Elements Of A Successful Experiential Campaign

By and large, a successful experiential marketing campaign should hit most, if not all, of the following bullet points:

1. Product tie-in is a must. Whether it’s through the use of the product itself (Globetrotter, Milka) or an explicit tie-in with the brand (the high energy nature of James Bond and Red Bull), any experience targeting prospective customers needs to weave in a selling aspect. It’s not enough to simply entertain customers; they also need to be motivated in some way to investigate and purchase the product.
2. Creativity above all else. As we saw with the mugshot photo booth, things that capture people’s imagination to the point where they simply must share it is a key ingredient to a successful campaign. Companies have spent millions on failed tests simply because they thought money would bring attention to a boring, unoriginal angle.
3. Conducive to building a crowd. Great experiences are shared, either by drawing a crowd to watch (James Bond) or by creating an experience that is better when shared with others. You can imagine the flugtag event being a bust without the competitive element, or that the mugshot attraction could have tanked if it had been made a private (rather than open) photobooth area.
4. Listen to feedback. What good would Globetrotter’s freeze rooms be if they didn’t listen to customer feedback? Even fun campaigns can get customers talking about products in ways that you might not expect, and if nothing else, you can learn what does and does not resonate with your audience in terms of keeping their interest.

Ultimately, the best ideas and execution will come from knowing your industry and your market well. If you can check off the list above, you are certainly covering all your bases for sucess.

Your next question might be, “Where’s the best place to start?” Think about the psychology behind what you’re selling—marketing is about creating connections above all else, so target experiences that are most likely to hook customers into coming back.

The Christmas tree competition I described at my gun range works because it matches the energy and competitive nature of the product. Conversely, the more educational nature of a wine festival (seeing how wine is made, what makes a great wine) is perfect for those interested in getting into wine.

What sort of customer does your product attract? If any of you caught the recent episode of Shark Tankwith that crazy spray paint for dogs (not joking), you may have had the same idea that hit me—why not hold a contest where customers send in pictures of their painted pets, with the most creative “pet paint” winning a prize?

Clearly, people who would buy paint for their pets are a bit quirky and artistically inclined, so it’s practically a guarantee that this sort of opportunity to share their creations and see the creations of others would draw the perfect sort of crowd.

Great experiences create memorable connections with your customers, so an effective experiential marketing campaign starts with truly knowing your customers and what types of experiences would appeal to them.