How To Leverage Experiential Marketing Research

Posted on March 29, 2021March 29, 2021 by britney

Consumers receive a steady stream of marketing messages every day. Experiential marketing offers a uniquely personal way to engage customers, turning into customer advocacy for your brand. People are savvier today than ever before and adept at filtering out marketing tactics that fall flat. Let’s take a closer look at why experiential marketing research is essential and how to incorporate it for a successful marketing strategy.

Why Is Experiential Marketing Research Important?

In the most classic sense, traditional marketing is dead. Billboards? Consumer drive right past them. Commercials? Who needs them when people can stream instead. Magazine ads? Everyone’s online. Experiential marketing focuses on connecting consumers with brand experiences rather than directly with a product. In that regard, consumers are no longer passive receivers of brand messaging. They’re now actively engaged, and experiential marketing offers a window into the soul of a brand with thoughtful and meaningful engagement.

So, why is experiential marketing research necessary? There are four reasons:

It helps provide insights and information that will help refine your marketing strategy for the better.
It offers a deeper understanding of who your customers are, as well as your competitors.
Research helps you understand who’s buying what you’re selling, who’s not, and why.
Taking a 30,000 ft. view of your industry’s environment identifies new business opportunities.

Breaking Down Experiential Marketing Research

Experiential marketing research is rooted in data, and it needs to be if it’s going to be effective. But, how do you make your campaign data-driven? Here are a few tips to help guide you:

Personalize Campaigns to Boost Sales

When brands understand customer trends, they have a much better chance of striking when the iron’s hot. Not only does personalization have an emotional impact, but it also encourages positive engagement. For example, Versace used data-driven research and found its customers mostly purchased items like wallets and sunglasses. To attract more people to buy its clothing, the luxury fashion company created marketing campaigns to attract high-end shoppers. That helped to deliver a 35% jump in online sales and a 300% average order increase.

Continuously Engage With Consumers

Your customers crave experiences and information that’s either useful or interesting to them. When you use experiential marketing research, your content is more streamlined. That allows your brand to engage with your customers in a relevant, timely, and meaningful way. Ahead of the 2016 presidential election, GrubHub and Time magazine partnered with a compelling social media poll to pique its customers’ interest. Based on company data about the number of times customers ordered particular items in 214 congressional districts, poll respondents found out whether their dietary preferences meant they were more likely to be Republican or Democrat.

Invest in the Right Tools

Unless you’re a marketing whiz, you’ll need help assembling your experiential marketing research. But, there are a variety of resources at your disposal. CrazyEgg’s maps can help you boost conversion rates. Capsulink lets you explore your audience’s geographical location and what that means for your online presence. And Survey Anyplace’s creative quizzes and surveys can provide you with innovative ways to receive post-campaign feedback.

The Benefits of Experiential Marketing Research Are Endless

At its core, experiential marketing research is about understanding as much as you can about your customers. When you can predict their behaviors and their needs, you’ll know them as well as they know themselves.

The benefits of experiential marketing research outweigh the effort ten-fold. It helps craft the right messages at the right time and in an organic way. It improves customer experiences because you know where your strengths and weaknesses lie. And it even optimizes your budget. Data-driven marketing allows you to strategically plan how and when you’ll engage with consumers because you’ll know what they want.

Experiential marketing research changes the way you do business. Even the best marketers can’t perform miracles. So, if it’s improvements and success you’re after, planning for them is the way to go. With clearly defined goals and the facts to back them up, you’ll see immediate results.

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Guerrilla Marketing Stunts That Still Work in 2023

Posted on March 22, 2021May 8, 2024 by britney

Are you a marketer looking for ways to surprise consumers and go viral on social media? If the answer is yes, turn to guerrilla marketing. With the right approach, guerrilla marketing stunts are an affordable and effective way to launch your brand’s visibility to new heights. But where do you start?

This blog will help you get a closer look at the world of guerrilla marketing. First, we’ll clearly define the strategy, then explore the pros and cons, and last but not least, outline examples of past stunts that still work wonders for brands in 2023. Let’s get started.

What Is a Guerrilla Marketing Stunt?

The name guerrilla marketing originates from guerrilla warfare, a type of physical combat characterized by out-of-box, non-traditional methods to get a leg up on opponents. Instead of large, organized efforts to reach your goals, guerrilla marketing— like guerrilla warfare— relies on small tactics to inch closer and closer to success.

In other words, guerrilla marketing is different from traditional marketing strategies because it involves unconventional and low-cost techniques to either raise general brand awareness or drive up sales around a specific good or service. High energy and imaginative, this marketing strategy relies on the element of surprise to leave a lasting emotional impression on audiences.

