The Future of Experiential Events in Nigeria: 2020 and Beyond
Over the last 10 years, there has been a shift in how the marketing and advertising industry perceives experiential. Experiential is no longer about a one-off, brand-building experience. It’s about the brand experience at multiple touchpoints. “This creates a positive end-to-end experience for the audience.”
Marketers and brands are starting to take experiential seriously, but where is it going and how can brands use it effectively?
Think immersive
“Immersive technology is continuing to rise in popularity over the past few years. Augmented reality, which blends the digital and physical worlds, has the potential to engage users and expand their perceptions of the world through these experiences. Brands can integrate and place products into immersive experiences, allowing them to make audiences feel more connected and so increase the likelihood of purchase.” Segun Malomo, innovation lead
Make it personal
Using data is fundamental to measuring how people interact with brands. Thanks to the advancement in EventTech, organisers, marketers and EventTech company can now use the insights to create tailored experiences.
As capabilities in social listening and data grow, brands can understand real-time trends and respond more quickly. These capabilities also enable marketers to create stronger metrics and better measure their outcome.
Offer value to the audience
In the dead of winter, there’s nothing more enticing than a trip to a warm and sunny destination. JetBlue knew this all too well and devised a clever way of promoting their new direct flights from New York to Palm Springs. They placed a number of summer accessories inside a six-foot by six-foot ice block and told New Yorkers that anything was up for grabs. People had to use whatever they had on their person to chip away at the ice to claim their prize. Prizes included summer accessories such beach attire, golf clubs, and, of course, free tickets to Palm Springs.
So, how do you make your event experiential and still market your brand?
Experiential events is simply a way to create an experience around your event that is engaging, interactive and fun, with this in mind; as a brand, you can inject a marketing strategy into your event and without making it look like you are selling, brand can create direct engagement with consumers and creatively interacting with them in a memorable way. It’s also known as engagement marketing, live marketing or participation marketing, and is often lumped into event marketing—even if it’s a far-cry away from traditional conferences.
Though some experiential strategies involve live events as we typically think of them, others can be one-off installations that only last for a few hours. Whatever the format may be, experiential marketing has proven to boost event ROI and is a crucial strategy for marketing executives.
