Embracing experiential connection for consumers’ emotional bond
By Felicia Nwosu
To capture the heart of your target audience, you have to go through a gate, the mind, a very powerful asset. The mind is the gateway to our hearts, the key decision-maker, and the master influencer of all thoughts, emotions, and actions.
This assertion was made by Funmilade Alalade, the CEO, Elev8Media Advertising Ltd, while attesting to the fact that consumers are in search of experience with products that dazzle the senses, adding that the consumption experience needs to capture consumers’ minds in their entirety by making use of all five senses, and, in doing so, evoke a positive response from consumers in their buying decisions.
Experiential marketing has been described by experts and practitioners as a better way to prove the sincerity of a brand’s promise. It does this by inviting consumers to take a look inside. It also offers a better way to create a spark by constructing an opportunity for real connection, which if properly done, is capable of conveying to the customers that they mean more than the potential revenue they represent.
Experiential marketing is effective and measurable. It integrates with content marketing, social media and PR. Experiential marketing builds reputation and credibility, and it can change perception. Above all, experiential marketing offers consumers interactive, engaging experiences.
Experiential marketing if properly harnessed will contribute hugely to the nation’s economy, according to the President of Experiential Marketing Association of Nigeria (EXMAN), Tade Adekunle, who stated that EXMAN accounted for about N30 billion of the total advertising expenditure in the country, estimated at over N120 billion annually as at 2019.
The EXMAN President, while giving a comprehensive overview of the IMC sector in Nigeria, noted that with no less than 46 active members currently operating in the experiential sub-sector, the organisation is making significant contribution to the growth and development of the IMC sector of the economy.
This expert analysis simply proved that the experiential marketing has experienced a significant rise over the past decade.
Experiential marketing focuses on the experiences and the emotions of the consumer. It allows customers to take ownership of a product’s marketing because they have an emotional investment in that product. Demonstrations and taste tests are common examples of experiential marketing; they draw customers to the product, give them a reason to remember the product and, hopefully, customers will give a good recommendation to their friends.
Several brands have adopted this and it has worked for them. Brands like Indomie, the market leader in the noodles segment in Nigeria, has tried experiential marketing and got hooked by its unique way of consumer engagement. It is now a common sight to see Indomie move about with its van serving consumers cooked Indomie noodles fresh and hot from the caravan. Beyond the fun, the customers are having real experience of the product and the company can get a lot of customer feedback that is helpful for product modification and market positioning.
Good Mama Detergent also did that in its campaign when it demonstrated how powerful and effective it is by using the detergent to wash drainages in the presence of the consumers. The essence of the experience is to arouse emotion to act and this is where experiential marketing comes in handy as the best powerful tool to achieve greater impact on emotions and truly captivate consumers.
In this digital age, constructing hands-on experiences for customers seems to go against the trends. However, experiences like pop-up bars with digital displays, automotive trade shows with interactive wheel stands, and exhibitions with product demos let companies engage with consumers on a sensory level. Consumers can see, touch, smell, hear, and taste products. New technologies like artificial intelligence enhance these sensory experiences, and all these revolve around experiential marketing.
This new shift in trends of marketing is one of the reasons why Baba Awopetu, Group Strategy & Marketing Director (CMO) and UK Sales & Marketing Director, Optegra Eye Healthcare, emphasised the need to “rethink marketing”. According to him, “the power of marketing is to drive growth; the power of marketing is to help unleash the potential that organisations have”.
Highlighting more on what experiential marketing stands for, Otis Ojeikhoa, Managing Director/CEO of Brands Optimal explained that the recent move from a service economy to an “experience economy” has been driven largely by the convergence of consumers’ increasing desires for products that provide meaningful experiences and brands’ desires for novel differentiation strategies. Otis added that marketers at the forefront of this change have determined that success depends on familiarising consumers with the unique experiences products offer rather than focusing on the products’ functional benefits.
He further said that experiential marketing generates authentic brand awareness through the use of non-traditional marketing methods. According to him, experiential marketing is a concept in selling of goods and services and it is very powerful. It is definitely a powerful force behind brands and will always remain so. “Traditionally, brands will sell by creating awareness using TV, Radio, Outdoor and Print to just get people to know and understand that once people hear about it they will buy. But brands that embrace or incorporate experiential marketing into their brand’s positioning strategy are more likely to spark curiosity and build loyalty among their target audience.”
He continued: “The era of marketing by creating product awareness has changed because the market and categories have become so fragmented and the competition is so stiff. There is a need for the consumer to know more than just hearing about it, and this is where experiential marketing comes in; it is about experience.”
The Brands Optimal boss said through experiences, consumers are invited to get to know a brand via their senses, and these tangible experiences can create stronger bonds between people and products, as people can interact with a brand in a genuine way and form a positive opinion of it.
According to Feyisola Olubodun, former Chief Executive Officer of Insight Publicis, “customers’ operating and purchasing behaviour has become more global and sophisticated”.
He added: “We are in an industry that is presently undergoing disruption. The disruption is not coming from the agencies; it’s not even coming from the clients, and rather it’s coming from the consumers. It’s coming from people who have moved from consuming content in a traditional way to consuming it in some new ways. It is the consumers’ relationship with technology that is driving disruption for brands.”
He noted that consumers’ behaviours are the real cause of disruption in the creative industry, emphasising that people cannot buy products which they do not understand except they have shared an emotional experience with it.
The next time you see a product activation caravan, product demonstration scene or product activation crew, you’ll be witnessing experiential marketing in action. Indeed, it has become a valuable strategy that uses live experiences to forge authentic bonds between brands and consumers, and gives marketers an entirely different way to capture audience attention, build customer loyalty.
RECOMMENDED ARTICLES
Comment
No comments found.