Experiential marketing: what it is, examples and how to measure it

Experiential marketing is the strategy of communicating a brand by having its audience live something first-hand, rather than just receiving a message. An ad tells you a brand is innovative; an experience makes you feel it. And what people feel, they remember and talk about far more than what they read.

If you're wondering what experiential marketing is beyond the textbook definition, here's how it's designed, examples of projects we've worked on and, above all, how to measure it without making up numbers.

What experiential marketing is (and isn't)

Experiential marketing starts from a simple idea: people remember what they live through. So it designs situations in which the audience takes part, interacts, plays, discovers or creates, with the brand as the common thread.

It isn't the same as an event

An event is a format: a date, a place, a programme. The experience is the concept that makes the event meaningful for the brand and makes people want to take part. You can have an event without an experience (an auditorium, four talks and a drinks reception) and an experience without a conventional event (an internal campaign played out over several weeks).

External and internal

• External: brand activations, launches, customer experiences, trade show presence.
• Internal: internal communications campaigns, conferences, team building, culture change programmes.

Both share the same logic: involve people instead of talking at them.

Experiential marketing examples

Here are some Remarca and MC Group projects, described in general terms, that illustrate different uses of experiential marketing.

Internal campaigns people live

For Coca-Cola FEMSA we worked on La fábrica de la felicidad (The Happiness Factory), and for Ferrero, Nos mudamos de mindset (We're Moving Mindset): internal communications campaigns where the message isn't sent by email but becomes a story employees take part in. It's experiential marketing applied to company culture.

Gamification

With Nestlé we developed Active Game, a gamification programme, and with PepsiCo, Carrera de Héroes (Heroes' Race). Games are a powerful experiential tool: they introduce rules, challenges and rewards that get people involved of their own accord.

Brand activations

For Samsung we worked on projects such as Open House, an activation in which the brand opens its doors and the public discovers product and message in person rather than on a screen.

Our own immersive experiences

Within the group we've designed team-building experiences such as Bioshock and Casino Clandestino, in which participants step into a complete narrative world. And events like Lights in the Sky for Esteve, at the Torre de Collserola, show how a unique space and a strong concept can turn a corporate event into something memorable.

You'll find more projects on our case studies page.

How to design an experiential marketing activation

A good experience doesn't start with the spectacular idea; it starts with the objective. We do it with our FLUYO method, which separates three phases so creativity doesn't crash into reality.

1. Define what you want to happen. Do you want people to understand a change, try a product, feel part of something, talk about the brand? Write it in one sentence.
2. Know your audience. What motivates them, how much time they have, what would put them off, where they are.
3. Generate the concept without filters (FLUYO's Dreamer): ideas, narratives, mechanics, worlds.
4. Assess it with a critical eye (the Critic): what could go wrong? Does it fit the brand? Is it easy to understand?
5. Ground the production (the Realist): timings, budget, suppliers, permits, plan B.
6. Design the content from the outset. What will be filmed, what will be shared, what will remain afterwards.
7. Decide how you'll measure it before you execute, not after.

How to measure experiential marketing

The perennial awkward question: did it work? Measuring an experience is perfectly possible if you decide beforehand what “working” means. These are the metrics we use, combined according to the objective.

Participation

• How many people took part versus how many could have.
• How long they spent inside the experience.
• How many completed the activity, challenge or journey.

Content and conversation

• Content created by participants and social media posts.
• Mentions of the brand and the concept.
• Subsequent use of the content produced during the activation.

Perception and learning

• Before-and-after surveys to compare brand perception or understanding of a message.
• For internal campaigns: awareness of the change being communicated and participation in the following phases.

Business

• Contacts or leads generated and how they progress.
• Product trials, demo requests or meetings.
• Comparison with previous activations or other channels.

The golden rule: set the objective and how you'll measure it before the activation. Decide afterwards and you'll end up picking whichever metric looks best.

Common experiential marketing mistakes

We've seen plenty of experiences that looked great in the pitch deck and fell short in real life. These are the failings that crop up most often:

• Starting with the “wow factor” without knowing what needs to happen next. Spectacle without an objective is a cost, not an investment.
• Forgetting the audience's time. If the experience demands too much effort or takes too long, people drop out halfway.
• Mechanics only the designer understands. If it needs explaining three times, it needs simplifying.
• A brand that's missing, or only appears on the photo wall. The brand has to be part of the story, not a logo in the corner.
• Not producing content: only a few people live the experience; the content can reach many more.
• No plan B for rain, failing tech or a speaker who doesn't turn up.

Almost all of them are avoided the same way: separating the time for dreaming from the time for critiquing and the time for producing.

Worked example: a brand launching a product to its distributors

Picture a home appliance brand launching a new range that needs its distributors to understand it and champion it with end customers.

1. Objective: distributors know the product's advantages and feel confident selling it.
2. Concept: an experience in which distributors solve challenges using the product, instead of sitting through a presentation.
3. Production: a space with hands-on stations, a team-based game mechanic and a closing moment of recognition.
4. Content: short videos of each station that then double as training for those who couldn't attend.
5. Measurement: a before-and-after product quiz, participation at each station and tracking of orders for the new range.

When experiential marketing makes sense

When you need people to understand, feel or change something, and a message alone won't do it. If that's where you are, our experiential marketing page shows how we work, and if you want to shape a specific idea, tell us what you want to happen and with whom.