In the age of stringent competition, marketers need to focus on the needs and demands of the customers and delight them by slightly exceeding their expectations. Experiences generally tend to become the basis of people’s lives and conversations. Marketers thus try to imbibe elements that make an experience commemorating and what can be better than integrating a component of surprise. A surprise can evoke several emotions at the same time. Surprise does not require heavy investment; all it needs is some great ideas! So here are a few activities that instilled an element of surprise in an event…
CELEBRATION TIME!
Westjet is known to have always delight its customers through various surprises. Similarly, Spanair took an initiative to surprise its passengers.190 passengers travelling from Barcelona to Las Palmas on the Spanair flight at the Christmas Eve were happily surprised by the unexpected gifts they received at the luggage carousel. The agenda behind any successful experiential campaign is to emotionally connect with the customers and provide an experience that stays with them for long. So, on the Christmas Eve, when people are normally celebrating over dinners and parties in Spain, Spanair made these passengers feel at home by distributing gifts to them.
NEVER MISS A BREAKFAST…
Kellogg’s, the leading cereal producing brand served breakfast in a transit mode in India. To carry this out, Kellogg’s associated with Meru Cabs to provide breakfast meals to passengers in the cabs. 100 Meru cabs in the four metro cities were branded with Kellogg’s “Anaaj ka Naashta” campaign. A breakfast kit was placed in all cars keeping in mind the early morning travelers. These cabs were surprise cabs for the passenger. If they happen to book a cab for pick-up between 5am – 9am, and if they are allotted a breakfast cab, then a message would be sent to the consumer telling them that they will be sent a breakfast cab. Thus, offering the right thing at the right time incorporated with a surprise element proved to be a great experiential campaign for the brand.
LIPTON’S STRESS KILLER
Lipton in its Chillout surprise campaign connected to people with the help of twitter. For all those who were stressed in their lives and were venting it out on twitter, Lipton designed a campaign for them. Lipton scanned stress-filled or complaining tweets from people in Mumbai and by finding their locations, it reached out to them. The Chill Out Crew went to all the scanned locations and handed a Chill Out hamper to those people. The motive of spreading smiles and happiness was efficiently brought out through this initiative. This surprise campaign brought smiles to several faces.
FEEL CONNECTED…
Finnair surprised its on- board passengers during a flight to Delhi by dancing on the tunes of Bollywood songs to celebrate India’s Republic Day. It was seen as a brilliant move to connect with the passengers and promote the brand at the same time. This surprise dance culturally engaged the passengers who were travelling on the 26th of January. It was a great experiential campaign that left the passengers in the flight awe struck.
HEINEKEN’S CRAZY DESTINATION ROULETTE!
Travelers at the New York’s Kennedy airport became a part of the crazy destination roulette wherein they could change their flight to a more exotic destination at the push of a button. Those taking part in the adventurous campaign had to agree to drop their existing travel plans without knowing the new destination and immediately board a flight to the new place. Heineken booked hotels for these travelers and provided cash to cover expenses. It promoted the message of ‘drop everything’ and ‘go anywhere’ through this initiative. Many travelers agreed to take up the challenge and give up on their planned trips to be a part of this experiential campaign. Heineken thus engaged with several travelers providing them an unforgettable and daring experience.
