Marketers should open up to the infinite power of experiential marketing: Mandar Natekar, Chief Business Officer, KidZania

The importance of experiential is gaining ground in the marketing mix. Increasingly marketers are realising the impact that experiential can create as far as brand connect is concerned.

At the recent BW Applause and everythingexperiential.com Summit, Mandar Natekar, Chief Business Officer, KidZania spoke about the growing relevance of experiential and how marketers are moving from ROI to ‘ROE’-- Return on Engagement.

Sharing the example of KidZania, which is an interactive concept that is built on the idea of real-time experiences, Natekar said, “For most marketers- their energies, budgets and attention is diverted towards digital and mass media, whereas experiential is the last mile for them. I believe that there are so many marketers out there who need to open their eyes to the infinite power of experiential marketing.”

As we all know, the biggest challenge for marketers today is dealing with short attention span of customers. Speaking about the diminishing attention span of the new day consumer Natekar said, “Even in a Jeff Bezos speech, there will be people looking at their phones, which is terrible and at the same time indicative of the market we are in. We are a distracted audience and in a very fragmented market place. In such an environment where there are a plethora of brands, all wanting to speak to the same consumer, the consumers today do not want to listen, they want to believe. Experiential marketing leads to creating immersive experiences and allows brands to tell larger stories in an engaging way.”

Speaking about the growing role of experiential in the entire marketing matrix, Natekar mentioned that it varies according to the goals and objectives of the campaign, whether it is just for lead generation, belief setting or being a part of the consumer mind space.

Natekar also explained why experiential finds an easy connect with consumers. “KidZania as a platform lends itself to experiential marketing easily. Experiential marketing allows you to plant a thought, a belief and a habit in the consumers mind in a very entertaining way so that it allows them to retain it in their memory for a longer duration,” said Natekar.