In-person experience is never going out of style— Tolulope Medebem
By Zion Rufus
“In-person experience is never going out of style; humans are social animals in nature; social life activities will always be there; the digital aspect of experiential marketing enhances the experience and the engagement. Live experiences can never go out of style, ever.”—Tolulope Medebem
The above statement, made in an exclusive interview with MARKETING EDGE by one of Nigeria’s amazons in the experiential marketing ecosystem, Mrs. Tolulope Medebem, Chief Operating Officer and Lead Strategist at Aster Integrated Marketing Limited (AsterIML), underscores the blended experience which brands across the world now offer their consumers with digital combined with the traditional in-person activations in experiential marketing campaigns.
According to Medebem, Experiential marketing essentially is about creating live experiences that are multisensory; you would want to get a situation where you walk into any experience and connect emotionally with that experience.
No doubt, the ‘New Normal’ has accelerated the adoption of blended experiences, globally. The hybrid of virtual and in-person experiences has given brands across the world the opportunity to launch campaigns and events that consumers can engage with by bringing them to life through personal interactions and the leveraging of technology.
Medebem, however, pointed out that “The mix of live experiencing and digital had always been a part of experiential marketing”.
Even then, Digital experiences so far have provided brands the opportunity to interact with consumers even as the world adapts to the new normal of working from home, virtual events, and consumers are also responding by embracing the new trends.
Significantly, blended experience is immersive, interactive in real-time, and brings together digital applications within the physical space of the customer journey through immediate engagement.
In the words of Medebem, “Covid-19 has given the world more impetus that the two are actually mutually engaged. Whenever you are creating a live experience for consumers, digital has always been used to enhance and make it a more engaging activity. But as Covid cautions increase, marketers are taking it into consideration and ensuring that a full mix of virtual and live activities that essentially connect with the consumers also enables them to connect and engage impactfully with the brand.”
For decades, brands have used In-person events to connect with their customers, but with the support of digital, live experiences can now reach new and exciting heights, and cover a wider audience. Experts have also ascertained that consumer interests have fully tilted towards blended experience.
Audiences have moved from just watching, to engaging as blended experiences offer contents that are more interactive, direct, and personalized. Consumers feel connected to a brand when the message is direct as it triggers their emotions, unlike when browsing through a webpage or a newsletter. With blended experience, customers can engage with brands even from the comfort of their homes.
Speaking on the Nigerian experiential market, Medebem explained: “The adoption of innovations in Nigeria in the experiential sphere is full blown right now. A lot of activities, conferences and events have shifted online, as little as zoom weddings. Experience concert happened online, it had people from all over the world with various experiences; personally, I would say the virtual experience was a bigger platform as it enabled people to explore with things that they never probably would have thought of if the need hadn’t risen. There was also an experiential conference last year where there were a lot of things happening virtually; various things in your day to day live experiences that are now taking place virtually, and everyone is basically participating in it. We now have virtual red carpets. The Nigerian experiential outlook is that we are resilient, and as long as we remain innovative and creative, the sky is our limit with regards to how we are able to integrate all of this into effect.”
Mrs. Tolulope Medebem is the Chief Operating Officer/Lead Strategist at Aster Integrated Marketing Limited (AsterIML), a full service experiential marketing, PR and event agency in Nigeria. The agency parades an experienced team with years of capabilities and consistency in superb delivery.
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