The general idea behind this marketing strategy is that as long as the marketing effort is memorable or worth sharing, the promotion will reach a wider audience through viral marketing or word of mouth, for free.

We can sum up guerrilla marketing with three key takeaways:

Guerrilla marketing uses unorthodox strategies to increase sales or entice consumers to a brand and its products or services.
These stunts are low-cost and utilize personal communications.
Guerrilla marketing stunts have risen in popularity thanks to social media that help amplify messaging specific to target audiences.

The Pros and Cons of Guerrilla Marketing

Before you read on, it’s essential to know that there are advantages and disadvantages to guerrilla marketing stunts. Take the following pros and cons into careful consideration before moving forward with a guerrilla marketing campaign:

Pros

In comparison to traditional marketing and advertising, it’s budget-friendly.
It relies on word-of-mouth advertising, one of the most potent brand awareness tools in experiential marketing.
The right guerrilla marketing stunts can boost publicity and communicate your brand ethos in a fresh way.

Cons

Messages can be muddled and misunderstood without clear communication.
Guerrilla marketing stunts are susceptible to unforeseen obstacles that may undermine a campaign, like bad weather.
If a guerrilla marketing event falls flat, it may be subject to potential backlash by savvy audiences.

5 Types of Guerrilla Marketing Stunts and Successful Examples tO USE AS INSPIRATION IN 2023

1. Event Ambush Marketing: Samsung vs. Apple

There’s always a debate raging between fans of Apple’s iOS mobile devices and Samsung’s Android products. But, how did this heated competition start? In 2011, as Apple prepared to launch the anticipated iPhone S4, Samsung decided to crash the party. At Apple’s prestigious storefront in Sydney, Samsung erected a pop-up store of its next door. While Apple devotees stood in line, waiting patiently to get their hands on the new $700 iPhone, Samsung sold its Galaxy SII for $1.50. While many resisted Samsung’s offer, Samsung’s tactic paid off; many more walked away with a brand-new — and much cheaper — Galaxy SII.

2. Mobile Tour: JUST Egg

The JUST Egg mobile tour was a clever, two-sided campaign by the brand calling for government action on climate change while at the same time, promoting JUST Egg plant-based breakfast sandwiches as an alternative to less sustainable meat options.

The guerrilla marketing stunt involved everything from funny menu options poking fun at government officials, free breakfast sandwiches for people to try, and a QR code that sent consumers to their website page to write a direct letter to congress calling for a stronger emphasis on fighting climate change.

As planned, the mobile tour resulted in thousands of new JUST Egg fans and a more unified response to government inaction.

3. Holiday Pop-Up: Bacardi Winter Summerland Campaign

Bacardi wanted to promote its beverage with a holiday pop-up, during a time of year that their business is slower. To do this, the brand fabricated a glass truck to capture the synergy of the summer and winter seasons, and for two days, New Yorkers were surprised by a whole slew of different guerrilla tactics.

The guerrilla campaign included elements like the opportunity to purchase Bacardí X Aviator Nation merch and last minute holiday gifts— socks, sweatshirts, t-shirts, candles— along with surprise appearances from West Side Story actors Mack Wilds and Ana Isabelle. Not to mention, the branded pedicabs, flash mob dancers, and the billboard takeover that dominated Times Square and other heavily foot-trafficked areas like Union Square, the Winter Village at Bryant Park, and Columbus Circle Holiday Market.

4. Buzz Marketing: The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge

Even if you were didn’t know the mega-viral ALS Ice Bucket Challenge was an example of buzz marketing, you undoubtedly heard of it. Why? Because it’s one of the famous word-of-mouth marketing campaigns ever. The ALS Foundation’s clever fundraising campaign challenged audiences to pour a bucket of ice water over their heads and post reactions on social media while nominating a friend to do the same. Celebrities like Dwane Johnson, Will Smith, Bill Gates, Oprah Winfrey, Lady Gaga, and others participated in the challenge for free. The tactic was so successful; the ALS Foundation raised a staggering $115 million in the process.

5. Street Team Marketing: Twitter Scores a Winning Goal

In 2019, the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team won its record-setting fourth World Cup. Twitter aimed to capitalize on the team’s monumental success by promoting women’s soccer in the U.S. The social media platform’s #StartWithThem campaign raised awareness for the brand and support for women’s sports. Launching a three-day street team marketing tour in New York City, Twitter turned a branded food truck into an interactive experience with free food and prizes. Guerrilla marketing stunts that use engaging ambassadors and offer complimentary gifts or branded swag are always a good rule of thumb when courting potential customers.

