Watching the best experiential marketing campaigns, you can't help but feel like you're in a movie. But unlike most movies, these campaigns have happy endings for everyone involved.
New York event planners are designing these campaigns more than ever now to make consumers feel something. And they're so good at it that they'll leave you wondering: "Is this really happening?"
And the answer is: yes, it is.
You may have heard about some great experiential marketing campaigns over the years, but which ones would you say truly stood out?
We would say, these four do. They each had a unique angle and made their mark on the world of marketing in ways that can't be ignored.
The Heineken #OpenYourWorld Campaign
When Heineken launched the #OpenYourWorld campaign in 2016, they wanted to change perceptions of what their brand was and show that it could break down barriers between people. The campaign aimed to bring people together, make them think about what they could achieve and challenge expectations by changing the way we see things.
The campaign was created by a group of four directors from London ad agency Adam & Eve/DDB Group. It was created in partnership with several influencers around the world, including rapper G-Eazy, actor Chris Pratt and artist David Hockney.
They were all invited on an all-expenses paid trip to Lisbon where they'd create new content for Instagram under the hashtag #OpenYourWorld.
The Marmite Immersion Cinema
You know what's better than watching a movie? Watching it with your hands on the screen.
At least, that's what you get to do at the Marmite Immersion Cinema in London. In partnership with Vivid Entertainment, this immersive cinema experience was created to promote the launch of Marmite's new chocolate bar.
The event included a live action film where guests could interact with props and actors by touching them onscreen using VR headsets. They could also try samples of Marmite chocolate (of course).
Refiner29 Rooms
If your event is going to be the coolest event in town, you need to go all-out. And that's what lifestyle brand Refinery29 does with its 29Rooms event: What it calls "an interactive funhouse of style, culture, & technology."
The event is a celebration of all things fashion and tech. It's a little bit like a carnival for adults. It's also an incredibly effective experiential marketing campaign for Refinery29—and one that has helped to rocket them into the spotlight as one of the most exciting brands in their category.
The Yellow Pages Umbrella Project
The Yellow Pages Umbrella Project was a campaign to promote the Yellow Pages. It was designed to get people talking and sharing their photos on social media, so that they would talk about the Yellow Pages.
The idea was simple: participants were given free umbrellas printed with the company's logo and colors, and then encouraged to snap photos of themselves using them in various settings (at home, at work, etc.) The campaign generated over half-a-million impressions on Twitter alone!
These experiential marketing campaigns were brilliant. Learn how they worked.
These four campaigns, in particular, were brilliant. The concept of experiential marketing is to get consumers involved in the product and make them want it more as a result. These campaigns went beyond that by creating an experience for all parties involved: customers, employees, and partners. Click each link on this blog post to read (or see) more about these experiential marketing campaigns!
Conclusion
In the end, experiential marketing is still a relatively new concept and one that can be tricky to execute. While many have tried their hand at it, there are few who have succeeded in creating truly great campaigns.
It takes a lot of creativity and hard work to pull off something that stands out enough to grab people’s attention. But if you want your business to stand out in today's competitive marketplace then experiential marketing may just be the way forward -- just ask any of these brands!
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