Experiential holiday events are an amazing way to connect with customers in unique, meaningful ways. This form of marketing continues to break boundaries and create valuable connections between brands and their consumers. Now is the perfect time to make a meaningful connection with your consumers by implementing experiential holiday events into your marketing campaign. 

People who undergo a live brand experience are likely to tell approximately 17 other people about their positive experience. Those 17 individuals will tell their friends; so on and so forth. According to Nielsen, 92% of consumers believe recommendations from friends and family over all forms of advertising. That’s why experiential marketing campaigns have proven themselves to be so effective when incorporated into a companies marketing methods.

Interested in making your holiday campaign experiential? Discover what some of our favourite brands are doing. 

Experiential Holiday Events To Get People Talking and Taking Action

Santa’s Arrival at Dufferin Mall

Getting your photo taken with Santa at the mall is a tradition for millions of people. And when you think of Santa, what do you think of? Toys – tons of toys!! For Santa’s arrival at Dufferin Mall, there were GIANT games, face painting and more set up to make the experience memorable for the whole family! For participating in each game, children received a small prize.

In addition, shoppers had the chance to win a $100 gift card for posting a Facebook picture of themselves at Santa’s Arrival with the hashtag #DMSanta. Mall go-ers were delighted that we were there with plenty of games and activities for their children. Even the adults joined in on the fun! 

Santa photos at Dufferin Mall are happening every day until December 24. Don’t forget to post to Facebook for your chance to win!

WestJet Christmas Miracle 

Although this event was not produced by Tigris, this is something we would LOVE to do! It is definitely one of our favourite experiential holiday events – turned into a viral video sensation.  The video above was executed at Toronto Pearson Airport. We’ve actually done plenty of events there, including market research and holiday campaigns. As you’ll see in the video above, the WestJet Santa asked guests for their Christmas list, while WestJet workers took notes and purchased the wishlist items. The gifts were wrapped, named, and delivered to each family waiting for their suitcases on the carousel. With everything from toys for the twins, socks and underwear, to a snowboard, passengers were blown away by the generosity.

Each year, the #WestJetChristmas changes focus. In 2016,  Fort McMurray residents affected by the May wildfires received a surprise in November when they became the focus of WestJet’s annual Christmas miracle. Because these campaigns directly effect the consumer in a meaningful, memorable way, they remain extremely successful year after year and are truly unforgettable. Experiential marketing events don’t get any better than that!

Holiday Haven at Outlet Collection Niagara

In 2014, Tigris teamed up with a luxury event management company to execute a fun promotion appropriately called “Holiday Haven” at Outlet Collection Niagara every Thurs-Sun from Dec. 4 through to Dec. 21. The Outlet Collection is seriously one of a kind, but not everyone enjoys shopping outside in the cold weather, regardless of the deals. This amazing promotion came complete with a gift wrapping station, free goodies and even fire pits to make s’mores amidst your shopping.

To bring the campaigns ideas to life, our team of buzz building brand ambassadors were onsite to ensure shoppers had an exceptional experience. And it’s not just about the customers either – the team was outfitted with an arsenal of warm winter apparel including hats, gloves, scarves, wind pants and winter jackets to ensure they were toasty warm and comfortable while they were working. Don’t they look cozy?

On any given day, over 500 brand impressions were made and our holiday campaign ambassadors gift wrapped about 50 presents per shift! Guests were so excited that every aspect of the Holiday Promo was completely free.

TGI Fridays Virtual Dog Sled Ride 

As we’re sure you already know, virtual reality has become a vital tool this year in events, marketing campaigns and even as a training tool. TGI Fridays used virtual reality to take their consumer on the world’s first virtual dog-sled ride. The fully-immersive #JingleEffect experience transports guests to snow-covered Lapland for 90 seconds of pure winter wonderland! The viewer was able to experience the sled ride right from their seat while enjoying their TGI Friday meal. Think outside of the box and do some research when planning your experiential holiday events. It’s all about connecting with your consumer in memorable, unique, unforgettable ways.

Share the Joy Holiday Shopping Shuttle for Rogers

Shopping during the holidays can be quite stressful, wouldn’t you agree? Because it’s so busy, many of us end of parking far away. When you have arms full of gifts, wouldn’t it be nice to have a valet service to your car? That’s exactly what we provided back in 2008! Three teams of brand ambassadors were paired up to travel across Ontario to execute an experiential marketing program for Rogers. The events staff were responsible for giving holiday shoppers a complimentary ride on Rogers “Share the Joy” Shopping Shuttle in a winterized golf cart. The teams traveled across 9 malls in GTA and as far away as North Bay & Belleville to execute the program – giving rides to thousands of customers over the 3 weeks. This event is from several years ago, but strategies and from this campaign can still be repurposed today. 

Executing Experiential Holiday Events

Don’t miss out on the opportunity to incorporate experiential strategies into your holiday marketing campaigns. With the busiest time of year for shoppers upon us, it’s the perfect opportunity to turn potential customers into your very own brand advocates. Here are 4 simple tips you can leverage! Here at Tigris, we create, plan and staff memorable experiences that build brands and businesses. Contact Tigris today for a free quote on our event staffing services. We operate nationwide across Canada with over 2,000 dynamic events staff on our team!