Connecting Consumers Through Brand Experience

The overcrowded market, which has an ever-growing number of competitors; is making it difficult for brands to be heard. It is believed that consumers are exposed to tens of thousands of marketing messages every single day. As a result, it’s so important that brands differentiate themselves and stand out from this clutter.

Marketing communication is perhaps one of the most vital areas of a brand’s toolbox. Marketing helps a brand to establish a connection with its existing and potential customers. Finding the best ways to reach consumers has never been easier one could argue; however, many brands are finding it harder than ever. This is because consumers are consistently blocking advertisements from their lives.

Consumers in today’s marketing environment are better informed, better armed to resist marketers and unfortunately for marketers, more skeptical than ever. With thousands of messages bombarding them every day, consumers want brands they can believe in from companies they can trust.

The high levels of distrust and cynicism have caused the marketing and advertising industry to find other ways to reach consumers. This ultimately requires higher advertising spending and or creativity to accomplish the same ends.

Experiential marketing also known as a Brand activations can create a lasting connection between customers and a brand. By having brand ambassadors on site they can collect vital data and feedback from participating consumers which can then help brands improve their strategy going forward.

It’s important to not just create an event but to create an experience that will resonate with the consumer. Consumers don’t remember events, they remember the experience they had at the event that brands have created for them.

At verve we have a full team of experiential marketers working together. We are in charge of brainstorming ideas that are on brand and on budget for each of our clients goals. The aim for any of our activations is to increase brand awareness and to create a positive perception of our clients’ brands in the mind of their consumers by directly interacting with the public.

In order for this to be effective our team firstly performs market research to understand what type of experiential activation would perform best with a specific audience. It is super important to know who you are targeting with these interactive campaigns in order to effectively make an authentic connection and resonate with your consumers.

Here is a look at some simple yet effective brand experiences which created a connection between the brand and their audience..

JUST EAT X CENTRA 

Just Eat teamed up with their partners in Centra offering free delivery to customers from all 25 stores across Ireland. To celebrate the news, our team landed in UCC for a week offering students a free ride around campus or straight up to the local Centra to stock up on the essentials.

Free Now Endless Adventure

In 2021 FREE NOW launched their “Freedom On Tap” campaign. FREE NOW are aware that freedom to be able to go where you want and when you want matters. So the main message of the campaign was the idea of living life to the fullest, jumping in a taxi and getting to go on an adventure with a simple tap of the Free Now app. After the launch of FREE NOW’s “Freedom on Tap” brand campaign we wanted to bring the essence of an ‘Endless Adventure’ to Free Now passengers & with government restrictions lifting in Ireland for the first time in nearly 2 years, we found the perfect opportunity to do so. We brought a select group of 200+ adventure seekers to a secret gig in a secret location via a FREE NOW Adventure Taxi.

Rockshore Summer Is On

When restrictions began to lift in Ireland last year it was safe to say we were all looking forward to a bit of adventure. The theme for summer 2021 was an outdoor one, filled with sunshine, celebration and epic adventure. The Rockshore bus hit the Wild Atlantic Way, visiting some of the best beer gardens along the west. With a DJ on site and pints flowing the atmosphere around the Rockshore bus was immaculate.

After the year we had, The Rockshore Summer Roadshow filled with adventure, craic, prizes and some cold pints couldn’t have gone down better and really resonated with consumers!

Heinz Bag of Canz

To drive maximum shareability on social channels, Heinz wanted to give students something worth sharing!  In line with Heinz’ cheeky sense of humour, we placed a giant bag of canz sitting in front of a branded backdrop. Students could climb into the bag with a mate or two and our brand ambassadors took photos. As an added incentive to share, we offered students a chance to win a Heinz hamper for those who tag @heinzirl in your Instagram posts. Students also received a “Bag of Canz” each which was full of Heinz cans rather than the usual variation of alcoholic beverages. These bags really resonated with students and they loved the quirkyness of the pop up with loads posting on social media!

Coca Cola Christmas Truck

You know Christmas has finally arrived when you see the Coca-Cola truck. Huge numbers turn out every year for the Coca-Cola Christmas Truck experience which includes family photos, a virtual reality sleigh ride, carol singing, product sampling and games that actually make queuing fun! This year Coca-Cola added an extra bonus with the chance to win a Coca-Cola truck stop for your town or village

Faster 4G Internet Slide Vodafone

Informing consumers about your new product offerings is a basic necessity for any brand trying to survive. Without communication, consumers would not be aware of any new products or services becoming available in the market. Consumers’ are getting bombarded with a multitude of different advertising and communication messages from brands. Brands’ have resorted to using covert tactics to break through the clutter.

Experiential marketing often ties in concepts marketers want their audience to understand in an active representation of that. In this example, Vodafone is rolling out faster internet and so they added a slide next to a mall escalator for a faster experience

Developing and executing experiential activations requires thinking outside the box. Coming up with creative ways to engage consumers with your products in real-time. A clever and on-brand concept can take you further than you think.

If you are looking to craft a memorable brand encounter for consumers at an upcoming live event get in touch with us today!  At verve we are a cross-functional team which includes our creative studio, digital, social, sponsorship, events & activations. We work together in a collaborative manner to give our clients the best experience possible. We lead each experiential campaign from planning to execution and take full charge of the logistics involved.

-Laura Cahill

The Verve Experience Podcast

Verve is an agency celebrating 30 years at the top of the events, experiential and marketing industries. This podcast pulls from that wealth of experience, giving key insights from the past, tips for the future, and everything in between.

You can listen to all of  The Verve Experience episodes here: https://audioboom.com/channels/5045240