If you want to have a significant impact on your intended audience, then Experiential Marketing can help with your creative and marketing efforts. From pop-up shops to interactive performances, there are hundreds of ways to make your marketing experiential. 

Creative experiential marketing is considered by many marketing gurus to be a subset of experiential marketing. It involves unconventional marketing elements and campaigns that tend to be more avant-garde. Here, we will discuss experiential marketing campaigns and how you can create an out-of-the-box marketing strategy for your business. 

Experiential Marketing Trends in 2020

Many brands are currently looking to push the envelope so that they can stand out amongst their competitors. This year, brands are trying to be more bold and creative with their experiential marketing campaigns.

Below are some of the top experiential marketing trends to look for in 2020, so that you can have some ideas to work off of during your own marketing efforts.

Sustainable efforts are a top priority, as millennials are very involved with eco-friendly campaigns and prefer memorable experiences over actual tangible products. The push for reusability and recyclability will be a top priority this year. More companies will champion causes that promote energy-efficient footprints as well as zero-waste projects.

Competitions will also be popular this year, as people enjoy the thrill of the win. Expect more companies to host competitive events that will get the adrenaline pumping, as people compete for supremacy, bragging rights, and prizes, helping create memorable experiences. 

Moreover, you’ll see companies start to use a near-perfect amalgam of cutting-edge tech and sensory elements to augment the overall user experience to a mesmerizing level.

Digital and analog art installations will also be a big part of many experiential marketing campaigns this year. In some instances, the art itself will be the experience or the main attraction. These masterpieces are used in order to evoke feelings of inspiration, creative zeal, and visceral emotion from the audience. 

User-generated content will also be galvanized by such installations, as the visual designs that are implemented will be not only visually appealing but also very immersive, making way for very shareable moments.

If you are interested in adding art installations to your experiential marketing project, working with a local designer or artist can help bring your brand to your local community in a more intimate and meaningful way.

Interactive marketing campaigns will also be at the forefront of experiential marketing in 2020, as brands look to go above and beyond the norm by launching 4-dimensional presentations that allow audience members to interact with event installations in a truly immersive manner.

The Role of Technology in Experiential Marketing

State of the art technology can also enhance the overall user experience and help elevate a brand well beyond the mundane. Below are just some of the most popular technologies that are used in experiential marketing campaigns.

The main goal of experiential marketing is to engage with the target demos senses, so augmented or virtual reality can be used in conjunction with your strategy. Some marketers may create an augmented reality photo booth or a VR kiosk at brand activations, to help drive their message across to their targeted consumers. 

With regard to the key difference between augmented reality and virtual reality, virtual reality involves creating an entirely new reality in order to engage the senses of the user. For instance, a company such as Sony may try to entice more people to purchase their Playstation 4 console by demonstrating their VR technology with certain VR-based games.

In contrast, augmented reality will enhance the person’s existing reality in some way. For example, it may involve adding certain visual stimuli and overlaying additional info over existing objects in the real world.

Holographic technology is also being used by some leading-edge companies to stand out from the crowd. For instance, some companies may use hologram-tech in applications such as 3D hologram fans, in order to win over consumers with their one-of-a-kind and brand-centric experiences.

Furthermore, sensor and gesture-based technology can really immerse audiences with their interactive elements, with popular examples, including facial recognition technology. In fact, facial recognition technology can serve as a security safeguard, and can even measure how audience members are feeling at the event.

The tech can also be used by creative marketers to measure traffic and connect with their audience in new and innovative ways.

How to Create a Successful Experiential Marketing Campaign

In order to create a successful experiential marketing campaign, you will need to prepare for the unexpected and plan well ahead of time.

For instance, you’ll need to understand your goals before any preliminary work takes place. You will need to think outside the box unless you want your campaign to become lost in a deluge of derivatives. As well, you’ll need to be strategic so that you do not exceed your budgetary limits.

In addition, you need to plan and prepare the activation. In other words, once the client is satisfied with your proposal, you will need to spend time and effort to flesh out your campaign. Financial details and timing plans will also need to be finalized with your supplier as well as your local marketing division. 

Before going live, check for any glitches and make a mock setup of the activation. Once the campaign is complete, you will need to perform the necessary research and evaluate the audience retention and engagement levels to determine if the campaign was a success or a failure.