A few months ago, the 2023 Experiential Marketing Summit was held in Las Vegas. A few of the takeaways are that experiential marketing is extremely effective when it tells a story. People are drawn to a story and keep engaging to see how the story plays out. 

Another key point is that people are focused on the environment and sustainability. If your event creates a lot of trash and waste, people will notice. Wasteful use of electricity and natural resources can bring negative attention to your brand. Sustainability is important and composting and recycling are good ways to start with that, but they’re just a small start. 

Technology, especially artificial intelligence, are also key considerations. The use of AI can help a lot with telling your brand’s story, finding the right audience, and planning your marketing event. Those are current trends in the U.S. What around the rest of the world? Explore some of the different award-winning experiential marketing campaign techniques to see what marketing methods were getting the most attention around the world.

Augmented Reality (AR) – Virtual Reality (VR) – Mixed Reality (MR)

AR, VR, and MR are three trending technologies that bring consumers into the heart of your brand in very real ways. What are each of these?

AR (Augmented Reality):

For a marketing campaign, AR is desirable as it is easiest to use. With AR, you bring a digital element into a real setting. You often use an app to interact with the digital elements.

Have you heard of the game Pokemon Go? It’s the best example of the power of AR. You’re in your town, city, or neighborhood, but the Pokemon Go game uses the real map you’re walking in and puts hidden digital Pokemon into the map for you to find. There is no real-life Pokemon waiting around the corner, but when you walk to that spot in real life, your app marks that you found that digital character.

VR (Virtual Reality):

VR is also popular, but you need a special headset, such as a Meta Quest, HTC Vive, etc. Once you put that headset on over your eyes, you’re transported to a 360° computer-simulated world where your virtual character can pick up and interact with objects on the screen and walk through the VR world. 

What’s a good example of VR? Beat Saber is the best-selling VR game across many devices. In this game, you’re transported to a neon world where music is playing and you need to time your movements to the beats. You’ll be hitting the beats, ducking under them, or jumping over them. It’s a workout, yet all of the action takes place in the computerized game world.

MR (Mixed Reality):

With MR, features of both AR and VR are combined for an all-encompassing experience. Users can touch and interact with the digital objects to learn valuable information. With MR, your user could actually try your brand’s products on or test them out without actually having to damage or touch them in real life. It’s a great way for a user to take their actual body size and shape and try on your expensive clothing line to see exactly how they would fit and look without possibly ripping or staining them.

Copywriting

Storytelling isn’t something everyone is good at. You need a writer with a creative nature who can also research details and product histories and incorporate this into capturing your brand. If you want someone with SEO skills to get you noticed online, you also need a copywriter who understands what Google and other search engines are looking for when it comes to content that will rank well while also providing information consumers want to know.

When you’re having copywriters create your content, don’t cut corners. Consider the time it takes for your copywriters to research and write the information you need to get across. Low pay is going to affect quality, so it can be beneficial to invest. Deloitte’s Annual Survey finds that about 14% of your annual budget should cover marketing. A LinkedIn expert puts the hourly pay for copywriters at $50 to $200 per hour. Keep that in mind.

Influencer Marketing

Influencer marketing is a good way to share your brand with a new audience. In addition to your current followers and consumers, you can partner with an influencer who believes in your brand. By working together, you gain all of that influencer’s followers too. It’s essentially getting double the attention through a simple partnership.

When choosing an influencer to work with, you need to make sure they believe in your brand and products. There has to be a reason for that influencer to partner with you. If you own a line of cooking tools, your influencer should have followers who are interested in cooking. Partnering with an athlete who cannot cook could become confusing to followers if you can’t show the connection.

Pop-Ups

Pop-ups remain one of the most popular experiential marketing techniques as they’re random and allow users to meet and interact with your brand. You can pair pop-ups with features like QR codes for instant shopping options, product sampling, or other touchpoints that help you measure your marketing campaign’s success.

UX/UI

Many of the award-winning international experiential marketing campaigns featured apps that users could download to go on journeys with brands. App creation isn’t something anyone can do. It takes time, skill with design platforms, and coding. Even after the app is designed and a prototype is created in software like Azure or Figma, you need to run tests.

UX/UI is all about the user experience. It’s a way to test a website, app, or design out to see how it hits. Is the app confusing, difficult to navigate, or slow and frustrating? Buttons need to work properly, colors need to appeal to all users, especially those with vision impairments, and your design has to factor in other disabilities like hearing impairments. If someone cannot hear your videos and you don’t offer closed captioning, you lose out.

Sometimes, the Best Plans Are Those That Use a Helping Hand From Experts

You know what message you want to convey, and you know that consumer involvement is essential in your marketing plan. You want them to love what you’re doing and want to interact more and in meaningful ways. What you don’t know is how to take your ideas and bring them to life.

Factory 360 is an award-winning experiential marketing agency that is ready to help you plan and produce your ideal marketing event. Whether it’s online, in-person, or a mix of the two, reach out to our team to discuss how we can help your brand get the reach it deserves.