Experiential marketing has set a high standard for brands around the world. With more and more companies investing in these types of publicity events, it can feel challenging to create something new that will capture your target audience’s attention. The good news? As specialists in social media walls, we’ve developed several ways that Juicer for Event Marketing can give your brand a boost.
What is Experiential Marketing?
Just starting to dip your toes into experiential marketing? The good and bad thing about this style of event marketing is that there are no rules! Experiential marketing is all about getting creative to create an experience that guests can engage with and remember. The idea is that these interactive events will leave a lasting positive impression with participants that will ultimately influence their purchasing decisions.
Experiential marketing events cover a broad spectrum of activities such as attention-grabbing art installations, pop up shops and activities, photo opportunities, staging surprises in everyday situations, or flipping a typically negative event to show a different side of it. The core elements of experiential marketing events involve something shocking or warranting attention, a strong core message that’s expressed, and a clear linkage to the brand hosting it. As long as your business covers these three areas, you can be as creative as you’d like when crafting your ideal experiential marketing event.
Examples of Experiential Marketing
Ultimately, the beauty of experiential marketing isn’t in talking about it- it’s all about experiencing it! Here are a few examples of experiential marketing in action from brands you may already know and love like Kate Spade, Lean Cuisine, WWF, and Panasonic.
Kate Spade’s “Take a Chance”
As part of Kate Spade’s paper and stationary product launch, they used the items to create an experiential marketing event for customers to enjoy. Underneath the large “Take a Chance” sign was a wall filled with colorful envelopes, each containing a special playful challenge inside. Suggestions included dares such as, “eat cake for breakfast”, and “smile at a stranger”. The purpose of this event was to show off the stationary products while encouraging a community of fun, bravery, kindness, and trying new things!
WeighThis Lean Cuisine
In this experiential marketing event, health-conscious prepackaged meal brand, Lean Cuisine created a campaign entitled #WeighThis in which they asked women how they wanted to be weighed, other than by their physical weight. The participants answered with, “Raising my 4 sons alone”, “Going back to college at 55 years old”, “Saving my brother’s life”, and “the power of my voice”. These phrases were written on a cut-out shape of a scale and added to a huge installation inside Grand Central Station. The installation drew attention and awareness to the fact that we are more than just our weight and appearance.
WWF and Panasonic’s Melting Polar Bear
WWF and Panasonic used experiential marketing to make a bold statement about the dire conditions of our environment and wildlife. This polar bear sculpture made from ice was constructed in Copenhagen as a temporary installation. Over time, as the ice melted away, viewers could see the bear shrink down until nothing was left but a metal skeleton. Through art, these companies could better help passerby relate to the destruction of real animals in Antarctica.
How to Use Social Media Walls at Experiential Marketing Events
While there are many elements that can be used in creating your own experiential marketing events, a social media wall is a quick and easy way to upgrade your event. Here are five ways to incorporate a social media wall into your event.
Real-Time Reactions to Event Questions
Does your event pose a major philosophical question or challenge? To help make your point hit home even more, offer an incentive if guests share a photo of their reaction to the event’s mission. Guests can share fun photos with a descriptive caption or video messages sharing their thoughts. It’s a fun way to not only feature guests and their experiences, but to help spread the message of your brand’s campaign beyond the experiential marketing event. A social media wall can help display all of the reactions live at the event, as well as in other store or office locations.
Trivia Questions
Hosting a trivia game can be a fun addition to any experiential marketing event. Whether you’re asking thought-provoking questions surrounding the core subject your event is drawing light to, or quippy facts regarding your industry that folks might be informed by, this option adds a little something extra to keep visitors engaged at experiential marketing events. By setting up a social media wall at the event and directing guests to answer trivia via your unique hashtag, they can see their answers displayed in real time for all to see!
Interactive Competitions
Want to make your experiential marketing event even more interactive? Once guests take part in the primary event activity, have an additional challenge ready to keep the party going while also creating an air of excitement around your brand. Create a social media competition or scavenger hunt with a specific list of tasks related to your event that leads participants on an adventure. Examples of tasks can include taking photos with other guests at the event, finding a secret object or person, performing a signature move or dance, or collecting certain items from strangers. The social media documentation of these activities can be broadcast for all to see via the experiential marketing event’s very own social media wall!
Live Artwork Display
Does your experiential marketing event involve an art display or installation produced with the help of passerby? (See the #WeighThis example above if you need a visual). Consider taking the interactive art display one step further by inviting participants to share their contribution via social media and tag the event’s signature hashtag. You can then have a running feed of these inspirational posts up on a social media wall to entice more people to join in.
Create Opportunities to Connect
If your business is all about community and creating connections, consider using a social media wall to make that message known. Take a note from the Kate Spade Take a Chance example and inspire your guests to try something new, like making new friends or sparking a conversation about something that matters. They can spread the love through a social media post tagged with the experiential marketing event’s hashtag.
