What is experiential marketing?

Wikipedia defines experiential marketing as a marketing methodology that attempts to connect consumers with brands in personally relevant and memorable ways. Studies have shown that this approach is more memorable and builds better brand knowledge than any other form of marketing.

The brand experience is not defined by one particular marketing channel and in fact virtually any medium can be utilised as part of an experiential campaign. The key to a successful experiential campaign is that all touch points contribute to a positive user experience of the brand.

In order to be successful an experiential campaign has to be memorable and engaging and convey the brand message. To ensure this is the case an experiential campaign should be considered early in the brand planning process to ensure that the campaign not only complements other activity but is presented in a relevant environment. This may be a proprietary environment such as the V Festival to a sampling campaign to the relevant audience.

With the advent of social media and an increasingly media savvy public it is increasingly important for the health of a brand that all interaction provides a favourable opinion. Handing free product out at train stations isn't necessarily the soltuion.