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Five Experiential Marketing Ideas for Back-To-School Season

Experiential Marketing

It’s back-to-school season for children across the U.S. and that means brands can capture a multi-billion dollar annual event. While many kids are already back in school, the end of Labor Day means the start of the new school year for millions more across the U.S. 

With dramatic changes to the back-to-school routine as a result of COVID-19, brands are looking at creative ways to reach and connect with parents who still have a laundry list of school supplies, clothes, accessories, and electronics to purchase. How can they capitalize on the second biggest shopping season of the year with a brand strategy that attracts and retains consumers? 

Take a look at these five back-to-school experiential marketing ideas perfectly designed to sell more products, increase foot traffic, and leave lasting impressions right before the bell rings. 

Back to School Experiential Marketing

Pop-Ups Target Parents Where They Are

Busy parents generally have “go-to stores” when shopping for their children’s back-to-school supplies. Maybe they found a fabulous deal the previous year. Or perhaps a particular retailer has that “must-have” item their child has been begging for all summer long. 

Either way, there’s a short-window between parents receiving back-to-school supply lists from teachers and the amount of time they have to shop and get their kids ready for “the first day.” 

That’s why pop-up shops are the perfect platform to reach parents who are short-on-time and aren’t methodically browsing for back-to-school necessities. These temporary retail spaces are popular, mobile, budget-friendly and work well for both brick-and-mortar brands that can tap into new markets and online retailers that can showcase their products to consumers, up-close and in-person. 

Last August, Aerie (owned by American clothing retailer American Eagle Outfitters) visited college campuses across the U.S. for their “Aerie Pop-In Tour.” Featuring the brand’s latest fashion and accessory collections, Aerie also generated buzz with students through contests and giveaways, exclusive discounts, and interactive activities. 

Aerie Pop In Tour

Exclusive Contests and Giveaways Entice Budget-Conscious Parents

It’s no secret that back-to-school shopping is expensive. In 2020, households are spending an average of nearly $800, an increase of over $300 since 2004. With that, nearly every parent is always on the lookout for deals and giveaways. 

Along with the excitement free giveaways and contests bring to experiential marketing campaigns, brands are more likely to get parents browsing the rest of what they have to offer, increasing the likelihood they’ll open up their wallets and spend. 

From exclusive gifts with a purchase, gift card giveaways, or contests with winners receiving high-dollar value prize packages, the options are seemingly endless on how brands can get parents online and/or in-store to make them part of their back-to-school shopping routine.

Product Demos Create Multi-Sensory Experiences

Why “talk the talk,” when you can “walk the walk”? When you can show consumers how your brand’s products can integrate into their back-to-school routine, they’re able to see it in-action and see it’s value and benefits. 

With product demonstrations, you’re executing a three-pronged approach of showcasing your product, answering questions on-the-spot, and highlighting why your brand is superior to competitors. 

Just in time for caffeine-deprived college students returning to campus after their winter breaks, Nespresso launched a nationwide, six-week, promotion for their “Nordic Limited Edition” line of specialty coffee. With stops in New York City, L.A., and Miami, the specialty coffee retailer used a mobile showroom to show off their new product line and premium coffee and espresso machines, as well as offering complimentary cups of both hot and iced coffees.

With experienced brand ambassadors demonstrating how to brew a delicious cup of Nespresso coffee, along with treating curious onlookers to free samples, consumers’ senses were activated with the unmistakable taste and aroma of a perfect morning cup of coffee.  

With field marketers demonstrating how to make a delicious and luxurious cup of coffee, customers were not only treated to free samples, but were allowed to immerse themselves in the “Nespresso experience,” influencing higher sales and highlighting the brand in one fell swoop.  

Create Exclusivity With In-Store Events

While the impact of coronavirus has limited face-to-face contact in large groups, there are brands responsibly hosting exclusive, in-store events bringing parents and their children together in a traditional experiential marketing environment designed to attract attention. 

