Measuring the Success of Experiential Marketing ABSTRACT: Experiential marketing has an increasingly important role to play in marketing communications strategy. This paper examines the use of experiential marketing in Ireland and how campaigns can be measured. Exploratory research was employed, with data collected using judgment sampling. Eight in-depth interviews were conducted with Irish brand or marketing managers, who have each engaged in at least one experiential marketing campaign. Findings indicate that most organisations actively measure the effectiveness of their experiential marketing campaigns. Measurement can take place at any stage of a campaign and a variety of different tools and methods are employed, however there does not appear to be any stringent policy surrounding which methods are best for differing campaigns. The research has indicated a positive outlook for experiential marketing; however its success has been pointed towards the responsibility of its agencies. Experiential marketing may require an industry wide measurement framework which will prove its effectiveness and justify its place in the marketing mix. The entire experiential marketing industry must work closer together to promote and publicise what it can offer. Research indicates that for experiential marketing to really work for a brand it should be encompassed as an overriding model for the entire communications strategy.

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Measuring the Success of Experiential Marketing INTRODUCTION: ‘Tell me and I’ll forget. Show and I may remember. Involve me and I’ll understand’. Confucius, Chinese Philosopher, 551-479 BC. Lodish et al (2007) explain that the importance of marketing is to make an impact on how a product is perceived by the target market. Experiential marketing allows an organisation to communicate their brand message across a broad range of demographics by targeting those profiles individually and creating an emotional and unique experience that brings their brand to life. Schmitt (1999) explained that as services became commoditised, experiences have become the next big step in the progression of economic value and that the next competitive battleground lies in staging experiences. While there is no universally accepted definition of experiential marketing, Young (2009, p24) suggests that it includes any ‘live interaction that uses consumers’ insights and emotions to connect them with a brand’. It is this moment of interaction that will create a lasting memory or impression on the consumer so that when faced with the decision to purchase either your product or your competitors, that consumer will remember their experience and choose it. One of the most famous experiential campaigns known today was the Pepsi Challenge, (cited by ID Live Brand Experience, 2005a), ‘it was all based on an invitation to experience the brand’, so one could say, that while some think experiential marketing is a new phenomenon, it is in fact everywhere (Schmitt, 1999) and has been for some time. Mc Cole (2004) believes that there is a lack of academic writing which reflects contemporary marketing practices; this combined with the need to educate senior marketers as to how they can innovatively connect with their consumers (ID Live Brand Experience, 2005b) suggests a need for research in this area. They further claim that the old marketing formula is not effective enough in delivering results and consumers are harder to reach and increasingly turned off by traditional marketing. They summarise that while experiential marketing appears to be an expensive way of reaching a small audience relative to the cost of TV, press or poster advertising, there is comparatively little wastage and the quality of communication is far in advance of that which is achieved by passive media. Mc Nickel (2004) argues that just as television did not replace radio, experiential marketing does not replace other media, they believe that it merely alters the way they are used. A Jack Morton (2005) study ‘opened a lot of eyes in the marketing world’ according to Lenderman (2006) when its key findings suggested that experiential marketing played a critical role in driving purchase and consideration across age, gender and ethnicity in over 70 per cent of consumers. MEASUREMENT: The measurement of experiential marketing is a topical issue with many debates around how successful it is and what impact it has on consumers. Koremans (2007) says that experiential marketing faces an uncertain future, unless agencies start placing greater emphasis on Return on Investment (ROI) measures for their clients. An Experiential Marketing Forum (EMF) and IMI International (2011) report found

