Is Experiential Marketing the best response to Ad-Blockers?

The mandate for the marketers is to reach out to their target audiences in the most engaging and immersive manner.

With the rise in the number of marketing platforms, thanks to technological innovations; consumers today are bombarded with brand communication wherever they are. It has also become more real time, thanks to the use of AI and big data.

While the marketers feel happy about targeting consumers on a daily basis, the downside of this approach is that consumers are feeling stifled. Information overload, intrusive advertising, force feeding ads to consumers are some of the real issues which have forced content platforms to use ad blockers.

Use of ad-blockers is gaining ground by the day.  This in turn has forced marketers to look at other forms of marketing techniques that are effective, immersive and yet unintrusive.

The only convincing response which has come up is event marketing or experiential marketing. Now marketers are spending additional dollars on events and experiential to engage customers. Also the fact remains that people value real time experiences more than what they see.

Underlining the fact that nowadays brands are recognizing that a large number of viewers fast-forward through TV commercials, switch radio channels during ad-breaks or are even subscribing to an ad blocking service online, Amit Diwan, Marketing Consultant, Leading Fintech Firm said, “ Experiential marketing, or engagement marketing is the answer for brands to actively engage with its consumers by delivering a strong face-to-face interaction and more compelling brand engagement.  If you give an experience to a consumer that is memorable, positive or even exceptional, then that experience is what they will share as their own story of your brand to their circle.  Such stories will be heard with much more acceptance and open arms as compared to any traditional advertising.”

"It starts with what your marketing objective is and then, selecting the best channel within your budget, to deliver your business outcome. If the objective is to drive salience, I would recommend personalization of the ad to fulfill the consumer's need. Relevant communication would reduce the risk of an ad-block. However, should your objective require you to engage with consumers through an immersive brand experience, an experiential event would be the right medium,” stated Reneta Kripalani, Lead - Branded Content Strategy & Sales, News18 Digital Indian Languages.

A recent research suggests that 122 million users in India were actively using mobile browsers with built-in ad blocking. When it comes to using ad-blockers, India stands second to China, among the 17 top countries identified by the study.

“I honestly don’t feel ad-blocking should bother marketers a lot. Ad-blocking is giving birth to a new era of native advertising which means meaningful and quality content for consumers, Additionally, it’s important to understand that a brand needs to have an integrated marketing strategy which will include experiential as well. I don’t think experiential is the only answer to ad-blocking but it’s one of the measure along with a strong PR strategy, brand ethos and traditional media visibility,” said Jasleen Kaur, General Manager- Marketing & PR, Benetton India.

Ruchika Mehta, Corporate Director, Communications and Public Relations, Apeejay Surrendra Park Hotels said, "An advertisement is great to create awareness while experiential marketing can ensure to lock in the customer. Experiential marketing comes into play when a brand/product/service has been established through advertising. A good mix of the two will not only communicate strategically, but will also give due space to each tool."