How to Deliver Memorable Brand Experiences
The most memorable sporting event of my life was Super Bowl XLI, a contest between the Indianapolis Colts and the Chicago Bears — two teams that had long championship droughts. I will never forget the thrill and anxiety of watching those two hungry teams go toe-to-toe in the pouring rain. The Colts were led by my favorite coach, Tony Dungy, and I was emotionally invested. When the Colts overcame a serious first-quarter setback and forced five turnovers to claim the big win, it was an experience.
The principles for creating the same kind of personal, emotional, meaningful experience I had on that Super Bowl Sunday are now finding their way into event marketing. You may not remember the details of a specific event, but you’ll feel engaged and connected during an experience.
No matter what you call it “brand experience” or “engagement marketing” demand a fundamental shift from the trade show display-demo-sell model to personalized, data-informed and technology-enabled immersive connect-and-engage marketing.
Chief marketing executives agree. In a global study Freeman conducted with Survey Sampling International in 2017, 59% of more than 1,000 respondents said they value brand experience for creating “ongoing relationships.” One in three CMOs expect to allocate between 21% and 50% of their budget to immersive, interactive brand experience campaigns at trade events, conferences, virtual and hybrid events, sponsorships, pop-up venues and virtual and augmented reality experiences.
That level of investment isn’t surprising when most CMOs tell us that brand experiences create ongoing relationships, support lead generation, increase sales, build brand advocacy and make customers feel valued.
The Return on Interest of a Brand Experience
Smart investment returns are measured by return on investment but also a quantifiable return on interest, how well we connect with audiences and how they respond by listening, engaging, learning, sharing and reconnecting with us. These are brand loyalty metrics that surpass number of impressions, click through rate and cost-per-lead.
Tools of Engagement
Designing a meaningful event experience begins with a little introspection centered on two strategic areas: Who are we, what do we know and what value can we share? And how do we share that knowledge in an immersive experience to engage with (not sell to) our audiences? We can quickly point to three tools of engagement.
1. Immersive Technologies
While many traditional one-way promotional tools still prevail in event marketing, marketers are embracing personal, customized and interactive tools. CMOs report they are adopting such new technologies as interactive touch screens (29%), location mapping and beacons to personalize offers (21%), virtual reality (16%) and highly participatory gamification (15%).
Engagement is a personal experience that can also be high-touch and low-tech. Savvy brand experience marketers using on-site surveys or building sticky-note comment boards are finding new ways to pull in and engage with audiences.
2. Data
Selling involves presenting while creating an experience requires sharing what you know, ideas that stimulate conversations and opinions that provoke in personal, face-to-face ways that create authentic dialogues. To promote two-way sharing and to build trust, start by giving people something they can use.
Employing data — both macro trends and group- or individual-level profiles — is pivotal in understanding and sharing content that builds personally powerful and relevant brand experiences. Mobile and personalized beacon and identification technologies let exhibitors connect conference attendees with relevant, real-time offers, conference updates and personalized insights from your company.
3. Content
If you’re recycling last year’s messages, old whitepapers and tired presentations, expect your customers to look elsewhere for meaningful content. Sharing your message through the lens of relevant business issues, fine-tuned by industry trends and personalized customer data, sparks a conversation and promotes your company as an authority.
Creating a meaningful and personal brand experience also means moving from storytelling to story-making. Using engagement tools such as facilitated workshops, building collaborative social networks (or tribes) and collecting and sharing real-time data during conference events all encourage people to react to, shape and share their collective stories.
It’s an interesting time to be an event marketer. New brand experience strategies and tools offer ways to create personal, meaningful and profitable relationships.
About the Author |Bob Priest-Heck
As CEO of Freeman, the world’s leading brand experience company, Bob directs operations in 90 locations around the world with a team of 7,000 people, all helping companies build powerful relationships through immersive experiences, interactive technologies and powerful ideas.
