Experiential Marketing: Its’ 2021 Comeback
Experiential marketing gives us the ability to engage consumers by encouraging them to become fully immersed into the brand using a face-to-face experience. It can be great for brand awareness and engagement, as 70 percent of people turn into repeat customers after attending experiential marketing events. It provides a unique platform for brands to tell its story, introduce new products or initiatives and get direct consumer feedback in real time. After a year of reaching consumers primarily via digital channels and creatively brainstorming ways to engage consumers in a crowded digital landscape, brands are itching to take advantage of this positive moment of change to begin bringing brand experiences offline. As people are easing back into normal routines and pandemic related restrictions are loosened, we predict experiential marketing will look different after all the changes that happened in 2020. Here are some of our predictions of how experiential marketing will change in 2021, and what brands can do to maximize their impact when they finally get to utilize this tactic again.
Creative and open events venues
With the majority of consumers still remaining cautious, outdoor venues will be the best bet. Brands can focus on holding outdoors-only events that actually provide a larger space and can accommodate more attendees. To minimize friction at events, we expect to see brands leaning into technology more by doing things like creating a custom landing page for consumers to self check in to events. This provides prime real estate to tell brand stories before consumers even step into the venue. Engaging consumers in activities will look different too, personalized photo opportunities might have to replace group photo booth shots, but this also opens up more opportunities for brands to offer ultra personalized experiences.
Hybrid of virtual / physical approach
A hybrid approach to experiential marketing is something that will last well into the future. As the world completely moved online last year, new and emerging technology has become commonplace and can offer physical events a wider reach. Using both approaches for an event can create massive brand exposure when done right. Experiential won’t just mean in person experiences anymore. Extended reality and virtual reality tools give the opportunity to audiences who are unable to attend an in person event to still be part of the experience virtually, allowing more attendees to take part. Not saying that every brand needs a group of drones to light up the sky with a QR code (like this cool drones show in Shanghai), but these types of activations might become reality sooner than you’d think.
Target Younger Audiences
Younger audiences are predicted to be most likely and most eager to get out of the house and go to an in-person event. Last year has given social media platforms a boost in usage never seen before, and people will continue to consume digital media and share content at a rapid speed. With this combination, brands can create experiential events that have a strong tie in with social channels like Tik Tok, which has a particularly young audience. The importance of user generated content and its power of persuasion signals to brands that to engage audiences both online and offline goes beyond just a hashtag. But, if done right, the payoff of ‘new wave’ experiential marketing will be immense.
