Opinion

Q&A with Red Guerilla’s Nigel Hickey: ‘If the client doesn’t feel uncomfortable then it’s probably fairly average work’

Nigel HickeyThe head of the Red Agency’s experiential arm Red Guerilla  Nigel Hickey talks to Miranda Ward about the possibilities of experiential marketing, how clients need to be scared of what they are doing, and how the discipline fits into the PR space.

How do you define experiential?

I always take the approach of brand experience. Experiences can be driven across multiple different platforms now. Really if it’s on or offline it’s about getting someone to engage with a brand and getting them to understand what that brand is about and experience it. It’s also about giving them conversation topics that they can share socially or talk about.

All those types of things are about getting to experience what the brand is.

A lot of people get confused between an experiential agency and an activations agency or sampling.

They’re two very different things. I’ve worked in both categories. What we do is develop strategy. I always talk to clients about a three-year approach. Let’s look at a three year experiential platform that they can use and tap into. There are a lot of warehouses around the country with sets and builds that were used once and have been left in a warehouse somewhere. It’s really making sure the brand and the marketing team don’t get bored of a platform and making sure you get ROI and longevity through the experience over a three-year period.

Red GuerillaWhere does experiential fit in in terms of the wider marketing mix – is it part of public relations?

From a PR perspective, where PR can tell a story and communicate a conversation from their channels, what we can bring to the table is that real proof point of what that story is about. We can make it real, bring it to real people and have a real world experience with that story, that campaign, that conversation. It’s a great follow-through from PR from an online or print perspective through to engaging with people on a day-to-day level.

As an industry, it should be part of a bigger 360 approach to a brand. It was more of a segregated offer back in the day.

How do you measure return on investment when it comes to experential?

It depends on the type of campaign. We have a matrix that we measure on. We also look at reach and awareness which is key. The way that we look at social, the way it accelerated experiential was the ability to share it and expose it to people online who might have been at the experience.

We look at everything from advocacy right back to interactions, dwell time, whether or not that have an intention or interest to purchase.

It’s really looking at how you drive that ROI through earned media. We always look at social as a way of consumers doing some heavy lifting and driving some earned media organically.

From a PR perspective, the ability to then amplify it, and that’s again the ROI.

From a content, digital perspective – if you’re creating content off that experience then pushing that out through media channels. Great experiential is at the centre of those other disciplines if it’s done well.

As an industry we need to work really hard on being very transparent and accurate on what our outcomes are on campaigns. The reality of measurement is what clients need to be aware of. Historically there have been results that aren’t as accurate to what the perception of the client has been.

Real data, real results, real outcomes is my mission from an agency perspective to be really clear on so they understand what they’ll get.

Nigel Hickey and James Wright

Nigel Hickey and James Wright

Do clients know what they’re asking for when they say they want an experience?

Over the last couple of years they’re have been more and more open briefs that have gone out to everybody.

The best idea, creative, concept is what will lead that total agency integration. That’s the brief that brands really want to be releasing because it makes your agencies work hard to develop a great idea. Briefs that say ‘I want experiential’ – my question would be what for?

A brief should be as open as a it can be and that’s where you get great work, great creative, great results and a great outcome. A brand trying to be too prescriptive could hold back what that creative outcome could be.

Do clients in this market need to be more brave?

Totally. You can always scale back on an idea. If you channel it down a funnel that you have an okay outcome. It’s very hard to scale the idea up. If the risk is too high then scale it back. But at least start with a little risk!

If the client doesn’t feel uncomfortable then it’s probably fairly average work. You want them to be concerned. You want it to be a high-risk project. Generally that’s where you get some excitement through the idea, campaign and execution.

Red Guerilla won a Reggie Award for Jack Daniel’s ‘The Bar That Jack Built’.

Red Guerilla won a Reggie Award for Jack Daniel’s ‘The Bar That Jack Built’.

Can all brands play in the experiential space?

