The Secret to Post-Pandemic Experiential Marketing: “Westworld”

Everything you need to know about experiential marketing can be found in the first season of HBO’s “Westworld”.

No, I don’t mean you have to spend 20 bazillion dollars to create a fully-immersive park filled with robots.  Nor do you need experiences with sex and violence; or horses, saloons, civil war renegades, and endless free booze.

What you need is narrative.  

Why?  

Dr. Robert Ford, the co-founder of the Westworld park, tells his investors, 

“I’ve always loved a good story. I believed that stories helped us to ennoble ourselves, to fix what was broken in us, and to help us become the people we dreamed of being. Lies that told a deeper truth.”

There is no substitute for live human interaction, and experiential marketing is the natural cornerstone to re-ennoble ourselves post-pandemic.  While are already creating worlds in experiential marketing, what we must do now is add story.

Yes, “must”.  It’s not optional.  Not really.  I mean, we can just do what we used to do, but I guarantee those experiences that used to be an ROI slam-dunk will fall short.

It’ll be like getting a 70% rating at Rotten Tomatoes.  It’s high enough to be considered “fresh”, but it’s not 100%.

Experiential marketing, like everything else, must evolve.  It’s still in its infancy.  With limited exceptions, it is focused on the five senses.  There’s nothing wrong with that at all.  We have the senses for a reason.  They are a marketer’s best friends. 

“But,” said Dr. Ford:

“It’s not enough.  It’s not about giving the guests what you think they want.  That’s simple.  Titillation, horror, elation.  They’re parlor tricks.  The guests don’t return for the obvious things we do, the garish things.  They come back because of the subtleties, the details.  They come back because they discover something they imagine no one had ever noticed before.  Something they fall in love with.  They’re not looking for a story that tells them who they are.  They already know who they are.  They’re here because they want a glimpse of who they could be.”

If that monologue isn’t the ultimate aspirational marketing statement, then hang me at dawn.

The pandemic forced us into isolation.  For months, we just wanted things to go back to normal, while secretly knowing that would never be possible.  If there was ever a time for every single person to want a glimpse of who they could be, in this new world, it is now.

Narrative will offer them that glimpse, but narrative never relies exclusively on the five senses.  Good narrative – memorable stories, memorable experiences -- engage our intuition, our mind, and most importantly, our emotions.  

You know this because you’ve experienced it.  You cheered when the Death Star blew up. You were on the edge of your seat as Indiana Jones ran from the rolling boulder.  You hid your eyes behind your hands when Mother appeared in the bathroom in “Psycho”.

But here’s the key.  These weren’t just reactions.  They were responses.  You were locked into a dialogue with the story.  It was a two-way exchange of energy that fed on itself, leading you to a satisfying conclusion.

Compare this to a jump-scare in a horror movie.  That’s a reaction.  

It’s not about giving the guests what we think they want.  The jump-scares.  The horror.  The scream.  It’s not enough.

Narrative is where your users will discover the things they imagine no one has discovered before.  Something they fall in love with.  Something you can never anticipate or plan for that gives them a glimpse of who they could be. 

That’s what your experiences must accomplish going forward. 

How does one “add narrative”?  The general answer is to remember that everything we do has a beginning, middle, and end.  Your experience must also have a structure, or it will feel unfocused.  The rules of effective storytelling are well-entrenched for a reason.  It’s because they work.  So, either become an expert in story, or hire the experts.  

The specific answer in regards to adding narrative depends on your product, and you must decide on the truths of your product that you want to share.  Beyond that, the only limit is imagination (and budget).

What I can promise is this: you will see higher ROI and audience engagement with this approach.  Your experiences will be talked about more frequently.  

And if you hire the very best storytellers, you might just hit the jackpot: genuine emotional catharsis that makes people brand ambassadors for life.