Causeway Solutions
ConnectWithCauseway, Experiential Marketing
May 13, 2024
As consumers block ads and opt for commercial-free streaming services, activating Experiential Marketing strategies may be the best way to capture your audiences’ attention. In addition to creating connections with consumers through unique, dynamic experiences, Experiential Marketing will increasingly use data-driven insights to personalize the customer journey. Join us to explore the top trends in experiential marketing to captivate your audience, create buzz and boost sales. Listen to the full episode.
Podcast Episode 9, published January 9, 2024
Thérèse Mulvey, Vice President of Strategy: Welcome to Connect with Causeway. I'm your host, Thérèse Mulvey, Vice President of Strategy and Insights at Causeway Solutions. Joining me today is Lauren Kornick, our manager of strategic partnerships. Hey, Lauren.
Lauren Kornick, Manager, Strategic Partnerships: Hey, Thérèse.
Thérèse: Today we're going to talk about experiential marketing, which encompasses everything from trade shows to virtual reality, my favorite, sampling tastings or going to pop-up stores. Experiential marketing is the kind of marketing that captures the consumer's attention and hopefully creates buzz.
But what I'm even more excited about today is that we are going to be joined by my longtime colleague and very close friend, Grace Platon. Grace is a marketing and communication strategist who specializes in public relations and event marketing. Having worked with B2B tech clients for more than 15 years, she is a huge advocate of experiential marketing as a way to differentiate brands, engage consumers, and boost sales. Welcome Grace.
Grace Platon, Marketing & Communications Strategist: Thanks Thérèse. I'm thrilled to be here with you and Lauren. Full disclosure to our listeners, I actually work with Causeway Solutions on their PR events and promotions, but that's all the more reason I'm anticipating a particularly fun discussion today.
Thérèse: I agree, Grace. Let's start with why experiential marketing is having a moment and what it is exactly. The definition of experiential marketing is based on creating memorable and innovative customer experiences to create deep emotional connections between the customer and the brand. Grace, how do you define it?
Grace: Thérèse, in traditional marketing, consumers are passive receivers of a company's message. In experiential marketing, a brand involves the consumer directly. So much so that the customer becomes part of the advertising campaign. The fan becomes a brand ambassador, creating user-generated content and telling all their friends about the brand.
A recent blockbuster example is the Barbie movie, that pink phenomenon that happened last summer. The Barbie movie promotions began even before the July 2023 premiere. As early as April 2023, they launched user-generated content including the Barbie selfie generator that went viral across social media. I, myself, did not do that, but I had friends who did.
Thérèse: I didn't either.
Lauren: I did.
Thérèse: Well, of course you did, Lauren.
Grace: The Barbie extravaganza included cross-promotions with HGTV Barbie Dreamhouse Challenge. I watched every episode of that limited run series! Even Flo and the Progressive Insurance gang got in on the action. There were special Barbie-inspired Crocs, Gap clothes, as well as pink sauce from Burger King. Barbie pop-up retail stores opened last summer, including a Bloomingdale's Barbie Dreamhouse pop-up, along with a Malibu Barbie Cafe pop-up in Chicago and NYC.
Thérèse: Wow, that is a great example, Grace. I love how multi-layered it is. I think we can safely say that we will never see pink in the same way again.
Lauren is our in-house film expert and industry follower and I would love to get your thoughts on this experiential marketing example.
Lauren: Grace can't understate the impact that this experiential marketing campaign had. Warner Brothers with Mattel spent $150 million on this marketing campaign alone. But using those little tricks, little pink sauce, pink Crocs, Barbie selfies, all of that. And riding the Barbenheimer trends and social media trends, it helped them get almost 10 times the return on that marketing investment, making almost $1.5 billion and becoming Warner Brothers highest-grossing movie of all time.
Thérèse: That's insane.
Grace: Wow. For those who aren't Barbie fans, another great example of experiential marketing is a Raising Cane's restaurant here in Dallas, rapper Post Malone and the Dallas Cowboys teamed up to open a Dallas Cowboys-themed Raising Cane's restaurant, which features a 32-foot Dallas star, blue lighting, Cowboys merch and the works.
Thérèse: I was not aware of this in the same way that I was aware of Barbie, but I did look it up and I think it's another great example. It did very well, got an amazing amount of press. I also love the fact that it's such a different example, not only no pink but blue. What are your thoughts on why this was so effective?
Grace: Experimental marketing is so effective because we are emotional beings. When a brand connects with us in an emotional way, we not only buy it, we become loyal customers. By involving our customers with the story, they feel connected rather than sold to. And this is a significant difference in how they see the brand. There are huge benefits to experiential marketing as well, from increased brand awareness and increased consumer engagement to brand loyalty, word of mouth publicity, and improving a brand's image by creating memorable experiences. These interactions can lead to higher sales, repeat customers and a stronger brand-consumer relationship.
