Of course you can measure experiential
In this guest posting, Mark Pickering argues that the return from experiential marketing should be as measurable as any other discipline.
As a practitioner of a new form of marketing I am constantly told by marketers and agency suits, “experiential cannot be measured”. Frankly, that’s complete twaddle.
The fact is that when planned and implemented effectively, experiential is one of the most measurable media around and one that can provide unique insights into consumer and brand behaviour when used with targeted campaigns and clear objectives.
The core focus of experiential marketing is to create brand evangelists who then drive word of mouth within their network, broadcasting the positive ‘feelings’ they have had via a brand experience and ‘converting’ that network to their passionate feelings for the brand.
The targeted nature of the medium lends itself to providing brands with the perfect opportunity to measure itself in the world of emotions and senses and to really gauge brand ‘love’, as well as drive sales and trial.
Traditionally brand events and experiential have always worked closely with PR to ensure amplification of the activation pre and post event. Creating the ultimate brand experience that involves thousands on the day but also gets measured mass media coverage is the goal of any activation campaign.
Sales vouchers and direct purchase driving promotions are used to get consumers to purchase post event and from this sales uplift can be measured during or straight after the activation.
Recently digital, mobile and social media has come to be a key tool in the spreading of WOM and sharing the positive brand ‘feelings’ created by a campaign. It’s particularly useful in getting influential brand ambassadors to utilise their network to talk and interact with the brand via online and social media channels. Measuring these interactions is a key element in providing evidence of a successful activation.
These tools alone really show the measurability of experiential marketing, which provide clear metrics, and tracking of sales for brands. This is far more tangible and accurate than measurements such as an eyeball or a readership numeric which those traditional marketers that doubt experiential’s measurability and their agencies use. With experiential providing a direct, targeted approach to connecting with consumers, these numbers have far more accuracy and weight than traditional media.
Many agencies, brands and events utilize surveys pre and post activation (either with teams or via email or internet) to gather information about the brand activation at a particular event sponsorship property or on-site at campaign locations or stunts. They now use candid video or pics of the interactions with the brand to show the emotional reactions of the consumer and vox pops from participants (good and bad) are valuable IP for the client going forward. Once again, these methods of evaluation can provide unique insights into the brand and on the best ways to communicate with consumers.
Essentially, amplification across all channels, with an integrated approach, through a variety of media is the key and experiential can in many ways provide far more meaningful research about the target market from their measurement tools as well as provide valuable information about the brand, the category and its competitors. This is unique to the medium.
Measurability will be the key focus for brands and agencies in the future and experiential – working closely with its client and partner agencies – is at the forefront of providing new and more in depth insights into brand and consumer behaviour. Particularly in those specific areas where the target consumer can be found; whether that be a festival, in the supermarket, at a park or on a beach – experiential is one of the memorable, AND measurable media around.
- Mark Pickering is the founder of AmbientX in New Zealand and is a founder member of The Experiential Marketing Association of NZ. This Friday he will be in Sydney to host an experiential workshop on behalf of The Communications Council
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Well said Mark.
Another metric that can be used is what we at Bravo Experience Measurement call the Brand Engagement Score. The metric measures the level of emotional connection and brand understanding created during a brand experience. Over time the metric can be used to compare promotions, event sponsorships and various other customer contact points.
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My view is that a lot of experiential looks good on a powerpoint slide, but not so great in real life. Having worked in The Rocks in Sydney and Freshwater Place in Melbourne, I can’t tell you how often I have observed experiential activations being totally ignored by passersby. Many of them seem to be designed from a brand’s perspective rather than in light of consumer in that moment in time.
Do I really want to play mini golf on my own instead of catching my bus home? Am I really going to be the only pedestrian to engage with 10 Lexus reps in my hurried lunch hour?
It’s interesting to think that while undertaking an experiential activation may break the convention of a brand’s recent history, for the consumers who walk past that spot each day it becomes very much the convention.
The truth of the matter is that the average TV spot schedule most likely has a far larger effect on common brand health measures for a mass market brand than a few days of experiential in Sydney and Melbourne
Where I can see the value is when experiential and mass reach is combined (A brand does something and then broadcasts it to a wider audience). Some terrific examples of this include the Whopper Freakout, Speight’s Beer Delivery, Hidden Restaurant and McDonalds Playland for Adults
My 20 cents…
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We’ve all seen crap experiential campaigns that have disappointed and take your point on combining the media. Our industry is really trying to lift ourselves out of the ‘girls in lycra’ image it has.
