Hitting the Road with Brands in Tow
Hey class,
I found a really interesting article this morning on NYTimes.com. The article, titled Hitting the Road with Brands in Tow, explains an original, popular marketing strategy called Experimental Marketing. Marketers are taking branding projects on the road to cities nationwide. Such events, like the Ocean Spray "Cranberry Bog" and the Advertising Council's "Feelin Groovy Tour," are designed to allow marketers to bring the brands into the consumer’s lives and put a face to a product or brand. This type of marketing has proven to be effective because consumers can choose to participate or not and allows for an interactive experiment or hands-on opportunity to use the product.
I feel that Experimental Marketing can be particularly effective to drown out the noise that is associated with today's marketing strategies. Rather than bombarding the market with unnecessary drivel, Experimental Marketing enables to consumer to interact with a product in a new and creative way. Beth Rice, Executive VP and Director of Arnold Worldwide, explains, “An event has to be an honest, authentic, expression of a brand campaign,” and Experimental Marketing can provide just that.
To check out the article go to: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/20/business/media/20adco.html?ref=media
-Samantha Bichler
posted by Brand007 @ 9:16 AM
1 Comments:
I agree with you that experimental marketing is an extremely effective marketing tool in today's society. I actually interned at a company called Making Waves Communications last semester in London. They are a student and youth marketing agency that focus on event marketing and public relations. Not only is this approach to marketing interesting to read about...it is fun to do!
One of our clients was an alcoholic brand called AfterShock, and we created a tour around the country to promote one of their new flavors. The tour took place in universities' student unions where we decorated the entire venue with our brand and brought interactive characters that would give out free samples and our promotional items after competitions. Not only did all the students have a positive experience with the brand that night, but we also took pictures of them in clothing with our brand name and sent it to them so could remember what a fun time they had at our event.
I believe that the companies that have started to use experiential marketing (as Making Waves refers to it) are connecting with their consumers on a personal level that will be unforgettable. They are building a friendship with the brand rather than just a consumer relationship. Similar to what Coke did when they brought samples to the soldiers in the war, these brands are creating emotional ties with their consumers that will last. In addition, when a consumer is involved with a brand through experiential marketing, I would think that they are more likely to mention the brand when they tell a friend about the experience.
If you would like to see more about the experiential marketing that Making Waves does, I have tons of pictures or you can look on their website (http://www.makingwaves.co.uk/marketing.php?id=8).
~Sabrina Wells~
Post a Comment
<< Home