What is an experiential activation?
An experiential activation is known by many terms, including event marketing, live marketing, participation marketing, experiential marketing, brand activation and brand experience marketing. This specific type of marketing continues to rise in popularity, and for good reason! At it’s core, this experiential marketing tactic is focused on creating meaningful connections to build long standing relationships with customers. What could be more important than that for your brand? However, you may still be wondering…
Should my company have an experiential marketing brand activation?
If you are looking to do any of the following, then your company will benefit from an experiential activation:
- Launch a new product or service
- Build brand awareness
- Re-reignite customer interest
- Change an established customer perception
Experiential marketing events are valuable in helping others understand your brand/product and improving your social media following/engagement. In addition, these type of events allow a consumer to visualize how your brand will fit into their lifestyle. A recent study has shown 58% of industry experts have created an experiential activation with this goal in mind!
What can a brand experience agency do for me?
You probably already know a lot of energy and hard work goes into creating, planning and staffing an experiential activation. Contact a professional brand experience agency to:
- develop and customize a strategic experiential marketing plan that communicates important brand messaging while interacting with your target consumers.
- coordinate the event logistics required for the activation to alleviate a ton of time and stress from your busy schedule.
- book and manage events staff from their roster to follow through with the dynamic execution of the plan.
In addition to building compelling campaigns, look for an agency that provides event management, photos & results. Because you are investing your time and money into a brand experience agency, a detailed report is crucial to establishing ROI.
While You’re Brainstorming…
Note that not all experiential events have to feature a new or current product. As long as the experience is positive and correlates to the brands mission and values, the event will be memorable. Use current trends such as virtual reality and pop culture to enhance engagement. In addition, be sure to give value to your consumer – whether it’s a free sample, souvenir or new information, the consumer must leave with something they can tell or show others. Last but not least, think outside the box – way, way outside the box!
5 Examples of Unique Experiential Activations
Tigris teamed up with Fleishman Hillard and Roaming Hunger to execute Uncle Ben’s Food Truck Challenge in Montreal, Vancouver and Toronto in 2016 – the latter of which is featured in this video. Tigris’ brand ambassadors engaged the public to participate in an interactive experience to sample, and vote on, unique Uncle Ben’s dishes from 3 food trucks per city. The food truck with the most votes won the opportunity to sample Uncle Ben’s as part of a national tour for the summer. Over 12,000 people participated in the activation over 3 days!
Our client came to us with their idea of exhibiting artwork completed by commissioned artists to promote a new product. These artists used mixed media in conjunction with Burt’s Bees new collection of lipsticks to create unique, dramatic works of art. In collaboration with ten of Canada’s most vibrant artists, this original artwork was presented at the exhibit. Guests were able to bid on the pieces with all proceeds going to Wildlife Preservation Canada. It was up to Tigris to source the venue, talent, caterer and coordinate logistics for the launch party on February 26 (media & beauty bloggers only) and gallery showing (open to the public) February 27 to March 11, 2016.
Spooky, Musical and Athletic Experiential Campaigns
On Aug. 30, 2017, Tigris had the opportunity to team up with Rooftop Agency to bring a chilling activation to life. A team of 40 brand ambassadors were stationed at busy street corners all over Toronto with floating Georgie dolls, to slightly terrify and excite the public to promote the new Stephen King IT movie. Pedestrians were encouraged to stop and take a photo with Georgie to post on social media for their chance to win a prize from Warner Bros. Canada.
Tigris teamed up with Bell Media and Virgin Radio to plan an interactive activation for Winners at iHeartRadio Westfest in Calgary July 8, 2017. Tigris was tasked with custom designing a 30x10ft space including a Fab Grab Machine, mural for photo opportunities, and producing a stunning accessory wall. In addition, we sourced branded tents, signage and uniforms. Last but not least, our team coordinated logistics, along with onsite set up/tear down and staffing! In addition to Calgary, this activation was duplicated in Vancouver and Toronto throughout the same year.
Tigris was thrilled to provide TSN with a team of athletic brand ambassadors to host their Euro Cup Kick Off at Yonge-Dundas Square in Toronto on June 10, 2016. Our events staff engaged the public to participate in a kick to win challenge and a larger than life human foosball game. Sounds fun, doesn’t it? But wait, there’s more! Onsite, guests engaged with a social shareable photo experience, free face painting and were given branded swag.
Execute Your Own Experiential Campaign Today!
Now that you’ve good a good understanding of experiential events, it’s time to take action. Contact Tigris today to build an unforgettable program while our dynamic events staff successfully execute it. We operate across North American with nearly 14 years experience exciting consumers and executing thousands of programs.
