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Experiential Marketing for Businesses – A Game-changing Marketing Strategy

Experiential marketing, also known as engagement marketing or event marketing, is a type of marketing technique where businesses create unique positive experiences for their audience. It enables brands to better connect with their customers and leads by engaging them in immersive live or virtual events.

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Marketing is dynamic and always evolving. Consumer behaviours shift constantly. New products, services and brands are always rising. Technology is changing the way people engage with brands and businesses.

So, demanding the attention of your audience requires more than just the basics of blogs and social posts. That’s where experiential marketing comes in as an innovative approach.

In this post, we'll explain what experiential marketing is and show you how and why it works with various real-life examples and success stories.

What is Experiential Marketing?

Experiential marketing is a marketing approach where brands create an interactive setting that people can directly experience. It can be hosting live events, enjoyable activities, or any creative idea where audiences can also take part. With advancements in digital technology, it’s very much possible to run virtual events as well for experiential marketing campaigns.

But it’s not always about some glittery, extravagant event that blows everyone’s mind. Experience and emotion doesn’t always rely on grandeur.

In fact, you might have participated in experiential marketing without knowing, and that too not once but multiple times. How many times have you tried a ‘free sample’ of a yogurt, cookie, or something similar? It’s quite common for us, and yet, it’s one of the most effective forms of experiential marketing. Letting your audience experience a sample of your product, for free!

That also brings us to an important point - there are no hard and fast rules on running experiential marketing campaigns.

It’s not a standard ‘marketing channel’, but a concept that focus on engaging audiences. After all, there’s really no fixed way of delivering the ‘experience’ of your product. But there are tried and tested methods that you can follow too. We’ll cover those a bit later, so read on!

Why Does Experiential Marketing Matter - Benefits for Businesses

Experiential marketing isn’t a new strategy. The concept was discussed and even implemented during the early 2000s (think of those free food samples at grocery stores and sidewalks).

Today, it has become even more significant and impactful. Here’s why.

Stand out in an ocean of brands and products

No matter what you’re buying, just look around. You’ll see countless products, services, and non-stop marketing activities everywhere.

Consumers are surrounded by a relentless stream of ads and promotions. Amidst all that noise, your brand or product can sometimes get lost, despite other marketing efforts like SEO, emails, and social media.

Experiential marketing can help you cut through the noise and stand out as a brand that delivers more than just good products or services. A brand that creates memorable experiences.

Unique Approach and Competitive Edge

Experiential marketing can be a breath of fresh air for both marketers and their audience.

As a brand, you get to go beyond the boring marketing stuff and brainstorm unique idea. For audiences, getting hands-on or participating in fun events will be a different and exciting approach.

And if your competitors are not doing the same (many businesses don’t!), that gives you a solid competitive advantage.

Lasting Impression of Brand Image

Experiences are imprinted in memory. Don’t you have fond memories of many pleasant moments in life?

If you can create such moments for your customers, it’s safe to say they won’t be forgetting you any time soon. That positive brand image will eventually make them more willing to buy your products or services.

Brand Loyalty

Experiential marketing also drives brand loyalty. It transforms passive consumers into active participants, which gives them a sense of involvement and ownership. And such experiences naturally deepen their connection with the brand.

If the event or experience is memorable and enjoyable, people also associate those good feelings with your brand. Over time, these positive associations further strengthen loyalty.

Different Types of Experiential Marketing Events

Earlier we mentioned there are no specific guidelines or rules for experiential marketing. You can conduct any sort of event or activity, both live and virtual, and the only limit is your creativity.

Having said that, there are some popular types of experiential marketing campaigns and events which businesses often implement.

1. Physical events

Brands often set up real-life physical events during festivals and galas, where people can participate in various fun activities. It can involve music, games, food and drinks, and a lively, fun-filled atmosphere for attendees. This type of experiential marketing is best for business seeking to improve personal engagement and brand awareness.

2. Virtual events

Today’s digital technology makes it possible to create virtual experiences for audiences. That is why virtual events are also becoming popular among brands. From webinars and live streams to virtual concerts and games, there are many ways to engage your audience through their screens.

3. Pop-up shops

Pop-up shops are temporary retail spaces set up for a limited time, often in unexpected locations. Customers and visitors can visit these shops and directly interact with the brand and its offerings.

The shops may showcase new products, offer exclusive discounts, and provide a curated experience that aligns with the brand's identity. The temporary nature of these shops also creates sense of urgency among people, motivating them to visit at least once before the shop packs up.