With exclusive discounts and incentives for attendees only, in-store events drive traffic from consumers who don’t want to miss out. This past July, WalMart launched “STEAM Day of Play” at participating stores around the U.S., to engage children with activities centered around science, technology, engineering, the arts and mathematics. 

From learning how to tie-dye, create “slime,” and craft a cereal necklace, WalMart gave cooped-up children and parents the opportunity to safely have fun and exercise their minds.

Give Your Back-To-School Promotional Event Star-Power

Teaming up with a celebrity or social media influencer is a strategic way to enhance interest for your event. By partnering with a well-known personality who aligns with your brand’s message and identity, you can not only capture your own fans, but theirs as well.  

Last fall, Quaker Chewy wanted to help kids in NYC get geared-up for the new school year with their nutritious granola bars. In partnership with AdoptAClassroom.org, and some added star-power from actor Neil Patrick Harris, a branded Quaker Chewy food truck gave away over 500 boxes of the popular snack bars with NPH serving fans and passersby himself

When a celebrity or influencer promotes your product, you have the ability to reach a wider audience and drive more traffic to your brand.

Get Noticed During the Back-to-School Shopping Season

This year’s back-to-school spending is expected to reach over $33 billion dollars in the U.S. and it’s easier than you think for your brand to capture a slice of the back-to-school market. Aside from being a great way to connect with your target audience, there are numerous opportunities that are creative and memorable that can produce unforgettable experiences, just in time for the start of the new school year.

Your back-to-school promotion is just a phone call away. Contact us here at Food Truck Promotions to learn more about our services and get started on your back-to-school activation today!

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Guerrilla Marketing: The Element of Surprise

Experiential Marketing

In marketing, employing guerrilla marketing techniques means creating an element of surprise for consumers, through unconventional campaigns that reach people in an unexpected and memorable way. 

When we think of the word “guerrilla,” “guerrilla warfare” comes to mind, but “guerrilla marketing” isn’t meant to be aggressive or combative. It is, however, meant to raise brand awareness in an imaginative and eye-opening way. 

So, let’s take a look at what guerrilla marketing is and how it can take your next experiential marketing campaign in a fun, unique, and creative direction. 

Roots of Guerrilla Marketing

Guerrilla marketing traces its roots back to the 1980s, as brands and agencies began the shift from traditional print, television, and radio marketing to electronic media. The term “guerrilla marketing” was coined by late American business writer Jay Conrad Levinson in his 1984 book “Guerrilla Marketing: Easy and Inexpensive Strategies for Making Big Profits from Your Small Business.”

While the marketing landscape looked vastly different over 35 years ago than it does in 2020, the core principles of Levinson’s book (i.e. generating buzz about a product or brand that translates into sales) still rings true today, even as the ever-changing digital landscape continues to transform brand, agency, and consumer perceptions and expectations of what experiential marketing is. 

A good example of the roots of guerrilla marketing can be found on cable television of the late 1980s and early 1990s, specifically MTV. Instead of advertising being a by-product of a show, tuning into a music video’s “world premiere” was, in itself, a creative and subtle call-to-action from brands. 

For a more recent example, take Lady Gaga’s 2010 “Telephone” music video remix featuring Beyoncé, which showcased a whopping 12 brand placements, from Diet Coke to Virgin Mobile and even Miracle Whip. 

And, all that product placement translated into an astonishing amount of brand awareness, with over 360 millions views of the video (as of this writing) on YouTube alone.  

Guerilla Marketing Lady Gaga

Guerrilla marketing relies heavily on unconventional strategies, a lot of energy, and even more imagination. “Surprise” is a quaint, yet accurate, way to sum up guerrilla marketing in one word. Most guerrilla marketing campaigns strike consumers on a more personal and memorable level, which leaves a far more valuable impression than traditional marketing strategies. 

Types of Guerrilla Marketing

On its own, guerrilla marketing seems niche enough in the world of experiential marketing. But, there are actually several sub-categories:

Indoor” Guerrilla Marketing: These are activations executed inside public areas like college campuses and brick-and-mortar retail stores. Indoor guerrilla marketing examples can range from “flash mob” performances to signage placement. 

