Live event marketing experiences where consumers interact with products, brands or “brand ambassadors” face-to-face are among the most effective ways to influence coveted consumer audiences, according to results of an extensive new survey by Jack Morton Worldwide. Comprising an online survey of 2,574 consumers, ages 13-65, in the top 25 US markets, the results confirm that this increasingly important marketing medium resonates strongly across demographic and product categories, with especially high influence among key groups such as women, young people and Hispanics.
“Marketing methods need to be innovative and inventive to keep current with the new realities of the landscape our clients compete in,” says Josh McCall, CEO of Jack Morton. “Experiential marketing offers a valuable strategy to brands that need new ways to reach their targets. Our research shows that experiential marketing is completely effective at influencing brand perception and purchasing decisions, and yet is still underutilized in reaching consumers.”
A white paper on the survey results is available online at jackmorton.com.
Overall, more than two-thirds of all consumers say experiential marketing would be extremely or very influential on their overall opinion of brands and products. Seventy percent say that participating in a live event marketing experience would increase their purchase consideration, and 57% say it would result in quicker purchase. However, 73% of all respondents had never before participated in a live event marketing experience, indicating an opportunity for marketers to differentiate.
While the influence of experiential marketing is strong across all groups, it is strongest among often-targeted youth and female consumers:
Nearly 80% of teens say experiential marketing would increase purchase consideration, while 65% say it would lead to quicker purchase 72% of 18- to 23-year old consumers say experiential marketing would make them more receptive to the brand/product advertising; 59% say it would lead to quicker purchase 60% of women say experiential marketing would be more likely to lead to actual purchase of a product/brand, vs. TV advertising (26%) and Internet advertising (14%)
84% of women say they’d bring family or friends to a live marketing experience, and 75% say they’d tell others about the experience—giving marketers a terrific opportunity to expand their reach and impact 74% of Hispanic women and 66% of Hispanic men would be more likely to consider purchasing a product after participating in an experiential marketing event 81% of Hispanic females indicated participating in a live marketing event would make them more receptive to future advertising However, Hispanics are also the ethnic group most underexposed to event marketing; 78% of all Hispanics surveyed had never before participated in a live marketing event.
The effectiveness of experiential marketing was also tested against 14 product/service categories. In 11 out of 14, consumers said their preferred means of learning about new products/services was by experiencing it for themselves or by hearing about it from someone they know, as opposed to TV, radio, print, mail or the Internet.
Live marketing experiences were also shown to be a valuable way to increase marketing ROI:
75% of consumers say that participating in a live marketing experience would make them more receptive to the product/brand’s advertising 75% of consumers said they would be extremely or very likely to tell others after participating in a live marketing event , extending impact through word-of-mouth 8 out of 10 consumers who had actually participated in experiential marketing in the past said that they had told others about their experience The research supports the value that experiential marketing brings to many companies. Spending on experiential marketing has grown to an estimated $166 billion in 2004, a 9% increase over 2003, according to an influential industry trade publication.
EXPERIENTIAL MARKETING New Consumer Research - To learn more about this author, visit Liz Bigham's Website.
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