If you prefer to read instead of watching our short video, the transcript of the conversation between Sierra, Mike and Mal is below.
Sierra: Thanks everyone for joining this session of The Bottom Line at TTG. Today I have Mike and Mal. We’re going to be talking about experiential elements, so Mike, we hear the word “experiential” bantered about in regards to consumer events. But the heck does that mean?
Mike: Well, you know, the brands figured out a while ago that in order to sell their product more effectively, they really need to connect with the consumer on an emotional level. Not just say, come taste my product, but create a really cool experience that leaves a memorable impression on that client. So you see that all the time now with the B2C world when they go and they activate at events they don’t just give you a sample of their product, you know if it’s a Skittles campaign, they’re going to have some kind of a experience that immerses you in the world of Skittles right to where you know you share it on social media. You’re talking about it with your friends and you know, we just see that a ton now in the world of business to consumer marketing.
Sierra: Well, thanks for that explanation and now what are some examples of experiential elements that we’ve done?
Mal: Well, we’ve done a ton within the trade show space with that are either at a show or connected to a show. I think probably the coolest activation I’ve seen us do was the one we did with Riftwalk and we did that in partnership with a company called Fish who could do the data analytics as well. It was really exciting. League of Legends was looking to have a big thank you for their fan base and we created this traveling event and walked through the Riftwalk part of their game experience. So it actually looked like you and as you walked through this experience you would have a different elements that you could stop at. Get your picture taken, interact with. It was really cool. We did one with a tank. We have a company called World of Tanks that we work with and we actually brought in an old Sherman tank and they had a campaign where they reached out to their audience and say, “hey, what are some cool things that we can do that we can run over?” You guys can see live. It was really pretty funny. We’ve also created a huge full-scale dinosaur that people could get on and have their picture taken with it.
Mike: And in the lines, by the way, you see these lines of people. I was at PAX when we did that one. I mean just a line that’s like an hour along with people dying to come. And of course when they do that, they’re not getting the picture taken and just being, you know, sending it to mom. I mean, they’re posting it right on social media and so it has a huge viral impact as well.
Mal: We did a booth for Facebook, Oculus and the same thing. They had a photo areas where you can go and get your photo taken and instantly post them to Instagram so it’s really cool and those get tons of views. It’s really exciting. We also did an exhibit where we had a three-story exhibit with a slide and people could slide down which was really cool as well.
Sierra: Yeah, sure it’s marketing without marketing. You’re getting people to market for you. So Mike, should this be considered for a B2B event? And what are the benefits?
Mike: You know, I think you’re starting to see it and absolutely it should be considered for B2B events. You’re starting to see that in some of the larger B2B conferences: Dreamforce, Salesforce.com’s big event.
Mal: You know today’s audience is made up primarily in the business world today is made up of millennials. There’s a ton of millennials and it’s been proven that millennials react much better to these experiences. They expect these experiences a much more tactile engagement with the product than just looking at it. And it’s really important that as marketers, we recognize that and try to hit them up with that.
Mike: And I think we can do it so that we take a core value of the company and reinforce that core value in a really fun and engaging way. And I think by the way that what we did at Bitcoin with a lot of now that was sort of on the edge as to whether you’d consider that a B2C or B2B event. But these were business people who were there having a good time playing basketball. Or they were watching Tony Hawk, sumo wrestle, sumo wrestlers. You know, it’s an experience. And so you know, I think you know at the end of the day, as Mal pointed out that where there’s many millennials in the business world and at the end of the day we’re all human and we want to have fun.
Sierra: Yeah, so what’s the bottom line guys?
Mike: So I would say that the bottom line is: people are coming out of a pandemic and if ever there was a time to try to offer a memorable experience at a show, now is the time, you know. Let’s engage people. They’re coming out of their shell. They’re getting out finally to a trade show, and I think it can be more than just, you know. Here’s what we want to sell you. I think we can help deliver a solid message experience.
Sierra: Yep, well, thank you so much, Mike and Mal. Thanks, everyone for joining this session of The Bottom Line at TTG and we’ll see you next time.