Are you trying to make the case that diamonds are no longer a girl’s best friend – that, in fact, a luxury car or pieces of clothing from a certain line should be her new BFF? Experiential marketing had better be on your radar screen.

Wealth-X, which calls itself the world’s leading intelligence and prospecting firm for high net worth individuals, recently surveyed executives at luxury brands about their marketing strategies. Ninety percent of respondents said that experiential marketing was critical to connecting with wealthy clients. They believed it was much more effective that digital marketing, which 68% of respondents said wealth clients don’t respond to at all. While digital marketing does have an important role to play in raising brand awareness, experiential marketing is the way to attract paying clients.

Why does experiential marketing work so well for luxury consumers? The truth is that it’s an extremely effective tool for reaching people in every socio-economic class. Wealthy people, just like middle class people, increasingly place value on experiences over stuff. Even if they like accumulating things, they also want to have good stories and social content to share with their friends.

People of all income levels are also looking for authentic ways to connect with brands. High net worth individuals have people trying to sell them things all the time. They have plenty of people in their lives who are more interested in their money than them. Whether they’re interacting with a friend or a company, they want to be around people who are interested in their thoughts, views and needs.

So how can luxury brands maximize their experiential marketing dollars to reach the people they want to reach? Factory 360 is well-versed in helping brands with affluent marketing. Here are some key things we’ve found during many years of working with this target audience.

Luxury consumers are used to attending events and seeing products that are very high quality. They’ll expect everything at your activation to be top-shelf. Don’t overlook any detail or scrimp on any expense. If people are going to buy a luxury product, they want everything associated with it to seem luxurious as well.

The more you can make your experiential marketing activation feel like an exclusive event, the better. Luxury consumers are used to experiencing things others don’t get to experience. That atmosphere of exclusivity should resonate in everything you do at your activation. Rather than handing out samples of your high-end spirits, do private tastings for very small groups. Rather than inviting people to a big concert, do a small concert where people can take photos with the performer afterward.

It’s important to have brand ambassadors who can relate your affluent target market. You want people with enough social and cultural capital that they can engage consumers and make them feel comfortable at your experiential marketing activation.

Factory 360 prides itself on building brand ambassador teams that will meet the specific needs of your brands and the consumers you hope to reach. We also have a network of models who are also highly experienced brand ambassadors. Brands may want to avail themselves of that service for certain types of events.

One of our favorite examples of a highly successful experiential marketing event for a luxury brand was a series of activations we organized for Moët & Chandon. The luxury spirit brand was looking to create on-premise experiential marketing activations for the new Moët Mini (which packages the brand’s excellent champagne in miniature bottles). The company wanted to engage, excite and recruit the next generation of champagne consumers in primary markets.

Using a combination of experiential marketing best practices and tactics important to selling to high net worth individuals, we created an event that met all the client’s desired goals and outcomes.

Factory 360 launched Moët Mini bottles in an upscale yet fun activation at six key accounts, including the Bagatelle New York, the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills and the Virgin Hotel in Chicago. Our strategic positioning was “approachable indulgences.” The goal was to position Moët Mini high-end champagne as more attainable by tapping into the current hot trend of high / low pairings and collaborations.

Factory 360 developed a campaign called “La Mini Fete Moët.” It recreated a traditional carnival experience with a luxurious, yet approachable twist. The carnival theme connotes the carefree days of playful experiences and allowed Factory 360 to re-create fun, “midway” games on-premise that revolve around the Moët Mini.

The activation was limited to a set number of high-end clients, giving it an exclusive feeling. Games and food pairings featuring the Moët Mini created a romantic and stylish environment everyone could enjoy. Everything was run by brand ambassadors who were well-trained in Moët’s products and messaging, and who knew exactly how to best serve their audience.

Using our proprietary app FactorySnap, we were able to engage consumers through a fun and interactive photo and GIF activation (that also collected customized consumer data for Moët & Chandon). The “Moët Mini Moment” activation used green screen technology and FactorySnap to “shrink” consumers to a miniature size and show them interacting with a Moët Mini bottle. The photos and GIFs could be shared on Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites.

La Mini Fete Moët was a creative, unusual activation that was different from what everyone else was doing. It left a lasting impression on attendees and created a positive association between them and the brand – one that will last long after they took their last carnival ride or sipping their last bit of bubbly. The tour had over an estimated 1.5 million impressions while securing incremental distribution points for the Moët Mini bottle. Consumer photo or GIF sharing averaged over 35%.

Is your luxury brand planning its first experiential marketing activation, or looking to breathe new life into its experience marketing campaigns? Get first-class treatment at Factory 360. There’s nothing we enjoy more than helping companies find new ways to build relationships with their consumers. Contact us today to learn more about our affluent marketing and other services.