The Many Faces of Experiential Marketing

I’m not sure if after three columns anyone noticed, but my brain does not work in clear and simple thought patterns. Just ask my mother or anyone I work with.

As one reader emailed me last week, “I love what you’re saying, but you still haven’t explained experiential marketing?”

As a general rule, I try to keep my audience guessing. But in this case, I think I can sum up the past two columns as building momentum towards this one. The first was an introduction, as I attempted to see how many obscure high school references I could make in a 600-word column. (In case you’re wondering, about five). The last column I defined the term BrandAnimation and tried to see if I could use the names Al Gore and Romeo in the same sentence. Limited success!

So the question still remains, how do I define experiential marketing and what makes marketing experiential? Well, I’m glad I asked because I happen to have a few words of actual marketing related content to share.

Experiential marketing is connecting customers with your brand through one or more meaningful and relevant experiences while appealing to both rational and emotional behavior. In it’s truest form it elicits a visceral, positive reaction from the consumer. Experiential marketing is a methodology – not a tactic!

Unfortunately, experiential marketing often gets associated with everything from building a giant Popsicle-on-a-stick in the middle of New York City to credit card tables on college campuses. All too often people think that event marketing = experiential marketing. In many cases the two are the same, but often they are not. As my friend Katherine Stone of Engage Consulting always says, “Entertainment for entertainment’s sake is just that!” The key is that the experience must be meaningful and relevant to the brand. And that can take place using any medium, not just live events.

People have often debated with me whether print or television advertising can be experiential. While it usually is not, it certainly can be. Most people attribute experiential marketing to simply appealing to the five senses, but they forget about the emotional side of the equation. To say that print advertising can’t be experiential is like saying that a picture has never made you cry. I’ll never forget a particular cover of National Geographic.

The point is that experiential marketing has many faces, and can be executed in many different mediums. Not to be too self-serving, but I believe a great example of an innovative experiential marketing campaign is Wells Fargo’s Stagecoach Island.

Stagecoach Island is a free, multi-player, online role-playing game (MMORPG ) developed to teach young adults (16-24) important lessons in financial literacy. The game was designed to be primarily fun, but with important elements of financial education. The Stagecoach Island game allows players to select a virtual character and participate in an "island adventure." Participants can choose to explore the virtual island – lush parks, hip cafes, dance clubs, trendy shops, amusement parks, hair salons and more. They can also interact in dozens of virtual, social situations – like skydiving, riding jets-skis, or playing games like paintball with other participants.

Many activities on the island are "free," but participants gain access to other experiences, such as dancing in a club or purchasing new clothes, by spending, saving and earning virtual money. Players can earn money by visiting the Virtual Learning Lounge and answering trivia questions about banking basics such as budgeting, saving and managing money.

The program was created to be meaningful and relevant by reaching the audience in a familiar medium, using a platform of fun, while carefully mixing in the financial education part. The key to this program is that one can measure the brand engagement in terms hours not seconds or minutes. And in today’s hyper-paced society, the ability to truly engage your customers for an extended period of time is priceless.

It seems I’ve almost run out of space, so if you are thirsty for other great examples …stay tuned.

Erik Hauser is creative director/founder of San Francisco-based marketing firm Swivel Media and founder of IXMA, the International Experiential Marketing Association. He also moderates the Experiential Marketing Forum and pens the bi-weekly BrandAnimation column for CHIEF MARKETER.