BLOG

As the term “brand activation” has gained traction among marketing experts, experiential marketing agencies, experiential marketing consultants, and brand owners, its definition has grown to encompass a huge array of events and activities, many of them on a grand scale.

In experiential marketing events like brand activations, careful planning helps ensure the brand checks all the boxes when it comes to attracting the desired audience, delivering the right message, and creating a memorable experience that resonates with attendees. A solid plan provides a roadmap for success, ensuring that the activation builds brand awareness, lays the foundation for customer loyalty, and generates data the brand can use to shape future directions.

There’s a marketing adage that neatly sums up the distinction between a product and a brand: Companies make products, but consumers make brands. A product is something physical, tangible. An iPhone, a car, a pair of sneakers? All products. Apple, Subaru, Nike? Brands.

Just a few years ago, it looked like the heyday of the American shopping mall was long gone, and the challenges of the Covid era only sealed the fate of indoor shopping centers coast to coast. Bricks-and-mortar shopping, the basis of the shopping mall, has bounced back post-pandemic, with store openings outpacing closures. What does this mean for experiential marketing?

Signing on to sponsor an event used to be about writing a check to get your brand’s logo on a banner. That’s still a valid option, but increasingly, brands are recognizing that what consumers want and expect is connection. By taking sponsorship a step further, into real involvement with an event, brands can make connections that count with consumers.

Red Bull, Mountain Dew, Nike, Apple: These well-known brands exude energy, enthusiasm, innovation. In their marketing and advertising campaigns, they project a sense of adventure and promise thrilling experiences. These brands are what marketers call “excitement brands,” a designation that derives from the concept of “brand personality.”

Marketers have begun to shift focus away from activism for external causes and more toward the brand’s underlying purpose

One of the nation’s wealthiest metropolitan areas, Dallas is an excellent city for experiential marketing like brand activations and pop-up shops due to it's young and diverse population, thriving cultural scene, world-class venues, and many more.

The city is known for its beautiful architecture, vibrant culture and trendy nightlife, but it’s the love for experiences that makes Miami an ideal place to create engaging, memorable activations and pop-ups.

For more than 40 years, Bobbi Brown has helped customers find the products and shades that most enhance their unique, individual beauty. Working with Promobile Marketing, the brand created an activation/pop-up that combined multiple experiential marketing strategies to create a positive connection with visitors.

New York City is a hugely popular site for brand activations — but New Yorkers can be a tough crowd. Both the city and its neighborhoods are diverse, with distinctive demographic features and cultural influences. What works in one area might flop in another; some neighborhoods feature high foot traffic while others have relatively quiet sidewalks and public spaces.