Ambush” Guerrilla Marketing: Not for the faint of heart, “ambush guerrilla marketing” is defined as activations that are implemented at large-scale events (i.e. sporting events, festivals, and/or trade shows) without permission. This form of guerrilla marketing can be extremely challenging to pull off as most large-scale events have heightened security in order to protect attendees, as well as the integrity of official sponsors.

Experiential” Guerrilla Marketing: Experiential guerrilla marketing is the most common form of guerrilla marketing, can be held in almost any public environment, and has the ability to bring with it more reward than risk. From pop-up shops to city-wide scavenger hunts, the most successful form of experiential guerrilla marketing is one that successfully engages with and invites consumers to interact with a brand. 

Street” Guerrilla Marketing: These are activations that take advantage of existing public areas or environments to create a unique brand presence. They’re often temporary, and include marketing signage and/or installations. 

A prime example of street (or “outdoor”) guerrilla marketing is GoldToe’s 2010 street guerrilla marketing campaign, centered around that year’s New York Fashion Week. The well-known sock retailer wanted to make a statement as they unveiled their first underwear collection. 

Brand ambassadors, clad only in GoldToe underwear, were dispatched throughout New York City to trigger excitement about the new line and direct consumers to the brand’s “main event” in Herald Square Park, where some of Manhattan’s most iconic statues, including the Wall Street Bull, were decked out in GoldToe’s briefs, boxers, and boxer-briefs. 

Gold Toe Street Guerrilla Marketing

Along with the eye-catching stunt, 100 gift baskets loaded with GoldToe goodies were delivered to notable Wall Street firms and anyone who stopped by the event and donated a piece of gently used men’s clothing received a free pair of GoldToe underwear. 

And, the guerrilla marketing campaign had a philanthropic element to it, with GoldToe donating $10,000 to non-profit Career Gear, which provides underprivileged men with clothes for job interviews. 

Guerrilla Marketing and Experiential Vehicles

Experiential vehicles and guerrilla marketing go hand-in-hand, taking your “surprise” activation “mobile,” therefore allowing your brand to hit the road and go directly where your consumers are. 

In winter 2018, as part of their month-long “Le Rouge Chanel” pop-up, iconic French fashion house Chanel partnered with Food Truck Promotions to enhance their activation with a guerrilla marketing campaign that took their luxury in-store experience onto the streets of Manhattan. 

Creating their very own “winter wonderland,” three vintage vehicles (clad in red, with holiday lights, red and white candy canes, and fluffy marshmallows), were stationed outside three of the brand’s most popular storefronts across New York City and greeted shoppers with a complimentary cup of the Chanel’s own “Hot Coco” (crafted alongside Food Truck Promotions in-house culinary team) for consumers to indulge on a chilly December day.

Serving over 10,000 cups of “Hot Coco” throughout the campaign, Chanel’s avant-garde guerrilla marketing experience drove over five million impression and the brand’s “Hot Coco Trucks” successfully engaged with Chanel’s target audience of Millennials, nurturing new relationships and cementing existing ones. 

Surprise and Excite Consumers with Guerrilla Marketing

Guerrilla marketing is an out-of-the-box alternative to traditional marketing. It thrives on creativity and original thinking, centered on imagination and ingenuity. When your brand can personalize an experience with excitement and the element of surprise, you can generate buzz and engagement that translates into lasting impressions and memorable engagement with consumers.

Food Truck Promotions

Thinking about starting a guerrilla marketing campaign? Here at FTP, we know the ins and outs of mobile guerrilla marketing campaigns. Let us help! Contact us today to get started.


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Class is in Session: The Growing Popularity of Virtual Masterclass

Experiential Marketing

With millions around the world still experiencing the social impact of COVID-19 keeping us from in-person events, brands are hosting at-home virtual masterclasses designed to drive engagement, strengthen brand loyalty, and educate consumers. 

Seven months into the coronavirus pandemic, we are still experiencing social distancing and the cancellation of large in-person events. 