Use Guerrilla Marketing Stunts to Your Advantage

Guerrilla marketing is a clever alternative to old-school marketing and advertising tactics. If executed well, they are a compelling method for attracting customers. Because of its ingenuity and creativity, guerrilla marketing stunts are low-cost yet can produce high rewards. So, if you’re looking for a strategy to win over audiences and get ahead of your competition, a well-executed guerrilla marketing campaign will help you get there.

Food Truck Promotions has all of the expertise needed to execute a successful guerrilla marketing campaign. Contact us today to learn more and get started!

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Brand Activation Rules You Don’t Want To Break

Posted on March 9, 2021February 13, 2024 by britney

You want to reach more customers who’ll buy into your brand’s message. But, how do you break through the noise and capture a slice of the market share? Consider investing in a brand activation strategy. But, there are ironclad rules to successful brand activation. So, before you hit the ground running, let’s take a look at the top 4 that will ensure you develop an effective brand activation campaign.

What Is a Brand Activation and Why Is It Important?

Brand activation is the process of making your brand known to consumers by increasing awareness and engagement through experiences. But, brand activations differ from general branding strategies. Of course, reaching more people is the focus of most marketing systems. But, brand activations center around a single event or campaign.

Brand activations don’t only apply to new brands and start-ups. All businesses should evolve to meet changing times and consumer behaviors. Incredible brand activations know who their customers are, what they want, and align with their tastes.

Brand activations are essential because they bring your brand to life. According to Event Marketer, 98% of consumers feel more inclined to purchase a brand’s products or services after attending an event.

1. Knowing Which Brand Activation Is Right for You

There are many types of brand activations at your disposal. Here are three of the most common:

Experiential marketing events are emotionally-based and build strong relationships between brands and consumers. Why? Because brands engage audiences with experiences. They let people try a product, ask questions, or entice them with multi-sensory moments.
Product sampling events are tried-and-true. Consumers enjoy trying products first without the risk of buying them. But, keep in mind that there are right ways and wrong ways to pull off promotions. Brand ambassadors shouldn’t be pushy or over-eager. Choose your tactics wisely and tailor them to your target audiences’ habits.
The most popular brand activations are in-store campaigns. Customers can interact inside a brand’s natural environment. It’s an excellent strategy for restaurants and retail brands where products are the main attraction. Customers can experience your inventory while seeing up-close how you treat your customers.

2. Understanding the Three Pillars of Brand Activation

Developing your campaign means a lot more than throwing it together with a lot of bells and whistles. It takes sticking with crucial features that distinguish brands from their competition:

Your customers drive demand for your brand. Awareness of consumer trends is vital if you want to tap into their desires and increase your viability.
Launching a campaign takes nuance, and timing is part of that. Reaching target audiences at the right time and the right place makes your brand activation organic and less staged.
Lose the expectation that consumers need you. In competitive marketplaces, there’s always someone else to steal them away. Think about why your customers should believe in your brand above others.

3. Analyzing the Right Metrics

Brand activations build loyalty. The catch is knowing if your mission struck real emotions with your target audience. How do you go about measuring that kind of success? It’s all about using the right metrics. Here are some that you’ll want to keep in mind:

Your campaign should start with determining if it’s relevant. Does it reflect your brand’s message and core values?
Consumer reach measures how many people your campaign will touch. Is it a mobile tour across the U.S.? A worldwide guerilla marketing campaign? Or is it a one-time event that’s limited to your immediate area?
The bottom line is the benefits of your campaign should outweigh the costs. Return on investment doesn’t mean measuring in terms of sales. Think about what investment means to your brand and its goals.
Brands should want to maximize what a brand activation can do for it. Think about its long-term potential. Can your campaign reap additional rewards later on down the road?
The best way to reach audiences is to offer them something they won’t get elsewhere. How unique is your event? Does it get consumers, influencers, or media talking? Examining social media engagement and feedback surveys will help you figure this out.

4. Respect Your Customers (and Listen to What They Have To Say)

Throughout this post, we have come back to the importance of customer perception. Because brand activations make-or-break your success. They should feel like an extension of your brand. One thing they should never feel like is a publicity stunt.

Consumers are savvy, and they can tell when they’re being pandered. Respect your customers, and they’ll respect you. And always plan your brand activation with them in mind. It should be engaging and exciting, but never off-message or off-brand.