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that experiential marketing was second to digital for forecasted marketing spend growth. Witthaus (2004) (cited by Williams, 2006) states the growth in experiential marketing is because it achieves measurable results by offering innovative ways for brands to communicate with customers, leading to a better ROI. Smilansky (2009) indicates that a major criticism of the experiential marketing industry is that there is a lack of suitable and consistent methods for its evaluation, so often it is measured using similar metrics to traditional marketing which are far from suitable. Mullins (2005) explains that every organisation is concerned with being effective, but the criteria for measuring success may differ from one type of organisation to another. Establishing your customers’ expectations and setting them correctly will play a big role in how experiential marketing is measured and the results analysed. Peter Scott of T-Mobile (cited by Shaw and Ivens, 2002) says that perceptions are built up by the brand, so once the level is set ‘we have to meet and exceed that expectation through the customer experience itself’. In order to understand the value of experiential marketing surely the organisation must decide what their objectives are for such a campaign. These may include raising awareness, repositioning a brand or ultimately to increase sales. Smilansky (2009) argues that such objectives cannot be effectively measured if experiential marketing is not part of the overall marketing communications strategy. They argue that there must be systems and mechanisms in place which are tailored to the experiential objectives during the planning of the campaign. They list the common experiential marketing objectives and then suggest systems and mechanisms that could measure their achievement. They recommend that each system should be tailored for individual live brand experiences. For example if the experiential objective was to increase sales in a store during the experiential live brand experience, Smilansky’s (2009) mechanism would be to ask the store manager to provide data that shows the sales for the product in the store for one month prior to the brand experience and the same data for the product during the live brand experience. Schmitt (1999) cited by Grundley (2008) identifies that the shift towards experiential marketing is because of developments in technology, which now provide a two way communication model and also because of the strength of brands today, products are no longer just functional, they provide a means to enhance customer experiences. The core functions of marketing still remain important; however, Medcalf (2004) reports that people are exposed to anything between 500 and 3000 messages every day. This illustrates the challenge faced by organisations today to stand out amongst their competition, to get the attention of their target market and then to keep it. Lenderman (2006) points out that the traditional marketing formula is rejected by experiential marketing and that an impression instead means a personal interaction between a consumer and a brand to create a memorable experience. If success was therefore measured according to experiential marketing’s unique benefits, then marketers would find that it is hugely successful in impacting large numbers of people (Smilansky, 2009). Toyota utilized a traditional survey method to measure the success of their campaign in the US in late 2003 when they launched a new brand without any mass advertising.

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Despite this, Toyota sold 99,259 cars that first year. Instead they utilised experiential marketing by targeting their exact market at youthful lifestyle events and venues such as nightclubs, with one car was parked outside each event. If customers expressed an interest in the car they were taken for a quick test drive. This created word of mouth buzz in the strategically selected niche geographical location (California) before it was rolled out across the US. An awareness survey was then conducted, the results showed that awareness was at 55 per cent nationally and 75 per cent in California. They ranked how people had heard about the new brand, at the top of this ranking was seeing it on the street or at an event (Lenderman 2006). More recently agencies across the world have been conducting their own research and developing their own mechanisms for measuring activations for their clients so that they can push measurability and drive growth and trust in experiential marketing. Research conducted by EMI (2008) shows those who measure and track attendance at events anticipate a 67 per cent increase in their marketing budget allocations and 34 per cent of respondents found event marketing gives them the highest ROI. Another report by EMI (2011) identifies five reasons why consumers choose to engage with a brand at an event, these include free giveaways, a connection to the brand/product, a visually engaging experience, an interesting product demonstration and the event location being near the consumer. Ensuring an experiential campaign offers one or more of these five reasons for engagement will therefore increase the chance of customer interest. The EMI (2008) report interestingly highlights that by mixing qualitative and quantitative metrics, marketers can more easily compare and analyse their results from various parts of the marketing mix thus promoting integration of not only the campaign itself but also of its measurement. METHODOLOGY: The researcher has adopted an interpretive research philosophy for this study. Creswell (2003) explains that this philosophy holds that individuals seek an understanding of the world in which they live and work. An exploratory research design was employed, and the data collection method utilised was in-depth interviews. Data was collected through eight in-depth interviews with Irish brand or marketing managers who have engaged in an experiential marketing campaign. This was an adequate sample size as proven in similar pieces of research which include Campbell, Bennett and Stephens (2009), Stokes and Bergin (2006) and Carr (2008). Judgement sampling was employed to select the sample for this research either through the researchers own industry network or through a direct email request for participation. Of the eight brands chosen, half are service providers and half are product brands. This equal division presented a balance in the analysis of the use of experiential marketing across a number of varied industries. While non-probability sampling is perceived as being subject to bias because it may not be representative, it is commonly used in exploratory research and in this case the researcher believes those selected respondents are representative of the target population and have provided information to answer the research objectives. FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS: Six of the eight brand managers interviewed during this research have demonstrated that they actively measure the effectiveness of their experiential marketing campaigns. Of those who do not measure its effectiveness, one manager said it is not because they