But, brands have found a way to pivot, bring meaningful experiential marketing experiences into consumers’ homes, and are even teaching audiences a thing or two. 

Take a look at three brands who are building engagement and loyalty with some clever and helpful virtual masterclasses.

Klarna’s Virtual Festival Experience

Virtual Masterclass

Crying over Coachella? Gutted about Glastonbury? For obvious reasons, music lovers around the world have seen their favorite festivals cancelled throughout the year. But, earlier this month, global payments and shopping platform Klarna hosted a series of virtual events to make up for the disruption to the summertime festival season. 

Broadcast via Instagram and Facebook Live, “Klarnival” featured a variety of artists and bands performing 20-minute, live sets for fans (with a donation made to the charity, “Help Musicians”).

Klarna also wanted to give “virtual attendees” a true festival experience, by hosting themed events, competitions, and masterclasses focused on beauty, fashion, outdoors, and tech. 

From a step-by-step eye make-up masterclass with cosmetic company Morphe, to a masterclass on “festival fashion” with an expert stylist from British fashion retailer New Look, and a masterclass on transforming your backyard into a five-star “glamping” experience, “Klarnival” brought the festival experience straight into viewers’ homes.

So, if you’re in the Bend area, check out this “totally awesome” overnight pop-up experience and “Make it a Blockbuster night!”

BrewDog’s Virtual Open Bar

With limits on capacities or total closures, Scottish brewery BrewDog is bringing the pub experience to virtuals patrons. 

Across the UK, U.S., Australia, and Germany the “BrewDog Online Bar” has created a virtual space for beer lovers to connect, share a beer, and even learn a thing or two about the process of brewing a craft beer. 

Featuring live beer tastings with BrewDog’s founders and beer experts that attendees can take part in, masterclasses that’ll teach you how to brew your own beer, live music and stand-up, virtual pub quizzes, and giveaways, BrewDog is recreating the “bar experience” for the digital age. 

According to BrewDog co-founder James Watt, “Community has always been at the absolute core of what we do. And, the role that community, and great beer play in our society is now more important than ever.”

Kora Organics’ Beauty Secrets from a Supermodel

Apparently, looking like a Victoria’s Secret model is easier than one might think. Former Victoria’s Secret model Miranda Kerr launched her skincare company Kora Organics in 2009 with the belief that “healthy skin is the most beautiful skin.”

With coronavirus keeping people indoors, purchasing more online with a focus on creating home-based routines, the skincare industry has seen significant sales growth in the U.S. 

And, beginning back in April, Kerr treated fans of Kora Organics to virtual masterclasses on Instagram Live featuring her beauty tips and tricks, as well as walkthroughs of her personal morning skincare routine. 

Along with creating an “inside look” at the beauty secrets of an actual supermodel, Kerr’s masterclasses are also smart marketing for Kora Organics. Viewers are also invited to “follow along” by purchasing Kora Organics “Masterclass Kit” containing each of the products Kerr uses in her online tutorials.

Educate Consumers and Elevate Your Brand with Virtual Masterclasses

COVID-19 has changed the experiential marketing landscape and its impact has created changes that will last beyond the end of the pandemic. While face-to-face contact will always have an higher emotional impact on consumers, it’s easier for brands to connect with more people, from all corners of the world, online. 

Virtual masterclasses not only educate and engage, but they also give consumers an exclusive look inside a brand, what makes it special, and how you can replicate what they do from the safety and comfort of your own home. 

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Stay the Night: Inside Exclusive Overnight Pop-Up Experiences

Experiential Marketing

Want to create truly intimate and exclusive moments for your brand’s biggest fans?  Give it a rest and check out these creative, once-in-a-lifetime overnight pop-up experiences. 

Picture winning tickets to the Super Bowl. Or, front-row tickets to the hottest music festival of the year? Or, having the chance to be submerged in a submarine in the Caribbean? 

Sounds cool, right? Now imagine spending the night at these once-in-a-lifetime events.

