The Marketing Trends 2023 Series - 3/6
Experiencing the new and the bold
The past that was
Remember the 1980s? A time when long hair and big shoulder pads were all the rage? It was also the time the term ‘experiential marketing’ was coined, though the concept of it existed even decades ago. Think product demonstrations, in-store promotional events, or even a simple test-drive of a car.
Marketing consultant, Bernard J. Jaworski defined it as “a strategy that focuses on helping consumers experience a brand rather than simply being told about it.”?
And as the years have ticked by, brands have upped their game with increasingly sophisticated technologies and tactics to create immersive and interactive experiences for their customers with:
Needless to say, the emphasis has shifted from simply demonstrating a product to creating a holistic and memorable brand experience.
Then came the masked horror of 2020
And everything came to a halt.
When the pandemic hit, experiential marketing was significantly impacted as many events and in-person activities were either canceled or had to be postponed. This included trade shows, conferences, product demonstrations, and other types of events that were traditionally used as platforms for experiential marketing.
The present that became a gift
This led many companies to shift their focus away from offline experiential marketing and towards alternative strategies that could be executed safely and effectively in a virtual or remote setting.
For brands, this opened up a world of newer opportunities and more innovative ways to interact with people. The need for change inspired creativity and brands (well, some of them at least) sprung to action and managed to communicate with their customers effectively.
The wheels have started to turn again. Jump back to 2023 to…
…The future that is?
As the pandemic subsides and restrictions are lifted, how will we unmask newer strategies and tactics of experiential marketing? As data tells us, it is already making a comeback.
Traditionally speaking, experiential marketing was known as ‘live marketing,’ or ‘on-ground marketing.’ But, with newer technologies and a shift in customer mindset, experiential marketing now needs to evolve from physical to the non-physical, as customers demand and seek experiences across all touchpoints. In fact, 60% of experiential marketers said that reaching out to non-physical attendees is crucial to an event’s success (4).
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Though we were already making strides in this direction, the post-pandemic times have expedited our efforts. You snooze, you lose. With a polarized customer base now – one that wants to go out into the world and one that wants to stay connected yet cocooned – it is not the case of either online or offline anymore, rather, the demand is for both.
WELCOME TO THE WORLD OF OMNI-CHANNEL EXPERIENTIAL MARKETING
As marketers, the term omnichannel isn’t alien to us. Different means, same goals. The experience should be cohesive for customers regardless of the platform or method they choose to use. And this time, with even more stress on technology and platforms.
Take M&M’s flavor room (5) in 2018, for instance: while social-media share-worthy and an effective campaign, it was limited in its use of technology. Fast-forward to 2022, and Tanishq created an experience center (6) with LED screens, virtual try-ons, as well as hand-gesture-activated actions. Different means, same goals. And one must roll with the times.?
From branding opportunities at events/sessions to creating your own experience centers; from offline simulations to interactive websites; from experiential employer branding at campuses to onboarding of employees in your very own metaverse – there are plenty of opportunities for a brand to explore.?
Essentially, for an effective omnichannel experiential marketing strategy to succeed, you must do all or either of the following:
Networking events held on both offline premises and online platforms with near-similar experiences for the audience
Offline product simulations with follow-up experience on your website with, say, a QR code enablement or vice-versa
Offline establishments with interactive walls or online stores with virtual try-ons??
Lest one gets confused between omnichannel and multi-channel experiences, it is important to remember that the former means a cohesive experience. While you may have amazing campaigns and experiences running on different channels/platforms, unless they work together, it isn’t an omnichannel experience.?
AI + Experiential marketing
While experiential marketing guarantees to pique the curiosity of patrons and prospects alike, when clubbed with AI, the opportunities for marketers are endless. What gives experiential marketers an upper hand here is the fact that every user-facing interaction is already happening virtually. This opens newer nuances of data with more intrinsic information about their user base and a reflection of their own event, thereby guiding futuristic strategies. While this is merely the data aspect of it, the role that AI plays in experiential marketing is thus far more crucial than any. For audiences located anywhere in the world, you can now create experiences that are personalized, secure, and democratized.
In the next part, let’s look at how video marketing has changed and how this shift will impact marketers’ strategies.?
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