Key trends in Experiential Marketing for enhanced engagement

Here at Hotcow we have been seeing some great uses of innovative technologies such as digital signage, multi-touch displays, kinect and image recognition that have been playing at the forefront to enrich the experience consumers have with brands and products.

This year, some of the emerging trends in the experiential industry are connected to mobile and audio technologies, facial and gesture recognition, and other content creation platforms that are redefining consumer behaviour and changing attitudes.

We have selected some of the key trends in technology and content creation for enhanced consumer engagement.

Top Technology Trends

1. Mobile Technologies

As people are constantly sharing data and going online to search for information, brands have a myriad of opportunities to connect with consumers via mobile platforms using augmented reality apps, QR codes, geo-location, and social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

One great example is Ford’s experiential campaign to promote their new Ford Fiesta car. Ford asked Instagram users to join 6 themed challenges and submit their pictures by using the hashtag #Fiestagram. To those who submitted striking images tagging each week’s challenge, which was associated with the car’s high tech features, Ford gave away weekly prizes. And the overall winner received a brand new Ford Fiesta!

2. Facial / Gesture Recognition

Automatic face and gesture recognition is rapidly developing into a highly effective experiential campaign feature. The varying technologies are currently being used in interactive vending machines, which allows brands to develop creative ways of dispensing surprise gifts and branded content.

Smart vending machines such as Coke’s Hug Me Machine and Kraft’s Jell-O Temptations are perfect examples that demonstrate how this technology can be successfully used in experiential sampling campaigns.

3. Audio Technologies

Audio Spotlight technology can direct a narrow beam of sound into a confined area, allowing only the select person to hear the message or sound transmitted, making it the perfect tool for communicating an intimate and targeted message to consumers.

A great example this technology usage in experiential marketing is the campaign ‘Listen to your Conscience from New Zealand’s fairtrade banana supplier ‘All Good Bananas’.

4. 3D Printing

Dimension 3D Printers are becoming more advanced which allow brands to customise and print solid products instantly. A remarkable project created by blablablaLAB entitled Be Your Own Souvenir demonstrated the potential for new technology to give people a remarkable souvenir of themselves. The group used custom software and Kinect sensors to generate a full 360-degree scan and within moments a 3D printer machine spits out a little statue version of the person who participated.

Content Creation

1. User Generated Content

Content curation is changing the ways that people access information. Social media users are increasingly sharing their own content. This is where brands can take advantage and give people something to talk about, that will add value or entertain them.

The Australian iced coffee brand Ice Break has taken this approach on their ‘Ice Break: Paul’ campaign. The brand recognised a discontent fans through Facebook and decided to reward them by taking the product all the way from Melbourne to Western Australia. Another nice example is the Generous Pop-Up Store from the Danish chocolatier Anthon Berg.

2. Brand pranks / Theatrics

Creating something out of the ordinary will cause surprising and amusing reactions from consumers. Brands who are able to develop amazing stunts and create unexpected situations will reap the rewards of producing brilliant viral hits. A brilliant example is TNT’s PR Stunt “Push to add drama”.

3. Co-creation

Many big brands have been using crowdsourcing to connect with consumers, developing contests through social media campaigns and encouraging them to create designs and unique labels to their products.

We have discussed the co-creation trend in our article: Why brands need to embrace consumers creativity with some great examples experiential campaigns.

For more thoughts on this subject, visit Hotcow’s website.

Hotcow is a multi-award winning Experiential Marketing agency. We get brands in front of consumers in ways that persuade them to buy. We fully implement our ideas; nothing needs to be farmed out. For more information or free consultation, contact us.

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