The overnight pop-up experience has become a rising and wildly popular trend in experiential marketing for brands, giving consumers a heightened level of intimacy and access they’ll never forget. 

It’s no small feat to successfully execute a sleepover activation and requires long-term planning and out-of-the-box creative and strategic thinking. 

But, when done right, the rewards of an “exclusive overnight pop-up” for brands always outweigh the risks. So, let’s go inside a few experiences that created memorable and magical moments for some (very) lucky superfans. 

A “Blockbuster” Sleepover

For anyone who grew up in the ‘90s, it’s impossible to not associate your childhood with a trip to Blockbuster Video (and to always “be kind, please rewind” those VHS tapes). 

Earlier this summer, Sandi Harding, store manager of the world’s last Blockbuster store decided to open her doors to nostalgia-seekers hoping to rewind back to their past. 

In partnership with Airbnb, the Bend, Oregon Blockbuster is opening its doors to the public for a truly retro sleepover experience that’s perfect for movie-lovers. 

Just like those classic movie nights at-home, Blockbuster has recreated a ‘90s-themed living room, complete with decor from the decade, 90s-era big-screen TV, VCR, and access to the store’s entire library of tapes at guests’ disposal. 

Allowing up to four guests per reservation and encouraging groups from the same household, the Blockbuster Airbnb has taken steps to adhere to Airbnb, the CDC, and local/state COVID-19 guidelines. 

When asked how she came up with the idea of hosting an overnight pop-up at her Blockbuster, Harding explained, “With everybody being stuck at home and re-experiencing family time together, we thought it would be fun to enjoy some family time in a throwback ‘90s environment.”

So, if you’re in the Bend area, check out this “totally awesome” overnight pop-up experience and “Make it a Blockbuster night!”

An Overnight Touchdown!

If you’re an NFL fan, there’s no ticket more coveted than a trip to the Super Bowl. Earlier this year, Denise Ammon, an NFL fan and emergency room physician from New Orleans got the experience of a lifetime. 

As the lucky winner of Courtyard By Marriott Hotels’ “Super Bowl Sleepover Contest,” Ammon and three of her friends received a once-in-a-lifetime overnight pop-up experience inside Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium, the home of Super Bowl LIV. 

In a stadium suite transformed into a Courtyard guest room with a view of the field and a private bar, Ammon and her friends got to watch the big game front-and-center, along with having access to exclusive Super Bowl weekend events. 

Ammon’s contest submission, which asked entrants to describe their “game-changing friendships,” featured her former fellow co-residents whom she met during her residency at a Level 1 Trauma hospital in Brooklyn, New York. 

According to Janis Milham, Senior Vice President of Marriott Marriott Classic Select Brands, “The story of Denise’s game-changing friendship is the kind of empowerment that we strive to provide our guests in achieving their personal and professional goals.”

An Insta-worthy Sleepover at Coachella

Camping at any festival isn’t the most glamorous experience for attendees. While tens of thousands of music lovers make the annual journey to Indio, California for Coachella, the popular summer music festival, the scorching desert heat and massive crowds can be demanding. 

In 2018, Marriott Rewards gave its members the chance to bid for the opportunity to enjoy a sleepover experience in one of three, luxurious, designer Yurts on the festival’s VIP Safari campgrounds. 

Made to resemble one of Marriott’s W Hotel properties in Bali, Hollywood, and Barcelona, these specially designed Yurts also featured “Sound Suites,” giving guests a truly sonic experience. 

But, this exclusive overnight activation didn’t come cheap for Coachella superfans. According to Forbes, one of the Yurts bid for 80,000 points, which totaled a whopping $38,233. 

Overnight Pop-Up Experiences are More Than a Dream

As the trend continues to grow, so does consumer demand for sleepover experiences that are more exclusive and more unconventional. 

It’s no easy feat to pull-off a magical experience that creates an unprecedented level of brand loyalty and drive the media conversation, but brands that can successfully execute exclusive, overnight pop-up events know these experiences secure a formidable place in their experiential marketing playbooks. 

