Experiential is growing fast but how can clients be sure that they are getting a decent return on investment?
We find that in difficult economic times there is an even greater demand for research to prove to advertisers that they are getting a return on every marketing penny they invest. This is especially true of niche or emerging marketing activity such as experiential.

Continental Research has evaluated the impact of over 50 experiential campaigns to date so are able to comment on ways of measuring impact. Different types of experiential activity call for different research approaches, but generally our preferred method of measuring impact uses a two stage approach:

At stage 1 we send recruiters to the event to enlist potential respondents from the crowd of event attendees, and collect their contact details. Stage 2 takes place approximately a fortnight later when we conduct telephone interviews with the attendees who we recruited. We leave a fortnight before interviewing to allow respondents time to purchase whatever product or service was being promoted - something we like to measure. Also bear in mind it would not be feasible to conduct the interview at the event itself as the brand experience is usually so immersive that to ask respondents, for example, whether they have heard of that brand would be slightly ridiculous!

We also conduct interviews with a sample of people who did not attend the event. These are matched to the attendee sample on demographics and key behaviour, thus allowing us to compare the two samples and attribute any uplifts in brand awareness, positive perceptions of the brand and purchase solely to the experiential activity.

Due to the large number of campaigns we have measured we have been able to build normative data (i.e. average scores) on some key brand metrics. This has the added benefit of allowing us to put clients’ results into broader context by comparing any uplift on their brand’s metrics against the average uplift.

The research has found that the impact of experiential marketing is truly phenomenal. Even two weeks after being exposed to the activity our norms show that typically someone who attended an experiential event is 89% more likely to cite that brand spontaneously than a non-attendee and 303% more likely to recall advertising spontaneously. This compares very favourably indeed against the impact of other advertising media we have measured.

Much of this can be attributed to how positive respondents are about the event - on average 85% will score the experiential event either ‘good’ or ‘very good’.

In terms of the impact on longer term metrics we would look at experiential’s impact on brand equity: Earlier this year Continental worked with Sledge - one of the leaders in experiential marketing - to evaluate some activity promoting the NIVEA Visage range.

If we compare perceptions of the range between the exposed and non-exposed samples it’s clear that the experiential activity has had a significant effect on perceptions of the brand (the red arrows denote statistically significant uplift):

Furthermore our normative data shows that 60% of people who attend an experiential event talk to other people about the event - on average between 4 and 5 other people! And 51% of people exposed to experiential marketing go on to recommend that brand typically to 4 other people.

This positive impact of experiential activity on an attendee’s perceptions of the brand and their likelihood to recommend it indicates that as well as boosting the necessary short-term measures (such as awareness of the brand), experiential is also effectively building a deeper, more long term relationship with consumers by significantly and positively influencing the way they think about that brand.

I can confirm that clients are demanding both ROI and also firm proof of the ROI from their experiential activity. It is imperative that experiential is evaluated, but whilst we wholeheartedly encourage our clients to have an evaluation element integrated into their campaign, budgets often dictate that this isn’t possible.

We encourage clients to reserve some budget to evaluate their campaigns, but many clients just don’t have any money. It is a sad fact of these hard times that agencies have to work harder to deliver more creative work that in return delivers a higher number of consumers - but for less budget. So there just isn’t any money left to pay for research and evaluation. We know that when experiential activity is measured and evaluated the results are simply phenomenal. The work that Continental Research did for us for NIVEA proves this.
Social media and digital can provide a cost effective way to measure the success of experiential work. For last year’s innocent Village Fete we created several social media platforms (using facebook, flickr, you tube etc) for visitors to leave feedback, upload pictures and generally interact and tell innocent and the innocent community about their experiences. These sites helped create a community and turn visitors into advocates, but they were also very effective ways of channelling feedback about the event and of course, the brand.
This article was written by Ian Irving, Commercial Director of Sledge and Max Willey of Continental Research.

Experiential marketers need to look beyond simply engaging with consumers at an event and work with supporting digital opportunities for a more rounded experience, according to Andrew Dougan, Business Director at Euro RSCG KLP.

The festival circuit in the UK has been growing at an astounding rate in recent years with a string of new boutique festivals entering the fray and joining stalwarts such as Glastonbury, the Big Chill and V Festival

The market now appears to be reaching saturation point with newcomers falling by the wayside unable to meet overheads with smaller boutique crowds. Just this week, Bloom Festival, established in 2006, had to pull the plug. The organisers admitted in a statement, “difficult economic conditions have affected us in a big way.”

Marketers have been quick to jump on the festival bandwagon. But as the climate tightens, Dougan has warned marketers that they need to reassess their tactics and understand how best to tap into festival marketing, approaching it in the best way. This means going beyond branding up an area with some vinyl banners.

In an exclusive interview with UTalkMarketing he said that brands now needed to take consumers on a journey with their experiential marketing, from the moment they buy their ticket though to event, followed up with post-event activity.

The easiest way to do this,he explained, was though digital platforms, as the agency has demonstrated though campaigns for clients which include Bacardi, Pepsi, Britvic and Xbox.

Recently appointed Head of Digital Strategy for Euro RSCG KLP, Stephen Beasley, said, “Although experiential marketing hinges on the event activity itself, digital can really come into play pre and post. Pre-event activity can involve looking at how to raise awareness by reaching target consumers in novel ways.”

So for example activity for Bacardi could involve looking at how to create the best mojito though personalised events, building as consumers become cocktail masters but sharing tips and recipes online.

Dougan added, “There’s only so much you can do at an event. It needs to be more about the journey from beginning to end.

