The 2nd Principle of Success for Experiential Marketing

 

 

Today is the second entry of our Seven Principles of Success for Experiential Marketing. For the past two years, a team from Synergy Events has attended the PRSA International Conference to connect with public relations professionals about how our experiential marketing events drive PR for our clients. At one of the workshops in San Diego in November, Daryl McCullough from Paine PR presented his Seven Principles of Success during his terrific "Best in Buzz" workshop. This list was inspired by Daryl's talk.

 

1. Integrate your events. Click here for the full post.

 

2. Today I want to talk about the second principle, Knowing Your Audience.

 

Here are 3 steps:

 

Focus on Your Core - This may sound incredibly simple, but it's important to remember who your primary target is when planning an event. Obviously, it's fine to have more than one target group (e.g. media, mom's between 28-40, tweens, etc.) but that's often where the problems start. For example, if a brand is launching a new beverage aimed at young professionals, but has a primary goal of driving media impressions through an event, then a straight sampling program at Bryant Park isn't going to work.  

 

Timing is Everything - Another factor in knowing your audience is when to do the event. Again, if you want a media focused event in New York City for example, check potential conflicts and pick a convenient time for the media to cover the event. If the budget allows, hire a freelance B-roll shooter and still photographer so you have a backup plan to service the press in case a breaking story or other unforeseen factors lead to a light press turnout.

 

Key to Engagement - Be sure to factor what will make your audience stop and take notice. If you're executing a press-driven event like the Crown Royal contest reveal above, (a sports activation prior to the 2009 Daytona 500) make sure the idea is unique and newsworthy (we'll talk more about this on Thursday). If you are conducting a product launch and want to sample, make the extra spend to have your teams in branded uniforms.  And be sure the Brand Ambassadors have the personality and persistence to engage the target.  

 

Stay tuned for the remaining principles of success in the coming weeks:

 

3. Make it Stick! (January 28)

 

4. Leverage Technology. (February 2)

 

5. Be authentic to your brand. (February 4)

 

6. Select the right spokesperson. (February 9)

 

7. Pick the right location. (February 11)

 

Seven Principles of Success for Experiential Marketing

For the past two years, a team from Synergy Events has attended the PRSA International Conference to connect with public relations professionals about how our experiential marketing events drive PR for our clients.

 

At one of the workshops in San Diego in November, Daryl McCullough from Paine PR presented his Seven Principles of Success during his terrific "Best in Buzz" workshop.

 

Inspired by Daryl's talk, I have put together a list of Seven Principles of Success for Experiential Marketing. While all seven of the principles are listed, each of the next blogs on this topic will offer more detail on one of the Seven Principles, including some cool event marketing programs we've either executed or seen in the field.

 

1. Integrate your events. Events should not occur in a silo. Whenever possible, events should incorporate as many marketing disciplines as possible including advertising, grassroots, PR, social media and sponsorship initiatives.

 

An experiential marketing event by Snickers and David Arquette this past summer is a great example of taking an integrated approach. Arquette lived in a lounge on top of the Madison Square Garden marquee for part of two days to draw attention to the brand's "Bar Hunger" campaign and Feeding America, the nation's leading domestic hunger organization.

 

As you can see in this video, the event was fully integrated. Advertising, PR, grass roots, social media and retail tactics were used to help make the event a smash hit for Snickers.

• Advertising: Note the giant Snickers ad on the billboard behind the lounge on top of the MSG Marquee.
• PR: David Arquette, chairman of the entertainment council for Feeding America, was obviously the media hook. The story was everywhere, from the Today Show to Howard Stern to the newspapers on the west coast. The event component (the lounge) in a non-traditional location (on top of the Madison Square Garden Marquee) made the story even more interesting.
•  Grassroots: Snickers-branded ambassadors distributed information and collected money for the cause from people around MSG. Arquette also ventured outside of the lounge and utilized a large Snickers bullhorn to get the attentions of passersby.
• Social Media: Snickers started a Bar Hunger Facebook page to collect funds from consumers and Arquette tweeted about his experience during his two day stay.
• Retail: The Bar Hunger messaging appeared on millions of Snickers bars and on P.O.P displays at retail outlets across the country.

Is a fully integrated approach always possible? No. But remember, it doesn't necessarily take a big budget to have a fully integrated experiential marketing event that leads to a huge win for a client.

Here's a schedule of our upcoming posts on the Seven Principles of Success for Experiential Marketing:

2. Know your audience. (January 26)

3. Make it Stick! (January 28)

4. Leverage Technology. (February 2)

5. Be authentic to your brand. (February 11)

6. Select the right spokesperson. (February 16)

7. Pick the right location. (February 18)

 

If you are interested in subscribing to Synergy101 click here.

 

Synergy Events is an independent, experiential marketing agency that works as a silent "behind the scenes" partner for top brands, PR agencies and sports leagues.  For more than 17 years, Synergy has connected brands to consumers via mobile marketing tours, PR stunts, product launches and sponsorship activation programs. If you are planning such an event or may have the need in near future, contact Stan Phelps via sphelps@synergyevents.com.

Synergy Events and the got milk? Great Gallon Give

 

got milk?

 

Some lucky consumers got free milk at Times Square in New York City yesterday as Synergy Events teamed up with Weber Shandwick and the Milk Processor Education Program to launch "The Great Gallon Give."

 

The event was featured on Good Morning America.

 

The new program-part of the National Milk Mustache ‘got milk?' Campaign-will give away hundreds of thousands of gallons of milk (the equivalent of more than three million servings) to help raise awareness of the important role milk plays in building strong families.  Synergy is executing these 20 experiential events from from coast-to-coast to give out the free gallons. Families can also register to win a year's free supply of milk and find out if the "Great Gallon Give" is coming to their city at www.whymilk.com.

 

The "Great Gallon Give" will also make it possible to help families in need by passing a virtual gallon of milk to friends on Facebook www.Facebook.com/MilkMustache.  For every virtual gallon passed, $1 will go to Feeding America, up to $100,000. Feeding America is the country's largest network of food banks that serves more than 25 million people facing hunger in this country.  In addition, milk processors will be donating thousands of real gallons of milk to local food banks in the Feeding America network.

 

Synergy Events also plans and executes the annual got milk? Milk Mustache Mobile Tour that visits more than 75 cities annually. That tour kicks off in the spring and continues throughout the summer.