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Trust and Influence: The Power of the Brand Ambassador

Experiential Marketing

Want to build trust and gain influence with consumers that translates into sales and widening your audience. Take a look at why brand ambassadors can help leverage your reach and set your brand up for success. 

It goes without saying that the best way to experience a brand is to engage with it on a personal level and experiential marketing is uniquely designed to create genuine interactions and meaningful moments for consumers. And brand ambassadors are the human engines that drive the conversations that make those moments possible. 

While they’re the ones on the front lines, the role of a brand ambassador is much more complex. From conveying brand messaging, to creating a direct channel for consumer feedback, and building trust and transparency in real-time, brand ambassadors play a vital role in setting up a brand for success. 

By giving your brand a boost on social media, spreading positive messages about who you are, influencing sales, and more, find out more about who brand ambassadors are, what they do, and how they can help your next experiential marketing campaign. 

Ralph Lauren Brand Ambassador

THE BRAND AMBASSADOR NEXT DOOR

There are two types of brand ambassadors. In the age of social media, “influencers” on Instagram and YouTube have become just as recognizable, if not more, than “traditional celebrities” (i.e. actors, recording artists, athletes, etc…), with their millions or tens of millions of followers, who are active and engaged on a variety of different platforms. 

More simply though, brand ambassadors are anyone hired by a company to represent their brand positively and help market to a new audience, and increase brand awareness and sales. In recent years, brands have leveraged their own employees to become effective brand ambassadors. 

Perhaps there’s no one better to showcase who you are and what you represent than those already working for you. Employees have the best insights into your brand’s culture, essence, products, services, and beyond. 

Twitter Brand Ambassador

And, their effectiveness is notable. In a 2017 survey by earned content platform Olapic, “76% of consumers believe the content that average people share is more honest than advertising from brands.” 

“That should serve as a wake-up call for brands to start exploring the use of authentic content in ads and marketing to build trust and create a more meaningful dialogue with their customers,” said Olapic co-founder Pau Sabria in an interview with Adweek

 

Finding the Right Brand Ambassador

In order to find the right brand ambassador for your brand and/or your experiential marketing campaign, you first need to determine your objective. Is it your goal to increase social media traffic? Boost sales? Expand your target audience?

Your employees in your sales, marketing, communications, or HR departments can each serve as effective brand ambassadors in their own right, targeting a niche objective that aligns with your goals. 

But regardless of whom you choose, make sure your brand ambassador has a vibrant network consisting of people outside your organization. Employees in sales, marketing, and management can be a great place to begin your search that’ll help maximize the most optimal bottom-line results for your brand.      

 

The Value of Brand Ambassadors

So why should your company staff a brand ambassador instead of outsourcing the work to an outside personality? 

The more trust you earn with consumers, the more likely you are to earn their respect, and their business. That’s where brand ambassadors come in. The personal relationship they already have as employees of your brand can be leveraged into influencing their own networks and your consumers. That built-in connection will always be stronger than hiring a “celebrity” who’s foremost priority is getting paid. 

When your brand hosts events and activations led by your own team who are enthusiastic and engaged, that creates the perception of authenticity, which translates into credibility with consumers.

Think about it this way. Would you believe a “real person” who recommends a product or service over a paid celebrity or influencer? Having a brand ambassador dedicated to your business allows you to optimize your goals in order to translate them into success. 

Build Trust and Gain Influence with Brand Ambassadors

Brand ambassadors are crucial to brands’ success. As more and more consumers crave genuineness when making purchasing decisions, hundreds of millions of dollars are spent each year on campaigns to project exactly that. The irony is your brand already possesses the capability to promote trustworthiness with those who come to work for you each and every day.    

When you understand what brand ambassadors do, how to find the right one for your business, and why they’re so valuable, you can develop an effective experiential marketing campaign that enhances your brand reputation and turns real feelings as to who you are and what you do into real results.

FTP Can Help!

Let FTP help you plan and execute your next experiential marketing campaign. Contact us today to learn more and get started.

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