As I mentioned above; integration is a key element in really amplifying an experiential idea – definitely – however stand alone experiential campaigns can also be measured effectively when KPIs and the right tools are put in place BEFORE the activation itself, particulalry if you have a client who is prepared to understand the media and it’s potentials.
Dare I guess that the campaigns you mention above probably had no pre-promotion, social media, digital or PR links to really get people into the activation and make it live outside the gig post event? These are pretty essential these days.
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You certainly haven’t convinced me. It is virtually impossible to measure the effect of “experiential” as it never occurs in isolation of other sales, marketing and advertising activity. It is virtually impossible to unpick the mix and absolutely measure the effect of each individual part and their interaction and ability to amplify each other. It can be done however the cost of measuring would be more than the cost of the campaign.
Nice try Jonathan pushing your off the shelf one size fits all brand measurement tool.
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@researcher For a researcher (admittedly an assumption based on your name), you’re very down on research.
Whilst I may not agree with every part of this article, to refute the entire thing point blank is a little overf the top. For one, vouchers exclusive to the experience are a pretty easy, inexpensive metric to track. Not exactly cutting edge, but can definitely be linked back to the impact of the campaign.
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Experiential a new form of marketing?
Experiential, sponsorships, product launches, events, exhibitions, promotions, sampling, branded experiences – we’ve been doing this for eons and its most certainly not new.
This is decades old thinking, also a little simplistic and its a lazy marketer who hasn’t seen and used all of these measurement tools already before.
And “brand evangelists”??
Just because I might sample some product at The Rocks and tell Mum about it doesn’t mean I am in love with the brand and spruiking its greatness to everybody every chance I get!
Marketers in this field talk endlessly about brand engagement, brand love, senses, emotions and creating strong and enduring relationships with customers. But customers don’t really want “lovey dovey’ relationships with every brand they interract with, at least not in the same way as the brand does.
Yes brands want to be familiar, considered, admired, edified, and trusted.
Consumers, however, want to be treated well, respected, and understood – they want a satisfying experience and the reassurance of knowing that they will have the same experience every time they interact with a brand – and part with their money. A brand whose offer is matched by the experience, one that delivers on its promises and we may well open our wallet to it again.
But mostly I get something from it that I want and its money you get back. Thats the extent of the “relationship” for the majority of brands.
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Researcher – it’s actually quite easy to measure any uplift an experiential component adds to a campaign – for one you can compare other markets that did not have the experiential part.
The problem is cost – clients get so much research/tracking for free from media agencies, they don’t want to shell out anything on top of that. In my experience, they also fall down at the end creatively, obsessively branding everything and making sure that ‘global’ approves every element, and as such creating a boring experience that no-one is lining up to have.
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To Researcher,
To say that experiential marketing is impossible to measure is an unbelievable statement to make. If the campaign is run correctly a company can measure the results all the way to the bank.
I have seen the “bad” campaigns with mini golf and the lexus reps myself, but if the agency involved is a good one then they will target the right audience at the right time and give that audience a real sense of being part of something.
Competition entries, vouchers and peoples participation are all ways to measure success. If the campaign is run correctly then Free TV, Radio and Press coverage is another measurement of success.
Marmite celebrating 100 years by bringing home 100 kiwis, Smirnoff going to peoples homes and hosting parties with a new product launch, Hendricks Gin doing a Victorian photo booth at the coolest bars in Auckland. These are not your “typical” girl in body pant handing out fliers. These are well thought out campaigns that have had plenty of press coverage.
Maybe in your world we would stick to TV and Radio because they give us pretty graphs and spread sheets on our many homes you are reaching. With most people not using live TV and fast forwarding the ads I personally feel that experiential marketing is the best way of reaching your target.
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@researcher – the bottom line here is that everything is measurable – as long as you and your client understand the capabilities, tools and systems that can be used to measured against set KPIs for the brand.
Just have a look at what Orange Mobile have done at Glastonbury Festival over the past six years.
Not only have they brought their brand to market with activity which resonates with their target market, but they have also built measurability into all of their campaigns.
Orange put a major part of their marketing spend into their sponsorship of Glastonbury each year – of which only a minor part is traditional media. Most of the budget is invested into experiential activity on site, with the objective of driving brand loyalty to be recognised as the only mobile phone brand to be seen with at the festival.
Lets be clear – there is limited ATL or other integrated media campaigns to measure most of the elements here – but they can all be measured against the KPIs set out by the client through a variety of experiential and social media techniques.
Ive seen how their agency measure these campaigns and they’re accurate, enlightening and have meant that Orange continue to push the boundaries in this area year on year.
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