Experiential Marketing - The New Tool Used to Rethink Traditional Marketing

By Tara Ittira Chandy Asst. Professor Dept. of Management Studies St. Teresa's College Eranakulam

Introduction With the advent of social media networks, smart phones and search engines the traditional type of marketing is changing .The marketing communications which earlier focussed on the products have now shifted to focusing on the consumers. Brands have started to put a heavy focus on creating relationships. Thus the experience that a company uses to deliver its message is very important and is a powerful tool in building relationships. Bernd Schmitt in his book on experiential Marketing is defines it as, " a process of identifying and satisfying customer needs and aspirations profitably, engaging them through two-way communications that bring brand personalities to life and add value to the target audience". If we look around those brands that have been able to create advertisements that reinforce their values on customers or build upon existing relationships are the ones that have been able to withstand the competition and survive over time. Thus experiential marketing is all about creating messages that one can touch, see, hear, feel and relate to. The objective of any experiential marketing campaign is to form a memorable connection between the customer and a brand creating or enhancing brand loyalty which would influence the consumers buying behaviour and decision in the long run. Need for experiential Marketing 1. Capitalise the marketing theme Coco cola is a brand that has been able to withstand and survive over years by withstanding the competitions in the world wide market of today. In his article Martin Broad clearly explains why this brand always comes out with innovative experiential campaigns which involve the customers to reach the diverse audience. The Italy-Happiness table advertisement of 2012 or the method of generating unity by installing machines in India and Pakistan through which people of both countries could interact with each other are examples that have helped Coco-Cola highlight the importance of unity ,Community togetherness and good times. 2. It helps a brand to make a societal impact. The campaign designed by Ogilvy & Mather for Hindustan Unilever �The Lifeboy Roti Reminder Campaign in India was one of the most cost efficient ones. The campaign which ran for one month was the voted by National Dailies as the most innovative campaigns of that time. 3. A brand is able to generate awareness among a large number of audiences faster. Brands like Lego have understood this and are trying to create positive experiences with the launch of their travelling road show this year. By building heart felt connections to the consumers brands are able to make their target market more receptive to the messages that they send out. Another attempt by this brand is the creation of Lego Land in Dubai which has become one of the most tourist destinations in Dubai. 4. A long lasting relationship is created increasing customer loyalty The brand Milka recently manufactured 10 million chocolate bars that were missing a piece. The brand helped consumers get an experience by letting them choose if they wanted the piece mailed to them or mailed with personalised message thus helping the brand use this opportunity to understand about their customers tastes and likes. 5. Traditional Marketing is not becoming effective as before One can understand that traditional marketing campaigns fail to covey the message with increasing number of people who skip the ads that come on T.V or youtube.It is easy for brands to fit into the personal needs of consumers as shown by the brand Heineken in their campaign City Shapers Festival in Melbourne. Conclusion The relevance of experiential marketing can be seen by studying the present millennial generations who love experiences and authenticity. Brands can easily create amazing experiences for the millennial's who spend hours on facebook and youtube . The ability of sharing and receiving information through mobile and social media is contributing to the success of many experiential marketing campaigns. Thus it proves to be the perfect way to provide a tangible experience for the consumer acting as a differentiator tool in this competitive world. BIBLIGRIOPHY H.Schmitt, B. (1999). Experiential Marketing-How to get customers to Sense,Feel,Think,Act,Relate. The free Press. Smilansky, S. (2009). ExpExperiential Marketing: A Practical Guide to Interactive Brand Experienceseriential Marketing: A Practical Guide to Interactive Brand Experiences. WEBSITES http://blog.eventfarm.com/blog/using-experiential-marketing-to-rethink-branding http://www.adageindia.in/agency/agency-news-viewpoint/why-experiential-is-the-heart-of-branding/articlesho w/54049241.cms https://blog.ebiquity.com/2014/05/top-5-coca-cola-happiness-experiential-campaigns http://www.ogilvy.com/forceforgood/roti-reminder/ https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/slideshows/advertising-marketing/huls-roti-reminder-lifebuoy-campaign-c atches-attention-at-kumbh-mela/reaching-audience-at-a-fraction-of-normal-cost/slideshow/18399581.cms https://www.spredfast.com/social-marketing-blog/why-brand-marketers-should-be-thinking-about-experiential- marketing-2017

Published on IndianFaculty.com: 31/10/2017

Source: E-mail 25/10/2017

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Experiential Marketing - The New Tool Used to Rethink Traditional Marketing | Tara Ittira Chandy