“While the Carling Amnesty (whereby festival goers can swap cans of warm lager for chilled cans of Carling) presents a great message for Carling at a festival, many festival goers still feel down after the event.

He continued, “It’s here that digital can come into its own, helping to recapture the excitement of the day and showing those who weren’t able to make it what they missed out on.”

So for example, on booking a ticket via a games console a consumer could receive rich content such as video footage of the headliners or an exclusive free live track.

Then post the event, they could receive, for example, more tracks and pictures.

“It’s all about mapping out a whole journey,” Dougan concluded.

source > utalkmarketing.com

Neutral, informal communication on behalf of a preferred brand or vendor can have significant and far-reaching impact on purchase decisions, and in-person word-of-mouth still carries more weight - among all adult age groups - than recommendations via social networking, according to (pdf) a recent Harris Poll.

The survey, which was conducted by Harris Interactive, found that when it comes to getting information to help them with purchase decisions, American adults of all ages use a mixture of traditional media and new media, including those that would constitute “push” (advertising and websites) and “pull” (information from neutral, informal communication).

Most Popular Info-Gathering Methods

The most frequently identified methods of gathering information to make purchase decisions are using a company website (36%), face-to-face communication with a salesperson or other company representative (22%), and face-to-face communication with a person not associated with the company (21%).

Only 4% of respondents reporte using social networking sites to gather purchase-decision information, the study found.

Differences in Sources Among Age Groups

Though pop culture often portrays younger adults as “text-crazed” and less interested in face-to-face discourse than older adults, according to Harris, the survey found that one-third of 18-24 year-olds (33%) say they obtain information through in-person communication with family members or friends, compared with 21% of all adults who say the same thing.

Harris did find, however, that 18-24-year-olds are more likely to use public online social networking sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn and MySpace (16%). These youngest adults are also significantly less likely than older adults to use online chat or email directly with companies (2%).

Memorable Brand Experiences Generate More Positive Action

The poll then asked adults who had a memorable product purchase, product use, or service experience if they had taken any type of downstream action as a result - and nearly four in five said they had (79%). Notably, 72% say they took positive action, with 57% communicating about their positive experience with others and 41% specifically recommending that someone make a purchase.

Respondents with negative memorable experiences appear to go in greater numbers to the vendor or supplier. Some 41% of purchasers who took action say they communicated directly to the vendor or supplier. Of this group, 68% were looking for some type of issue resolution and more than half (53%) say they had their issue resolved in a positive manner while 13%, still had unresolved issues.

Demographically, Baby Boomers and Matures are more likely to communicate directly with vendors (48% and 57%) while Echo Boomers and Gen Xers are less likely to do so (28% and 35%).

Industry Differerences in Communication/Recommendation

Harris Interactive also discovered definite differences in downstream communications and product recommendation, depending on the industry from which respondents purchase:

Those who purchase in the automotive space are more likely to communicate with the vendor (43%) and have positive communication (46%).
Those who purchase in the healthcare space and entertainment space are more likely to have positive communications afterward (45% and 43% respectively).
Those who purchase technology products (44%) and entertainment products (42%) are more more likely to make a product recommendation.
Interestingly, Harris said that in most industries - but especially automotive and healthcare services - there is greater downstream likelihood that consumers are conveying positive messages than positively recommending.

Communications Used After Purchase

Of those who had communicated to others after their purchase, almost three in five (59%) communicated with someone not directly associated with the company, such as a customer service or tech support representative.

Methods reportedly used for communication:

Meanwhile, less than one in 10 used a public online social networking site, such as Facebook, for this communication (9%), an online message board, discussion forum, chat room, blog or wiki (8%), an independent website that has reviews (7%) or a private online social networking site (5%), Harris said.

Downstream Behavior and Further Purchase Likelihood

Overall, two in five (40%) of those with a memorable purchase experience say they would definitely be more likely to purchase again based on their own experiences. Of those who communicated about their positive product or service experience to others, more than three-fourths (76%) say they were more likely to repurchase, with only 5% saying they would be less likely to purchase. Among those who had made a positive recommendation, 79% would be more likely to repurchase in the future, compared with only 6% who would be less likely, the survey found.

Looking at those who had more negative experiences, 46% of those who communicated about their negative experience would be less likely to purchase, while about one-fourth (24%) would still be likely to repurchase, Harris said.

Among those who had recommended against purchasing a product, 63% would be less likely to repurchase compared with 24% who would be more likely to repurchase.

Harris concluded that this research provides three key takeaways:

Methods of obtaining information and post-experience communication is much more likely to occur through a mix of traditional and new-age consumer generated (social) media, both offline and online. Further, few are using social networking tools.
Communication to others about a product or service experience is more likely to occur than recommendation, and there is much variability by product/service category. Also, most post-experience communication takes place offline.
Data suggest that the action of offline and online methods of communicating directly to others about experiences - except for message boards, blogs, and wikis - equally impacts, or at least generally correlates with, customers’ own future purchase behavior. These findings also suggest that the act of communicating to others, positively or negatively, has the same impact on customers’ own behavior as the act of actually recommending.
Despite recent hype about the significant influence of social media, these Harris Poll findings appear to echo several recent studies that indicate that social networks are only beginning to have significant impact on purchases. Earlier this year, Mintel also reported that real-life WOM beats online by a wide margin, while a study by WorkPlace Media found that brands’ official presences on social networks make up only a fraction of a consumers overall view of those brands.

About the poll: This Harris Poll was conducted online within the US from March 9-16, 2009, among 2,355 adults (ages 18 and over) who agreed to participate in Harris Interactive surveys. Figures for age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, region and household income were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population