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are unaware of the methods in place to do so, but because there are ‘too many variables and it is too much hassle versus the end reward of knowing the exact percentage’. The other manager indicated that time is a lacking resource and that ‘if there was a package you could take off the shelf and use [they would] love it’. Five of those interviewed outlined that they measure and track their campaign effectiveness before, during and after the experience. One service provider manager explained the importance of measuring and tracking your numbers during a campaign, ‘if its not returning what I wanted and I can’t see it tripling in numbers by the end…I’m a firm believer in killing it…if its not going to be detrimental to the campaign’. The findings highlighted that campaign effectiveness is measured via internal research and insight teams and agencies, who conduct face to face interviews with consumers, phone and online surveys and collection video clips and sound bites. The tools are used interchangeably and there does not appear to be any stringent policy surrounding which methods are best for differing campaigns. When asked if they received confirmation from consumers as to the effectiveness of experiential marketing mediums employed, responses were mixed. They indicated that the documentation of consumer feedback varies from unstructured to highly structured processes across the eight participating brands. Only one brand explained their use of ground, walk out, random, mystery shopping and online research throughout their live brand experiences. Despite literature which states experiential marketing achieves real measurable results (Witthaus, 2004, cited by Williams, 2006), two of the product brands reported they rely solely on untracked anecdotal feedback. Over half of those interviewed confirmed their receipt of agency reports at the end of a campaign. However, one brand manager commented on the reliability of these reports commenting that ‘an agency will always have an agenda’. Those metrics actually measured are closely aligned with the set objectives, with all six brands who actively measure their campaigns effectiveness agreeing that they are interlinked. The literature identified criticism around a lack of suitable and consistent methods for the evaluation of experiential marketing (Smilansky, 2009). However, all the managers indicated they are happy with the metrics that they use. Another comparatively said that metrics are ‘constantly evolving, we’re constantly fine tuning…so that we can better reform ourselves to achieve our targets’. Where recent literature suggests that experiential marketing requires an industry wide measurement tool which will prove its effectiveness, the research findings pose the question, whether should brand managers instead, be allowed to measure their campaigns in the best way they see fit for their particular brand. Two service providers use experiential marketing to sell a story, therefore in measuring the effectiveness of their campaigns, facts and figures are not prevalent. Both of these brands commented that the ability to measure experiential marketing does not make it difficult for them to justify using it. One highlighted that they had never considered it to be a barrier; they firmly believe they can measure the effectiveness of their activity and therefore it is not an issue. In contrast, another brand manager criticised that experiential marketing was seen as ‘very fluffy and hard to track’ and as budgets and focus have tightened over the past few years all activity has to be validated, so not being able to accurately track and measure experiential

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makes it very difficult to justify its use. Another interviewee interestingly suggested that it is dependent on what exactly you are trying to do with the live brand experience and how often you are using experiential marketing to deliver a message. If experiential marketing is being used annually for brand awareness then perhaps it will work, but if a brand is looking at cost per ROI on a campaign that takes place quarterly then that’s a different agenda. This brand manager insists that the ability to justify using experiential marketing completely depends on what your objectives are. The research revealed that ‘you can never really get a scientific type scenario [in experiential marketing] where you could monitor it properly [because] you never operate in perfect markets’. The researcher has noted that brands who do actively measure, are also aware that they do not operate in a perfect market type scenario, so instead when evaluating their campaigns they allow for some degree of external factors which are out of their control.

CONCLUSION: The research has indicated a positive outlook for experiential marketing; however its success is reliant the ability to measure its effectiveness. The findings reveal that most brands are measuring the success of their experiential marketing campaigns and note that setting objectives is a crucial stage in the process. Some organisations have pursued experiential marketing on a ‘gut feeling’ and rely on anecdotal feedback, mixed with a number of other occasional measurement tools. At the other extreme, some brands already conform to strict measurement techniques and processes. It therefore appears that going forward, facing an ever changing marketing landscape, experiential marketing may require an industry wide measurement framework which will prove its effectiveness and justify its place in the marketing mix. Alternatively, if experiential marketing agencies can continue to develop their own new models and promote its effectiveness to their individual clients, then brand managers may still be able to secure additional resources. What is obvious is that during recessionary times, as marketing budgets get tighter, management must be able to see in black and white that experiential marketing does truly work. Therefore the entire experiential marketing industry must do whatever it takes to work closer together to promote and publicise all that it can offer.

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