That’s where feedback comes in. Engagement is a two-way street. As much as you want your customers to understand you, you need to understand them as well. Surveying your audience during and after your event will give you a better idea of whether your brand activation achieved its desired effect.

Follow These Rules, and Your Brand Activation Will See Success

If brand building were a race, it would be a marathon, not a sprint. It takes time and dedication to turn a brand into a success. But, brand activations can help you get there. They boost your business with engaging experiences that foster relationships, drive awareness, and reshape perceptions.

An integral part of any brand strategy, these types of campaigns will increase your chances for success and establish deep connections with your customers when done right by following these rules.

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Creative Technology in Experiential Marketing

Posted on February 25, 2021June 11, 2024 by britney

These days, the bar for crafting a memorable brand experience is higher than ever. Gone are the days when a simple ad boosted impressions. Consumers want brands to find new and creative ways of delivering experiences that resonate with them. Enter the magic of creative technology in experiential marketing.

Creative technology offers tools to connect with consumers in exciting ways. Whether VR or interactive photo experiences, integrating creative technology into brand experiences opens endless audience engagement opportunities. Not sure where to start? Check out these three innovative and successful examples in New York City.

What is Creative Technology?

The average consumer sees creative technology every day. But, it’s such a normal part of our world, they may not even realize it when they see:

Motion sensors when they approach a kiosk to start a transaction.
Using smartphones at a store to scan QR codes for coupons or more information on a product.
Going to a restaurant and using a tablet to look at menus and place an order.

Creative technology takes digital design and media and creates multi-sensory experiences that transport consumers into a world that excites and engages.

Mastercard Helps NYC Commuters Travel Smarter

When marketers use creative technology, we think of digital experiences that blow audiences away. But it’s also a way for brands to educate consumers about their products and services.

Mastercard recently launched an engagement marketing activation introducing its Tap & Go™ contactless technology. For New Yorkers, commuting can be stressful. Mastercard let them see how easy their commutes can be with just a simple tap.

Using trained brand ambassadors and branded food trucks to pique consumers’ senses and interest, Mastercard stationed experiences at three New York subway stations. Participants were invited to watch a contact kiosk checkout demonstration to see the simplicity of using Tap & Go™. They also received free Metrocards, and snacks made by award-winning New York chef JJ Johnson.

H&M’s Smart Mirrors Merge High Fashion with High Tech

Retailers are struggling to survive against the domination of eCommerce. That means using creative technology that offers consumers things that won’t find online.

H&M wanted to launch an in-store experience for shoppers and used its location in New York to test smart mirrors that served as virtual personal shoppers. H&M’s smart mirrors were deployed to create a seamless shopping experience that combined voice and facial recognition.

Customers were able to use voice commands to take selfies that integrated with H&M’s catalog to give outfit suggestions in real-time. If customers liked what they saw, they could order their new looks from H&M’s website using a QR code.

The Daily Show’s Interactive Political Satire Wins Big at Cannes

The Daily Show has built a successful brand based on biting political satire. In 2018, the Comedy Central program took its topical humor on the road by blending it with a digital art installation.

Poking fun at former-President Donald Trump’s now-defunct Twitter feed, The Daily Show curated a museum’s worth of his infamous tweets and put them on display in several cities around the U.S.

The show’s use of mobile, interactive creative technology was so popular, it won a Grand Prix at that year’s Cannes Lions Festival.

Build Your Brand Bolder and Better With Creative Technology

The best way to maximize the success of your experiential marketing campaign is to understand your audience. Who are they? What are their interests? What tactic will engage them best? Most of our lives revolve around the use of various technologies. That’s why so many brands are using creative technology to separate themselves from the rest. Successful brands understand using digital technology means they can make their dreams a reality. With the help of creative technology, they can connect the dots between brand awareness and audience engagement.

Get Creative with FTP

Food Truck Promotions offers plenty of different ways you can get creative with your marketing campaign. Learn more about us and contact us today to get started!

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Experiential Marketing Examples to Inspire Your Campaign

Posted on February 17, 2021June 19, 2024 by britney

2020 was a year full of twists and turns. Undoubtedly, it turned the world of experiential marketing on its head. What will 2021 bring? Definitely adaptation in an ever-changing landscape. Brands will continue to embrace experiential marketing examples that are as authentic as they are flexible to meet consumers’ needs. With that, let’s check out seven successful trends that are inspiring the future of experiential marketing.