Lauren: This is important now because consumers are fast-forwarding through commercials on TV. They have ad blockers on their searches and are more likely than ever to opt for commercial free streaming services over regular live TV.
Every month we conduct a monthly survey on consumers, 800 adults, and we found that compared to this time last year, an average of 10% fewer consumers reported having viewed commercials on TV, streaming, social media browsers, everything. You need a new plan and you need it fast because people are paying less attention to commercials. These experiential marketing strategies are a way to capture that 10% that you lost. Brands are creating a connection with consumers through more unique dynamic experiences that aren't passive, that aren't just viewing commercials. They have live events, installations, product rollouts, webinars, trade shows, the works.
Thérèse: That's an interesting point, Lauren, and as always, I like to give the historical perspective on advertising. It's interesting to relate this topic to traditional television. The original benefit of TV commercials and TV in general was this whole idea of encompassing sight, sound and motion to provide the emotional draw that we're talking about here. In successful advertising, we're always looking for that engagement factor. The data from Lauren reminds us, that's no longer true. And there's also very different options to get around advertising, but the emotional part is consistent throughout.
Lauren: We're also paying attention to data trends about experiential marketing. In that same survey, we asked if they participated in activities that are key strategies for experiential marketing. We found about 9% attended a trade show, 18% have bought a product or service based on social media influencers, same have attended a virtual event, 15% have visited a pop-up store and about half of all respondents said that they bought a product or service specifically after sampling it.
Grace: That's really interesting, Lauren, because when I sample a product like cheese or dessert, there's a 99.9% probability that I'm going to buy it.
Thérèse: I agree with you, Grace. Who doesn't love food, especially when it's free? All right, let's talk about trends and experiential marketing. It had to be negatively impacted by the pandemic, so I'm wondering if not being able to engage with consumers made it that much more desirable that we can now go back to that engagement. As Lauren mentioned, we see from the research that we are at about 50% of people saying they bought a product from sampling it. You couldn't sample during the pandemic or actually for quite a while after it. What else are you seeing, Grace, in terms of trends in this area?
Grace: There are five top trends in experiential marketing that we'll talk about today. Trend number one, hyper personalization. Customers want personalized experiences and brands that can deliver on that will have an edge in the marketplace. In fact, experiential marketing will increasingly use data-driven insights to personalize experiences and make them more relevant to each individual customer, which is probably very exciting for the folks here at Causeway Solutions.
Thérèse: Yes, we do love data, but it's interesting to transfer this to B2B. It's a little bit hard to give any food samples when you're doing B2B, but we have a great example of this, and it really helped us to make our marketing and data more easily understood by our customers because we gave them the ability to play what-if games around the whys of consumer behavior as it pertains to them.
We created a live dashboard illustrating the dynamic data that drives our advanced audiences. We allowed the client to be able to see how the audiences changed depending on the things they cared about. Rather than simply serving something up, it became interactive. We can illustrate how they could save money, how they could make their advertising that much more effective. It's still not as good as a free cookie, but in the data world, it's pretty sweet. But enough about me and enough about us. What else are you seeing, Grace?
Grace: Experiential marketing trend number two, hybrid events are here to stay, probably no surprise. Post-pandemic, marketers need to offer options for both virtual and in-person events to satisfy their audience's needs. The smartest brands will leverage the benefits of both mediums to create immersive experiences that allow customers to interact with the brand in new and innovative ways.
Lauren: There's some data that supports this. The in-person aspect might be more key than ever nowadays. An event tracker report post-pandemic says that on the consumer side, 67% of consumers plan to skip low-cost or free virtual events. While on the other side, the event planners, about the same amount said that they expected to utilize hybrid events over only virtual events in the future. About 2/3 of both sides, the event planners and the consumers, want that in-person experience.
Thérèse: That makes sense. We missed that interpersonal connection for sure.
Grace: With the return to events and experiences here to stay, brands must now take it to the people as they say. Moving forward, trend number three is mobile and in-moment pop-ups. Experiential marketing allows brands to build awareness across media and platforms, as well as curate events to allow consumers to directly engage and connect. And we had several examples of that when we were talking about Barbie.
Next trend, number four, is user-generated content. Influencers will continue to lead marketing strategies for brands, but there'll be a push for greater authenticity from micro-influencers. These are influencers with smaller follower accounts ranging from 10,000 to 100,000 followers. And I know that seems like it's still a lot.
Thérèse: It seems like a lot to me.
Grace: Quite frankly, though, the usual influencers have millions of followers, so these actually are a little bit smaller. But what's great about micro-influencers is they tend to have videos with fewer edits and off-the-cuff remarks that are more real and believable compared to highly polished productions. And, of course, content from everyday users will showcase greater transparency. And, good news, podcasts will rise in media strategies. Also, short-form content will be the preferred message of choice. Platforms like Instagram and TikTok will attract younger fans and buyers.
