June 5, 2026
Experiential marketing is the most widely implemented marketing strategy we’ve seen over the past few years. In fact, the spending on experiential marketing hit an all-time high in 2024, as businesses and brands continued to expand their strategy into this realm post-pandemic. When examining the success of these marketing activations, city choice seems to be a key driver. During a brand activation tour, the choice of city will determine how much it will cost, who your audience is, and even your ROI. Factory 360 takes a deep dive into choosing the right cities for your brand activation tour to get the most out of it.
Start With Who Your Audience Is
Starting with your audience can help you choose cities based on their demographics, rather than just choosing big cities that might be filled with people outside your target audience. The first step here is to identify your ideal customer profile, which will help you understand who you should be marketing to in the first place. This should include everything from age and gender to income, lifestyle, behaviors, and culture. Look into where your target audience naturally resides, so you can choose cities where they’d already be. During this stage, many will select a city with high foot traffic, but the wrong kind of foot traffic has a much lower chance of converting.
Major Markets vs Secondary Markets
Deciding between major and secondary markets for your tour is one of the biggest debates many brands and activation planners face. When we think about major markets, this can include cities like NYC, LA, Houston, and Chicago. Typically, the foot traffic here is immense, and the media attention is quite dense, meaning that influencers and the press can be of use in these areas. However, these cities will have higher permitting and venue rental costs overall. Complexity Secondary markets include cities like Charlotte, Nashville, Denver, and Austin. These markets will reach audiences that many competitors focused solely on major markets will miss. There’s less competition and lower costs in these cities, and it’s been shown that audiences in these markets respond with higher emotional engagement. Overall, choosing the major markets doesn’t always mean that you’re going to get a big ROI on the event.
How to Choose The Right City for Your Brand Activation Tour
Choosing the right city can make or break your tour, so this is a crucial step in planning. Here are five factors that you should consider when choosing your cities:
Demographic
The very first thing you should consider is the area’s demographics. Use readily available data to examine the area’s demographics and decide whether they align with your target audience. Remember, just because there are more people in an area, it doesn’t mean they are the right people for your activation tour. Don’t ever assume that an area is filled with your target audience; use research and data to determine instead.
Event Calendar
It’s important to look into events that may be happening in the city of choice, around the time of your activation. This is because certain events attract a specific audience to the city, so aligning with that audience can be beneficial for your event. Looking 6 to 12 months ahead of your event can help you with timing it.
Permitting
Some cities have more complex permitting processes than others do, so researching the complexity for the cities you are interested in can help you prepare. For example, cities like New York can be extremely restrictive, while Nashville is more friendly with activities.
Competitors
Having an idea of who your competitors are and where the market gaps are can help you choose lower-risk areas. These lower-risk areas are ideal for activations, especially for exploring new areas and trying to impact the audience there. Know who your competitors are, what they offer, their prices, who they serve, and how your service differs.
Efficiency
Planning your activation means ensuring efficiency across the board when choosing your city. This stage is mostly for planning which cities you’ll go to and how they are mapped out. Spending too much time on travel can limit the impact of the activation, so planning your cities and travel accordingly can make your tour much more efficient.
Think About the Budget Beforehand
Many brands and organizations will consider budget after deciding which cities to visit and what to do, but it’s crucial to use this as a filtering criterion. You should base your city choice on the budget allowed, not adjust the budget to fit the city, since that often won’t work. For example, a simple day pop-up can cost between $15,000 and $30,000, while a mobile tour can cost over $150,000, depending on complexity and the cities involved. Tour budgets should be treated as an essential part of planning, and they should be set realistically prior to choosing the city.
Plan Your Brand Activation Tour Right
When planning your brand activation tour, it’s not about choosing the biggest cities; it’s about alignment with the brand and the city or audience. Consider your budget, timing, target audience, and goal of the activation before choosing cities. Successful activations often spend a significant amount of time planning to ensure ROI. Many make the mistake of not considering the budget, choosing the wrong cities, failing to appeal to their audience, and, overall, not planning appropriately. If you are considering a brand activation tour in the near future, we can help with the planning and execution at Factory 360. Our team is skilled in experiential marketing, and we’ve worked on a variety of successful activations for many brands. Partnering with a marketing group like ours can help alleviate some of the stressors that come with planning an activation tour.
