategy every year since the campaign was so effective.
Taco Bell “Taco Gifter”
Taco Bell, which launched its "Taco Gifter" promotion in the fall of last year. The basic concept is that even if you can't share tacos with your friends or family in person, you can still show them you care by giving them a taco. Taco Gifter is a valuable addition to the app and website, allowing fans to share their love of tacos at any time, for any occasion, or for no reason at all. The new digital innovation makes the widespread passion for tacos ready-to-gift, making it more special than simply posting Happy Birthday on someone's social media profile, and less difficult than choosing the ideal greeting card, which, after all, isn't as tasty as tacos anyway.
IKEA “Fifty fifty” Digital Card Game
In the international women's day, IKEA wished to use the holiday as a springboard for greater awareness of domestic work differences through one of its experiential marketing events. The campaign highlights the fact that women work three times as much at home as their men. The furniture and home products retailer designed a digital card game for Instagram Stories in the hopes of sparking a dialog about the gender gap in household work.
Stranger Things: The Drive-Into Experience
Due to the closure of movie theaters throughout the world for safety reasons during the pandemic, drive-in movies have seen a return in popularity over the last year. Stranger Things took it a step further by incorporating an immersive drive-in experience. This event started last fall, just in time for Halloween, but it will last until April 2021 for lovers of the show.
M&M: Taste Rooms
When M&M needed to determine its next taste, the business chose to do so in New York City with an immersive pop-up. The experience comprised "flavor chambers," which were each outfitted with decor and scents specific to a certain flavor. The pop-up also had snack and drink lounges with M&M-themed beverages, which I'm sure provided plenty of opportunity for M&M to appear on various participants' social media sites. Receive the "fun" aspect with each and every advertising and marketing campaign you open. It's simple to get caught up in how valuable your tag is in relieving your customer's concern.
Häagen-Dazs: Strawberries & Cream with Wimbledon
Häagen-Dazs collaborated with Wonderland to build a GIF photo booth during the Wimbledon tennis competition to promote their new limited-edition ice cream flavor Strawberries & Cream. The booth had a swing (alluding to tennis) that attracted prominent tennis players, models, and influencers to shoot photos to share on social media — a great way to collect user-generated material and immediately grow their reach. Häagen-Dazs made a commercial for the limited-edition taste, referring to itself as "the official ice cream of Wimbledon." Analyzing how you can encourage user-generated content by providing enjoyable chances. This doesn't have to be expensive, too; there are many low-cost choices for creating modest booths at business conferences that nonetheless appear Instagram-worthy.
Vans: House of Vans
Vans has set up House of Vans pop-up shops in skateparks across the country, including New York City and Chicago. This provided a venue for skateboarders to congregate, network, listen to live music, and shred. Vans also used these skatepark popups to promote the release of their new David Bowie-inspired shoe range. Pop-ups in and near skateparks seem like a perfect fit for an experiential marketing experience, especially because Vans is a leading shoe brand among skateboarders. Identify and support the interests of your target audience. Vans, for example, recognized that they had a large skateboarding following and created an event to thank them while also attracting additional skateboarders.
Global Oreo Vault
The vault, which was completed in 2008, acts as a last barrier for more than one million seeds in case plant life on Earth is ever destroyed. Oreo was inspired by the actual vault to do the same and secure their famous cookies. With this highly experiential marketing strategy, Oreo takes matters into their own hands. So, whether you decide to take a vacation to Scandinavia to see for yourself, you can rest assured that your favorite cream-filled cookies will be safe and sound in the case of a global disaster.
Sensodyne’s Great Sensitivity Test
Sensodyne wanted to make a memorable first impression with one of its newest products, the Sensodyne Complete Protection. Sensodyne chose to develop an all-day experience at Potters Field Park in London, with games, samples, and a public oral hygiene workshop, in collaboration with the UK-based marketing agency Hotcow. The layout on Potters Field consisted of three distinct zones where Londoners may participate in a variety of activities. Professional dentists conduct a ten-minute dental sensitivity check-up in Zone 1. The Sensitivity Zone. Participants may also earn prizes by playing the "How Sensitive Are You?" Buzzer game, which required them to guide a metal ring through spiraling metal wires without touching them. This detailed experiential strategy resulted in 150 media mentions and a reach of over 4 million people. Sensodyne samples were provided to over 6,000 people, and 200 dental sensitivity tests were performed. The strategy proved to be a successful campaign that improved brand awareness dramatically.
Finally, as each of the examples above demonstrate, experiential marketing is a vibrant part of the advertising world. Maybe because Covid has made it more difficult for us to gather in person, the connection and experience provided by these gatherings has become even more important as we approach a brighter future.