Zara Embraces Cause Marketing by Showing Its ‘Pride’

A 2018 survey revealed more than 50% of Gen-Zers said knowing a brand is socially conscious influences their purchasing decisions. 2019’s Pride Parade in New York commemorated the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots. Zara and JustWater wanted to take part in this milestone and show their pride. Using a three-sided glass truck customized into a 3D Pride flag showcasing 9,000 bottles of JustWater, paradegoers stayed hydrated as Zara’s field marketing team provided a rainbow selection of complimentary JustWater. Zara’s cause marketing campaign netted over one million impressions on social media worldwide while highlighting the brand’s support for the LGBTQ+ community.

User-Generated Content Helps Ocean Spray Reach Its ‘Dreams’

User-generated content is one of the most organic experiential marketing examples. What it lacks in finesse, it makes up for with authenticity, which is always valuable. Over the past few years, content created by consumers has become a cornerstone of many marketing strategies. In a 2020 study, 86% of brands are repurposing their social media followers’ content.

Last fall, Nathan Apodaca combined skateboarding, Ocean Spray cranberry juice, and Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams” to create a viral moment. His TikTok took the Internet by storm, with celebrities, Ocean Spray’s CEO, and even Fleetwood Mac co-founder Mick Fleetwood uploading their renditions. Brands that take advantage of user-generated content endear themselves to consumers who appreciate messaging that’s made by people just like them.

Adidas’ ‘Run For The Oceans’ Stresses the Importance of Sustainability

In a world where large-scale events are often activated, consumers appreciate responsible brands that actively reduce their environmental footprint. In 2018, Adidas created Run For The Oceans, uniting one million runners and raising $1 million to educate and empower 100,000 families living in coastal areas affected by plastic pollution. Adidas created five million pairs of shoes using recycled ocean plastic.

By showing commitment to creating a sustainable future, Adidas developed a platform that brings consumers and its global brand together. In 2021, brands are executing experiences that focus on strategies that amplify messaging and tangible commitments to saving the environment.

Activating Experiential Marketing Examples Without Leaving ‘Höme’

COVID-19 has forced brands to rethink how they launch multi-sensory engagement without the impact of in-person experiences. Over the past year, industries have activated experiential marketing examples that bring those moments to consumers’ homes.

Last holiday season, IKEA offered customers a free “Gingerbread Höme” kit allowing them to furnish gingerbread houses with edible versions of the brand’s famous furniture. To boost impressions, IKEA encouraged customers to share their creations on social media using the hashtag #IKEAHoliday.

Mastercard’s IRL Demonstration Showcases Immersive Promotions

Brands turn to immersive promotions to educate consumers by letting them take their products for a test-drive. As contactless technology becomes the preferred transaction method by increasing safety, cleanliness, and service, Mastercard launched its Tap & Go service. Wanting to teach customers the ease and simplicity of using Tap and Go, Mastercard had New Yorkers use its contactless technology to make their commutes more efficient.

Using a branded food truck with complimentary cuisine provided by famed-New York chef JJ Johnson, Mastercard set-up interactive stations at three busy subway stations in Manhattan. Commuters were invited to test the speed of Tap & Go for themselves and received free Metrocards for participating.

Experiential Marketing Examples That Enhance Everyday Life

Some of the most successful experiential marketing examples allow consumers to imagine how products can improve their lives. Experiential marketing that hits close to home already has one foot in the door with winning over consumers.

Located at Paris’ Boulevard Diderot, designer Marc Aurel created “the bus stop of the future,” a multi-purpose public space designed to blend into the surrounding urban environment. Aside from purchasing a bus ticket, passengers can have a coffee, borrow a book, recharge their phones, and more. By reimagining the ordinary, Paris made the conventionality of waiting for the bus an experience that fosters social interaction and engagement.

Montana Inspires Virtual Wanderlust

In 2016, to boost tourism, VisitMT.com brought “Big Sky Country” to the streets of Chicago, Minneapolis, and Seattle. Montana might not be on everyone’s wish list, but the “Treasure State” wanted to show what it has to offer.

VisitMT’s experience featured knowledgeable brand ambassadors and a food truck converted into the state-landmark Polebridge Mercantile. Receiving complimentary “made-in-Montana” huckleberry ice cream and bison jerky, visitors got a taste of the real Montana experience.

Set Your Brand Up for Success

Every marketing campaign is different, but the ultimate goal is always the same: to reach new consumers and keep old ones in the fold. These successful experiential marketing examples will help enhance your brand strategy and foster lasting connections with customers. Because when a brand can stir genuine, positive emotions with consumers, they have the power to change the conversation.

Food Truck Promotions has all of the resources you’ll need to execute your own experiential marketing campaign. Learn more about us and contact us today to get started!