Rather than looking at consumers as passive receivers of messages, we believe that consumers should be actively involved in the production and co-creation of marketing programs which ultimately helps develop a relationship with the brand... Something we all want, right?
Over the years, we have seen some great examples of truly captivating and creative brand experiences. And, as you know from my last post, we like to look to our incredible industry to gain inspiration.
So here we go - these are our top 4 brand experiences from around the world…
By now you might have realised that we’ve got a thing for brand experiences at high altitudes (here comes the shameless plug!); The geodesic dome we built at 2420m for Tesla’s new Model 3, still takes the record as the world’s highest pop up store.
A couple of years ago and quite a bit higher up, Red Bull put on a spectacular marketing stunt which they called the Red Bull Stratos. On 14 October 2012, Felix Baumgartner flew approximately 39 kilometres (24 mi) into the stratosphere over New Mexico, United States, in a helium balloon before free falling in a pressure suit and then parachuting to Earth. The total jump, from leaving the capsule to landing on the ground, lasted approximately ten minutes. While the free fall was initially expected to last between five and six minutes, Baumgartner deployed his parachute after 4 minutes and 19 seconds.
Reaching 1,357.64 km/h (843.6 mph)—Mach 1.25—Baumgartner broke the sound barrier on his descent, becoming the first human to do so without any form of engine power. Measurements show Baumgartner also broke two other world records. With a final altitude of 38,969 m (127,851 ft; 24 mi), Baumgartner broke the unofficial record for the highest manned balloon flight of 37,640 m (123,491 ft) previously set by Nick Piantanida. He also broke the record for the highest altitude jump, set in 1960 by USAF Colonel Joseph Kittinger, who was Baumgartner's mentor and capsule communicator at mission control. These claims were verified by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI).
Back in 2012 Red Bull broadcasted the event live on YouTube to more than 8 million people around the world who live streamed the event. The recap video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHtvDA0W34I) has now had nearly 50 million views!
7 years later we still talk about what an incredible spectacle it was and as such the video is watched again and again. Red Bull created a huge amount of content from this event which is still enjoyed by many today. Red Bull manage to engage with audiences that not many others can. They create world firsts, they break records, they do what others can't - they continue to wow and dazzle by creating these experiences we can all be apart of. Pretty impressive for an energy drinks company right?
In my previous blog post I wrote about the Pantone Café - the visual and physical pop-up cafe that became a hit on Instagram.
Pantone definitely didn’t underestimate the importance of creating an Instagrammable experience.
Something Refinery29 also emphasised with their creative activation, 29 rooms.
They invited interior designers, artists and other partners such as Dunkin Donuts, Dyson and Cadillac to create different installations in the 29 rooms.
The makers behind Refinery29 collaborated with visionaries and brands in the fields of arts, activism, style and technology to bring you 29 experiences under one roof that taps into the conversations of today and our hopes for tomorrow. Through multi-sensory installations, performances and workshops, they present the consumer with a new way to connect with creativity, culture and community.
Their extremely aesthetically pleasing experiences entice their visitors with experiences they want to share. See some of their experiences here.
We believe it’s a hugely important task making sure your brand has that visual wow factor when entering the realms of experiential marketing.
The charity Miseror understood that a cashless society has a huge impact on how people give charitable donations, so they decided to do something about it. They installed TV-screens in airports which were rigged up to show the consumer where their donations go when a card was swiped across the screen. The activation worked by consumers swiping their card across the screen which would then bring the activation to life. As the user swiped their card across the screen they would see their card slicing through a piece of bread or releasing someone with their hands tied.
They then used this moment of engagement to prompt the user into signing up to the charity on a monthly basis.
Miseror realised they had to evolve and so they did, creating a truly engaging activation which came from evaluating their strategy, understanding their position and coming back with something tangible that worked for them.
As technology continues to evolve we are constantly looking of different ways we can use it. There are some incredible things being done with AI, AR and VR technologies today.
A great example of AR being used well is when Verizon partnered up with Snapchat to invite their customers to take part in an AR treasure hunt. Selected Snapchat users were given the opportunity to take part in the treasure hunt around their cities. By solving the clues that were presented to them, they would finally unlock a Snapchat iPhone 8 filter. To win the iPhone the user had to take a selfie with the filter and send it to Verizon.
This was a really simple and fun way to use AR to promote a new product.
So, what can we all learn from these type of experiences?
Stay true to your brand story, use smart and strategic partnerships, and leverage technology when suitable.