May 8, 2024
Summer’s almost here and that means summer vacations, sunny days, and plenty of opportunities to catch attention with experiential marketing’s help. After a winter of being cooped up and dealing with winter’s colds and flu viruses, summer is a great time to celebrate being outside, being away from school or work, and having a great time together.
Make sure your brand is part of the fun. Summer is a hot time for experiential marketing campaigns. Here’s how to make yours stand out.
Four Ways Summer Stands Out for Marketing
What makes summer the best time for experiential marketing? We can think of four things.
It’s Amusement Park, Fair, Farmers’ Market, and Festival Season
Open-air farmers’ markets and festivals are popular summer events. It’s estimated that there are around 8,600 farmers’ markets around the U.S. There are also major music festivals that draw massive crowds, such as Austin City Limits, Coachella, Lollapalooza, New Orleans Jazz Fest, and Summerfest.
You also have amusement parks, including water parks, that operate seasonally. Summer is the most popular time of the year to go cool off in a water park or head to an amusement park for rides, carnival games, and food stands.
All four of these are ideal locations for experiential marketing campaigns. On a hot day, imagine how popular a shaded cooling station with water misting, ice treats, and a water refilling station would be. Give people a refillable water bottle and encourage them to come back and fill up.
People Make Plans to Get Out of Town and Explore New Places
With kids out of school for the summer, summer vacations are popular. The Vacationer reports that about 219 million U.S. residents plan to take a vacation this summer. Six out of 10 travelers are traveling domestically. About 46% of those people don’t plan to fly, so they’ll travel within driving distance.
Experiential marketing campaigns don’t have to go far. You could plan something in your city and draw tremendous crowds. Imagine having a pop-up set up near a popular tourist area. You gain all of that foot traffic walking past your pop-up. Set up a photo booth, and you gain the benefit of them sharing photos on social media while tagging your brand.
Play Ball! Summer’s a Hot Time For Sports Events
Baseball is an American pastime. You could sponsor a minor league team and get your brand’s name on signs and merchandise. Give out free samples of your brand’s product if possible. Or, have a demo with a QR code attendees can scan to enter a contest or get a discount.
In addition to baseball, summer is the time for volleyball games, track and field, horse racing, car racing, and so much more. Partner with athletes to bring attention to your brand through influencer marketing. Take advantage of these sports as prime locations for an experiential marketing campaign.
Since people are already at a game, set up a booth where they can test their own sports skills. Have attendees pitch a ball to see who throws the fastest. Offer multiple prizes based on the speed they reach. If someone is over 80 mph, you could give them a branded t-shirt, while someone under 30 mph gets a pair of sunglasses.
Celebrate Getting Out in Nature
Many Americans also love getting out in nature. It might be a hike in the woods, time kayaking or boating on a lake, or swimming in the ocean. Imagine the audience you’d draw if you were to set up a PR stunt such as a scavenger hunt set up in a park where consumers find summertime swag as they follow the clues. Word will spread fast, and consumers will love the randomness.
If you’re at the beach, hand out small bottles of sunscreen and sunglasses. People will appreciate having these available, especially if they forgot them.
Five Ways to Build an Unforgettable Summer Experiential Marketing Campaign
Those are all summer experiential marketing campaign ideas. It’s time to plan how to ensure the marketing campaign is successful and does exactly what you hope.
Be Interactive
The more interaction you have with an audience, the happier they are. Make sure your experiential marketing campaign is engaging and provides ample opportunities for consumers to interact with you. Games and contests are two ways to boost interactions.
Encourage Participation on Social Media
Nurture connections on social media. With the use of hashtags, you can track what posts are trending and which fell flat. Hold social media contests and encourage photo shares that show people using your products.
Learn About Your Audience
Find out more about your audience. What do they like? What are they more likely to do in their downtime, relax or hit the trails? Do they like to lounge in the sun or hide in the shade? The more you learn, the easier it is to plan an experiential marketing campaign that meets their preferences.
Take Them Out of Their Usual Routine
There are things people may have always wanted to do, but they don’t have the knowledge or money to do so. You could help them try something new.
Suppose you’re reading social media responses and notice several followers talking about how they’ve always wanted to try durian. You could make that happen in a pop-up where the durian samples draw them in, and you can capture pictures of their reactions to share on social media.
Use Summer Plans to Your Advantage
The most common locations for summer vacations and plans are areas like beaches, ballparks, hiking trails, amusement parks, and golf courses. Use these locations to your advantage. Partner with sports teams or be part of a festival. Look into pop-ups and PR events at popular fairs, festivals, and amusement parks. Aim for high-traffic streets or parks.
Plan How You’ll Track Your Campaign’s Success
Have a plan in place for tracking your campaign’s success. Some of the most popular ways are:
Keep track of how many newsletter sign-ups or contest entries you get through a QR code.
Track social media mentions, shares, or tags.
Monitor the increase in website traffic.
Send out a post-campaign survey or poll to get feedback.
See how much sales increase via shipped items or pop-up sales transactions.
Engage with your target audience by creating lasting memories this summer. When you make your brand stand out in unique, meaningful ways, you’ll win new customers, followers, and word-of-mouth referrals. Referrals are one of the best returns on your investment that you’ll get.