Every brand or industry has some level of story to tell. The importance is making sure you understand what experiential might be for that brand.

The right way to bring that experience out of the brand is really critical, that’s right for the brand as well so you want to make sure it’s on-brand as well. There’s a way of bringing out something. I’d come back to the question of what you want to achieve. Every brand can have the right to play in the space but it’s important to make the right call on what that experience is.

When brands are using experiential, what are they typically looking to achieve?

It’s a mix of things. There’s a range of ways we’ve used experiential to help solve difficult problems for clients, whether it’s a loyalty issue and reigniting that fan base or changing the perception of a brand. Obviously all the standard stuff, launching a new brand or product.

It’s just making sure that you address the problem you might be having with the experience. Don’t try and deliver too many things at once to the consumer, make it simple. Make it a quality experience. Our biggest one is around doing less better than more badly. It’s quality over quantity. That’s the work we should be doing as an agency.

What is the role of social media within experiential?

Social done well can engage fans outside of the experience and work hard for you and drive earned media.

The ability to engage people prior to the event which is great and you see more and more of that on Facebook with the ‘yes I’m going’ type pledge.

the bar that jack builtThe ability to follow up with those people via social and follow the journey is really interesting which we’ve done well with Jack Daniels of the process with The Bar That Jack Built. It’s a great channel to continue a conversation with consumers.

Should experiential agencies be collaborating more with other marketing disciplines?

As an industry that has evolved great brands are working in a round-table approach with their agencies. It’s less about the creative agency coming up with an idea and more about the agencies coming up with the right idea for the brand.

As an industry it’s quite common that’s the environment we now work in and it’s only strengthened the category because the work is stronger, it’s seen more and spoken about more and has a greater measurable outcome which is what we lacked 10 years ago.

Is experiential a good way for brands to connect with millennials or audiences who are increasingly switching off to traditional advertising?

It’s certainly a way to talk to them first hand as it does create a more humanised experience. From a millennial perspective it’s about giving them great topics from experiential to share on their multi-screened world. Good experiential that targets them is really integrated with great content and the delivery of that content is tailored more to their needs. It’s that tailored integration that works and talks to them in a stronger way.

It’s certainly a great way to get them engaged and involved with the brand.

What are some great examples of experiential campaigns?

The Bar that Jack Built which we rolled out for the second time at a large scale. It was quite a unique one. It was the consumers and fans actually built the experience and then got to enjoy it.

Some of the other great campaigns in market – Traffik’s work on Sideliner which was to drive purchase of Samsung TVs. You can’t get much closer to the game then being on the sidelines in an experience like sideliner. That was great work.

The work that Ensemble’s doing with the likesof KitKat Studio is amazing as well.

Over the last year, as an industry we’re showing great, exciting work and work that does fit into and potentially leads a bigger strategy. That’s the work as an industry brands should be looking at.

Where will the experiential space go to next?

We’re still a very immature market for this category, we still have a long way to go. We still have huge potential. You only have to see the recent work coming out of the global shows. We’re doing great work potentially because clients are allowing us to and not holding us back. Making sure that the ability to integrate and drive results and outcomes is really critical.

For Red Guerrilla, we entered the market 18 months ago and we’ve won 13 awards so far. What that says to me is there is still more room in the market for more agencies which is really healthy from an industry perspective.

  • Miranda Ward is public relations and publishing editor for Mumbrella

The Red Agency’s managing director James Wright will be speaking at this year’s Secrets of Agency Excellence (SAGE) event on November 19. Wright will be part of a session called “picking up more pieces of the ad budget – building new revenue streams” and will talk about how they built up Red’s experiential offering. 

For more information click here. 600x90_SAGE-campaign1

ADVERTISEMENT

Get the latest media and marketing industry news (and views) direct to your inbox.

Sign up to the free Mumbrella newsletter now.

 

SUBSCRIBE

Sign up to our free daily update to get the latest in media and marketing.