Lauren: I think what's interesting is that transparency you mentioned. We looked into this idea of privacy concerns, especially with consumers coming up. What's interesting is that consumers are way more forgiving and way more open to ads that are actually targeted to their personal interests. In our research, we had 82% of consumers saying that they were more likely to pay attention to the ad if it was targeted towards them in some way, so either the ad, it's an influencer they liked, etc. On the other hand, speaking to platforms like Instagram and TikTok, those who do use social media are also far more likely than the general population to follow up on ads. Not only researching, but actually buying products that they saw an influencer use.
Thérèse: That's really interesting, Lauren, and it's been true for a long time. I think it's human nature. If you ask people, "Do you care if I know about you, the privacy and everything else?" Well, no, they don't want you to, but at the same time f, people are like, "But don't send me the wrong message. I don't want a message about cat food if I own a dog."
Grace: Oh, I agree, Thérèse. Another example of experiential marketing is the recent release of the Beatles new song, Now and Then. The new song features remastered work from John Lennon and George Harrison. Those are the two Beatles who are no longer with us. The brilliant marketing includes emotional user-generated videos of fans as they listen to the song for the first time. They're amazed and move to tears. I was ready to buy right then and there.
AI and machine learning was used to recognize John Lennon's voice and isolate it from other sounds, such as a piano and electrical hum. That old recording of John Lennon's voice was then integrated with the rest of the Beatles to create the groundbreaking new hit song. Have you guys heard it? I just love that song.
Thérèse: Exactly. I thought it was really cool, very cool, very emotional. And speaks to what we keep talking about is emotion.
Grace: Yes, also the AI phenomenon. That leads us to the final trend, number five, enhanced technologies will push experiences. Rapidly expanding technologies and AR, VR and AI will boost experiential opportunities for brands and consumers. For example, augmented reality and virtual reality experiences have begun to emerge in various applications. This technology has exciting applications and experiential marketing, from Snapchat filters to companies using virtual reality to train their employees. Companies like IKEA have begun using technology to immerse consumers during the buying process. For example, IKEA's augmented reality home environment called IKEA Place enables consumers to visualize how furniture and other products will look once placed in their homes.
Thérèse: You know what experience I want, Grace? I want them to put my furniture together for me.
Grace: Exactly, Thérèse. That brings me back to my college days, being totally confused with IKEA's assembly instructions.
Thérèse: I'm still confused.
Grace: Other brands using technology for experiential marketing, Warby Parker. They became famous for augmented reality try-on feature in its app. Users can virtually try on pairs of Warby Parker glasses without leaving their homes. The technology provides a nearly lifelike visual of how the glasses will look to the customer before buying it, allowing them to be more informed about the decision and reducing the likelihood of returns. And while Web 3.0, NFTs and the Metaverse will continue to lure brands and consumers, they really need to have broader awareness and access to truly hold ground.
Lauren: It's interesting because as we were saying that experiential marketing is kind of new, this is an extra new step to experiential marketing, VR and AR technology. There's an early adopter quality of the people who are receptive to this marketing style, that's also reflective in their purchasing. We mentioned before, people who interacted with VR and AR technology and marketing was only about 15% of consumers. But in that group, half of them said that they were planning on buying new tech specifically, such as computer, iPad, phone, etc. in the next month. They're early adopters in both accepting new marketing but also new products, the early adopters all around.
Thérèse: The geek in me just loves this statistic. I'm not an early adopter, but I admire them because they know about everything and they try everything first.
The enhanced technologies that you guys were talking about touch on some of the stuff that we talked about with Tim Duer in our last episode. Machine learning and healthcare, a better way to treat patients. We can see that it's also working for categories other than healthcare. Advanced technologies can help to better design the experience, better target the best person and resonate that message to correspond with the experience. It piggybacks on the development of advanced audiences that I mentioned earlier.
Grace: Thérèse, since there's so much interest in experiential marketing and it's only growing, it would be really meaningful to keep asking about experiential strategies in Causeway Solutions’ monthly surveys. This allows you to provide trending data to your clients.
Thérèse: We will continue to ask about this on our survey to monitor these trends. One of my favorite quotes is that assumptions are not reality. You may think one thing, but until you ask a large number of people what they're thinking about, you don't know. That's one of the reasons our monthly survey is very important.
This has been a real treat. Our excitement about this topic is just another example of why experiential marketing is fun and hard to say, but you get to participate and that's what we did today.
Grace, thank you so much for your participation today. It's been great as always. I learned a lot from you and I just found this topic to be very interesting.
Grace: I've really enjoyed this conversation too. Thanks, Thérèse and Lauren.
Thérèse: I will close with a question for our listeners. Are you using experiential marketing in your brand or your business? Connect with us on LinkedIn and continue this conversation. We would love to hear from you.
Remember, if you have a question that you want to ask, we are willing to consider putting it into our monthly survey. So don't forget to talk to us and give us your feedback.
We hope you enjoyed this episode of Connect with Causeway. Please subscribe to the podcast and tune in again to our next episode in March.
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