Experiential Marketing: Why Spend $100K When $10K Hits Harder?

There are many ways agencies can win awards and be recognized for their work.  Industry groups, organizations, and countless categories are open for submissions. We saw one recently that caught our eye and made us think about how a tactic can sometimes define the marketing objective (and not the other way around).

We are big believers in experiential marketing—especially now. Digital marketing is still critical, but over-reliance can be mind-numbing for consumers. Breaking through the clutter is harder and requires an integrated mix of tactics. As brands increasingly focus on building deeper connections with consumers, offering unique opportunities for people to engage with a brand through touch, taste, and physical interaction will become more important.

Which brings us back to the awards. So, we’re looking through annual awards for a specific industry group and curious about categories for experiential marketing. Most of the awards were for big events. Massive events. The smallest category was for events “under $500,000”.

That was the smallest. Half. A million. Dollars.

Now, we understand the need to make a statement—but that’s PR, earned media, or influencer marketing. In a way, that’s more digital, not broad experience.  Let’s think about a sporting event. If you have $1 million to spend, is it better to do one event at the Super Bowl or 20 events in front of passionate fans in multiple markets at $50,000 each?  What if you could do it for $10,000 each? 

This is not to say that a single, major brand experience is bad. These events can generate earned media, connectivity to a raving fan group, and generate buzz, which are all tactically important in the right circumstance.

Experiential marketing is about the experience. As we become more distant through our devices, there is a unique opportunity to have a physical connection. Live events make this possible. Fans are a community—and fandom is worth supporting. This is not just major sporting events, this is the minor league team, the music festival, the home show, the car show, the comic convention. 

You don’t have to have $500,000 for a single event. It can be done for $5,000 - $50,000 and be incredibly impactful. At that level, you can do it 10 - 100 times with the same budget as one big event.  Think of how many passionate fans you will reach. Imagine the personal connections, the photos, the conversations with family and friends—the buzz around being a part of their community.

We all know there is a part of our marketing budget that is not performing. It’s the tail-end of any tactical spend.

Bring it to life. Scale it across events at a lower budget to reach more people. Fans will love it, and your competitors will never see it coming.

That’s when experiential marketing is at its best.