You’ve heard about ROI (Return on Investment) and ROO (Return on Objective), but what about ROE (Return on Experience)?
Experiential marketing focuses on the development of highly unique, interactive and memorable experiences in a variety of environments and venues. ROE is what the individual/consumer gets from this experience. Companies that can deliver the right type of experience to the desired audience benefit from increased retention rates, repeat purchases and higher levels of brand loyalty and involvement.
An experiential marketing event should not be confused with a publicity stunt. Whether it is a single program or an ongoing campaign, this type of event must provide participants with a unique environment in which to explore and interact with a company and its products or services.
Organizations planning to engage in experiential marketing should have a clear set of business objectives and ask themselves the following five questions:
- What is the objective of the event? (Purpose Driven)
It seems an obvious question, but if the objective cannot be expressed clearly to the working team, then success will be difficult. Whether the audience is corporate or consumer, experiential events involve numerous players, including internal management, vendor agencies, sponsors, press, consumers, etc. Such events can play out over extended periods of time, take place in nontraditional venues, have many moving parts, and present countless opportunities and challenges along the way. Working from a big picture objective helps keeps everyone on target.
- What is the benefit to the consumer of this event? (Targeted)
Experiential marketing campaigns must deliver meaningful benefits to their participants. They are about authentic, engaging and creative one-on-one interactions. Such events should provide participants with individual experiences, but they should also put people in touch with other brand advocates. The objective is to create a “community of promoters,” i.e., people who will go out and buzz about your company to their friends, family and colleagues.
Last year, our company (R/A Performance Group) worked with Mini USA to organize “Mini Takes the States,” an experiential event that had Mini owners from all over the country taking a 17-day road trip across the country. Nearly 7,000 people took part in the event, which spanned 16 cities, 19 states and 4,119 miles. For Mini USA, the event was a chance to enhance brand awareness while building new levels of communication between local dealers, car clubs and corporate headquarters. Consumers saw the event as a chance to get together with fellow enthusiasts and as a way of enhancing their lives. One couple got married during the program; a single woman quit her job to be a part of the crosscountry adventure; a recent widower used it as a way of reflecting on his life—each person’s story was as individual as the Mini brand itself.
Enthusiasm for the brand and the program experience created hundreds of blogs, generated tremendous grassroots buzz and delivered impressive press coverage across the country. For experiential marketers, the lesson is to identify the audience you wish to attract and develop a program that provides a platform on which everyone can build.
- How will the program extend the brand experience? (Scalable)
Not only must the program be engaging, interactive, entertaining, and targeted, but every single aspect of it must enhance the interaction the consumer has with the brand. Success is measured by the response of your targeted audience. In the case of Mini, the brand itself can be endlessly individualized, so the experience had to be planned in such a way that the day-tripper, the weekender and the cross-country motorist could each have a complete and personal experience.
In addition, your program needs to be flexible enough to accommodate fluctuations in numbers and still deliver an individualized experience. When the event that had originally been planned for 1,500 participants morphed into 7,000 Mini enthusiasts, we had to find new and innovative ways to accommodate the increased numbers while stretching an extremely limited budget. That included opening events for media partner participation and finding creative yet equitable ways to spread out “giveaways” throughout the event so everyone felt included.
- Who will serve as Brand Advocate during development and delivery? (Champion)
Putting together the right team to deliver your experience is the first step to success. Mix internal teams that know the strategy with external players who exhibit the right attitude for your brand and who embrace challenge and innovation combined with sound business judgment. If you are bringing in outside resources to help develop and launch your program, find out how the team is configured. Who will be the internal champion for your brand? Who will handle budgeting and purchasing? Who will balance the creative and the financial? Every touchpoint must be on target for the brand.
- How will success be measured? (Measurement)
What will you measure and how will you measure it? The key is to establish the measures at the beginning and consistently evaluate them throughout the entire process. Decide upfront whether success be measured in quality of leads, overall experience, quality of participants, press coverage, industry ratings, etc.
The most tangible measurements for the Mini event were a JD Powers rating that pushed Mini up 22 spots to No. 1 as “Brand Most Likely to Recommend,” and Edmunds.com, which voted Mini “Most Wanted Coupe Under $30,000.”
Obviously, not all experiential marketing events can be as elaborate as the Mini event—nor do they need to be. The important thing to remember is that it is the quality of the interaction that shapes a participant’s perception of a company and its brand(s).