4. In-Store Experiences

Business with brick-and-mortar stores can host experiential marketing campaigns in their own premises. Interactive elements such as product demos or entertaining activities can be organized within the store to attract more people. They end up staying longer, possibly exploring more of your products, and possibly buying then and there!

5. Collborative Experiences

This type of experiential marketing campaign involves two or more different parties collaborating to create shared experiences.

Brands could join hands with celebrities and famous personalities. Or, two different, non-competing businesses could come together with creative campaigns that benefits both. Co-hosted events and joint product launches are some good examples of collaborative experiences.

How to Create Experiential Marketing the Right Way?

Even with all the creative freedom, you’d want to follow some basic guidelines for experiential marketing.

Define objectives: Set clear objectives for your campaign, whether it’s to improve brand awareness, engagement, launch new products, or boost sales.
Define the target audience: Like with all marketing campaigns, identify your target audience. Analyse their preferences, behaviour and pain points.
Brainstorming sessions: Next, sit with your team to brainstorm creative ideas for the campaign. Sky is the limit here, but be realistic with your plans. Overambitious and unrealistic ideas can backfire big time.

[Case in point — In 2005, beverage brand Snapple tried to unveil the world’s largest popsicle in New York’s Union Square. Only, it began melting too quickly, flooding the streets with sticky juice and forcing emergency crews to intervene. What was meant to be a buzzworthy stunt turned into a PR mess.]
Plan the setup and execution: After you finalize the idea or event for your campaign, plan the details for execution. Be as specific as possible with the time, location, budget, resources, etc.
Generate interest: Finally, before your event goes live, you need to promote it to as many people as possible.

5 Best Examples of Experiential Marketing

If you love the concept of experiential marketing but are struggling to come up with ideas, check out some of the real-life cases of how other businesses did it.

Here are some of the best experiential marketing campaigns launched by popular brands.

NBC’s Peacock Playground

The Peacock Playground organized by NBC at SXSW in 2022 was a perfect example of physical events in experiential marketing

The playground included games like mini golf and life-sized chess. The venue was decorated with colorful installations, with an open bar for people to relax and wind down. It was the perfect spot to play games, enjoy good food and drinks, and of course, take a lot of social media worthy selfies.

The event was a great way to let people have loads of fun, while also promoting some of the new shows to launch on the Peacock streaming service.

Benefit’s Lashtastic Virtual Campaign

Benefit cosmetics launched an amazing virtual event campaign to promote their new mascara product.

To participate, users had to sign up on the brand’s website. Then using Augmented Reality (AR) technology, they gamified the experience by allowing participants to use their phone camera to scan their surroundings for special ‘tokens’.

Users could then exchange these virtual tokens for various gifts such as Benefit’s beauty products, discount offers, or even a live online consultation on their website.

House of Vans

House of Vans is an experiential marketing campaign from popular footwear brand Vans.

The company set up pop-up shops in various locations around the world. But what’s interesting is that they set them up in skateboarding parks, hitting the right note with their target audience. The young and adventurous demographic were ideal customers for Vans footwear. A simple, strategic choice of location was the game-changer.

Burger King

In 2017, Burger King launched a Halloween campaign that some would find fun, others would find scary, but everyone would love.

The first 500 people to walk into select Burger King outlets in a clown suit would win a free Whopper. This drove flocks of people to put on their clown outfits and head to their local Burger King joint, also attracting attention of thousands of other spectators.

It was a brilliant move for an in-store experience. The campaign fit in well with the festive theme and gave people the opportunity to have some Halloween fun while earning a free burger. It’s a win-win for the customers, or at least the first 500 of them!

Fortnite Concert

Fortnite is known for its celeb collaborations. The battle-royale game frequently joins forces with popular celebrities and launches their unique skins in the game.

But in 2020, they stepped things a notch higher and hosted a virtual concert in collaboration with Travis Scott, using the rapper’s lifelike avatar. The concert was named “Astronomical” and it was attended live by 12 million people.

At the time of this writing, the official YouTube video of the event stands at 207m views!

The right collaboration along with creative events can turn experiential marketing campaigns into huge hits.

What’s Next?

When businesses reach a stagnant state with their marketing efforts, it’s time to spice things up. With experiential marketing campaigns, brands can make themselves the centre of attention by offering people unique and enjoyable experiences.

In return, audiences develop a positive image of the brand, eventually willing to buy, and perhaps even stay loyal to the business in the long term. It’s not just a gimmick, but a powerful strategy that can boost brand perception, awareness, engagement, as well as sales.

So why not put some life in your dull marketing efforts with an exciting experiential marketing event? Gear up with your team, get your creative juices flowing, and ramp up your marketing efforts to deliver not just products and services, but memorable experiences and positive emotions!