Forget above- and below-the-line – the only line that matters these days is the bottom line. Rupert Cheswright, head of experiential at Line Up, argues that in tough economic times, marketers must take a more holistic view of the most relevant and meaningful ways to engage audiences
Experiential marketing has come a long way in the last few years, but for my mind, not everyone’s yet thinking about it in quite the right way.
For many marketers, experiential marketing continues to be seen as one live media option to be considered alongside other channels such as advertising, PR, DM and online.
Sometimes it will be integrated with other channels, other times it will stand alone. Either way, most advocates of experiential will have us believe it must always be founded in a moment of live interaction between a brand and a consumer.
But does it? I believe experiential marketing is an approach which pervades ALL forms of media, not just face to face. In short, experiential is a marketing mindset, not a media channel.
At its most simplistic, experiential marketing is customer needs and benefits-driven communication. It is about brands engaging target audiences emotionally, using relevant and meaningful elements of the marketing mix. When meaningful content is delivered in a relevant time, place and manner to individuals, it transforms their understanding of a brand.
It’s true that live brand experiences – ranging from street-based sampling campaigns to immersive brand environments – tend to be the most visible examples of experiential marketing.
However, it is clearly not the case that you can only have a relevant and meaningful “brand experience” through a piece of live marketing. Audiences can be just as emotionally engaged through a powerful piece of design or film. The best experiential campaigns recognise this and use an integrated mix of media experiences to reinforce brand meaning and relevance across all brand touch points.
As to how you measure experiential marketing, once you view it as a multi-media mindset rather than a single live media channel, the tracking possibilities become endless.
Dependent on the product and the campaign, typical measures might include audience reach, data capture, online hits, competition entries, attitudinal shifts, conversion to purchase, repeat purchase, word of mouth, cost per touch and so on.
When budgets are tight, as now, every aspect of the marketing mix rightly comes under scrutiny. I just hope brand owners realise that experiential marketing isn’t some optional add-on to their marketing plans – it’s a fundamental way of thinking that needs to be at the heart of all brand planning. And that’s the bottom line.