Experiential marketing is about creating a brand experience.

It involves connecting with the

customer deeply as compared to conventional mode of advertising such as print media, television,
and radio. The endeavour is to form an emotional connect between the consumer and the brand in
order to retain the customer and create brand preference in the minds of the consumers. This is
quite different from traditional marketing which exposes the customers to the brand.
Doing so helps the brand carve out an image for itself and stand out amongst a clutter of competing
brands with similar products. The basic factors considered while conducting experiential marketing
are target demographics and the sort of emotional connect brand wants to form with the customer.
Experiential marketing is mostly used to enhance the efficacy of traditional marketing. Given the fact
that traditional marketing techniques encompass a large number of populations, experiential
marketing helps form a deeper connect with few of these customers. But these few customers who
have experienced the brand in a more intimate manner help spread the news on social media such
as Instagram, YouTube thus leading to a far greater impact. Its the experience that holds the edge
today over exposure. This sort of marketing helps deliver consumers value beyond the functional
aspect of the brand in the form of experiences that help generate sales in the short term along with
creating a long term value for the brand. This is in contrast to the short term value created using
conventional marketing campaigns. The demand for the brand thus grows as a result of such
consumer experiences.
These experiences could be in the form of event-related advertising activities, internet, trade shows
etc. They help influence purchase intent of the customer i.e. whether the customer considers the
product to be a fit for him and can recommend it to others or not.
To tap the complete potential of such events certain metrics could be used in order to understand
the connect formed between the brand and the customers, strength of the connect so formed and
the possible estimate for the number of persons to whom the potential customer can recommend
the brand. Back end measures such as sales tracking and assessing the difference between predicted
and actual sales along with use of scorecards/dashboards could help improve the effectiveness of
such customer engagements. A follow up contact with the event participants could help understand
the customer experience about the event and help determine brand image, purchase intent,
recommending product to others has been affected in a positive way or not. The way experiential
marketing delivers results is that it first enables the customers to have an emotional connect with
the brand. For the ones with an emotional connect, the next important factor is how the brand fits in
with their personality. After the above two have been achieved, next step is to help customer see
how the events fits in within the scheme of things. After the customer becomes event aware,
helping form an emotional connect with the event could finally do the trick.
Normally, consumers do trust claims shown by brands in their product advertisements, but they
learn more about the products at events that affect their trust and emotional connect for the brand.
This strongly affects their purchase intent. Experiential marketing involves associating the rational
and emotional connect of a consumer to the positive aspects of the brand thereby creating a
favourable experience. In order to do so knowledgeable sales staff needs to be employed in order to
have a one to one interaction with the clients. Use of exhibits that are appealing and can capture
customer attention can augment the customer engagement and help drive sales.
Firms use experiential marketing in varied ways. The success of every event planned by the firms
hovers around the way they blend the message into the target audience and engage it. Deciding
where, how and when the interaction happens with the customer is under the control of these firms.
Some of the firms that have successfully been using this form of marketing over the years are
American Express, Adidas, Coca-Cola etc. American Express has been a sponsor of the US Open
Tennis Tournament for quite a few years now. During the recent years it has launched U.S. Open
American Fan Experience. This concept is about enabling fans to play practice games and perfect it,
watch live matches and contest simulated games with their friends. This helps consumers to feel
privileged as an American Express member. Other events that have been launched by American
Express include American Express Unstaged( a live streaming musical event) and Small Business
Saturday ( wherein shoppers were encouraged to own small brick and mortar stores on Saturday
after Thanksgiving). All these events create lasting impression in the minds of the customers and
having social media cover it simply magnifies the experience and the reach of these events to a
larger audience. The results of all these events are measurable but require a larger duration
compared to conventional print and television advertisement results. Firms have now started
changing the method, now they are getting consumers to be a part of the story sold to the target
audience in order to build and sustain successful brands.
Adidas in a similar attempt of engagement marketing organised in London the D Rose Jump Store
as a promotional activity for Derrick Roses adidas sneakers. Although the idea being simple which
included presence of Derrick Rose to create the hype amongst the fans, it proved to be very
successful because of the interest it generated amongst the people by their active involvement.
Apart from meeting the famous Chicago Bulls player, fans also had an opportunity to win a free pair
of Derrick Roses sneakers provided they could jump 10 feet to reach them. 10 feet is of significance
here as that is exactly the height of a regulation basketball hoop. By having each customer jump the
distance of 10 feet, a standard basketball hoop distance it gave each customer a perspective, a feel
into the basketball players life. Its not only about whether the customer walks away with the $100
shoes or not from the store but its about the unique experience that the customers had in store,
which they will always remember and associate with the brand Adidas.
Most of the brands consider using experimental marketing as a complement to the traditional
marketing advertising campaign or to show some uniqueness at a particular event. With the
advancement of internet, even the smallest of unique ideas goes viral and creates a lot more
influence as compared to the traditional forms of marketing. For example Coca Cola designed an
experimental marketing campaign in which customers put themselves In shoes of the Double 0
agent, they play his role and run on the train station. Post their purchase of the Coke, customers can
see a challenge on the Vending machine screen of reaching another section of the train station to
win the tickets of the latest Bond movie, Skyfall. In order to give a real feeling if the Double 0 there
were also obstacles placed in between the two stations. Edited taping of the customers who
participated went viral on the internet with over 10 million views. Coke has a long history of
engagement marketing focused around spreading and sharing happiness, various add campaigns like
Happiness Machines to the Coca cola Security Cameras and this latest campaign is a small part of the
global concept/project aimed to break the barriers between India and Pakistan and give a different
meaning to happiness altogether globally. This new concept aimed to spread happiness amongst the
two nations India and Pakistan and break down the barrier is based on the concept of Small World
Machines which would create a small moment of togetherness between the two nations, creating a
short period of happiness and joy. The add features 2 interactive screens in the busiest centres, one
located in New Delhi and other in Lahore. The best part being the screen was interactive, so the
passerby were able to touch the interface to feel and communicate, trace smiley faces and
communicate with their counterparts across the border. Post their interaction, in order to reward
them for their interaction and the efforts they have put in, the machine dispensed a free coke. This
helped coke to associate its product with the feeling of happiness.