Unlocking Engagement: How On-ground Activations Reinforce Brand Recall

On-ground activations in India have emerged as powerful marketing tools, creating immersive brand experiences directly with the target audience. This dynamic approach engages consumers on a personal level, fostering brand loyalty and recall. The success of on-ground activations hinges on the collaborative efforts of three pivotal entities: the brand, the event agency, and the media agency. The brand establishes its identity and messaging, the event agency brings creative concepts to life through seamless execution, and the media agency ensures effective promotion and coverage. This synergy among the trio is paramount, orchestrating memorable and impactful on-ground activations that resonate with Indian consumers.

Everything Experiential spoke to industry veterans about how a brand, an event agency and a media agency come together in sync to execute a brief; on-ground activations seamlessly integrate with the overall marketing and brand messaging; and the logistics and planning that are taken into account to ensure smooth execution of on-ground activations.

Executing the Brief

A natural question to ask is that when it comes to executing a brief, how is the brief handled and executed by all three parties involved in an on-ground activation- be it the brand, the event agency and the media agency? How do all three sync together to execute the brief to the T?

Shashank Srivastava, Executive Director, Maruti Suzuki India brings out the three-step process that goes behind an on-ground activation. “To execute a brief, the brand/ creative agency first highlights the brand zone, the objective of the brand and the content treatment required by the brand. The brand team organises common meetings between them, the media agency and the event agency so that there are no gaps in understanding.”

He goes on, “Based on the above brief, the media agency plans for the required engagements, engagement zones within the property and ensures that organisers agree to the deliverables. The media agency also co-ordinates with the event agency. The event agency, then, plans the setup and engagements to produce the required content.”

Srivastava chalks out the roles of the brand, the media agency and the event agency. According to him, the role of the brand is to ensure that the on-ground branding is as per the brand world, arranging for the brand to be displayed at the setup, ensuring that the content is as per brand imagery and appropriate medium is used to promote the content.

“The role of the media agency is the overall execution of the association (e.g. execution of entire LFW, IIFA or Indian Idol), and to coordinate in case multiple brands are involved. The role of the event agency is to ensure the physical set-up at the event, content production and consumer engagements,” mentions Srivastava.

Talking about the execution from the side of the media agency, Dhruv Jha, Co-head of Mediabrands Content Studio, IPG Mediabrands India points out that usually on-ground activations are meant to provide a business/customer engagement solution which is part of the brief. “We plan to address the business need and provide solutions accordingly - say in the case of a new car launch we would suggest maximising on touch and feel with test drive opportunities for the new launch. Depending on the offering, we would scan the best opportunities to reach the target group and work with the client and activation teams to detail all the activities so the objectives are best met in the desired manner.”

Focusing on the perspective of the event agency, Niyati Vora, Vice-President - Brand Activation, Wizcraft Entertainment understands that this varies from situation to situation. “Often the brief is shared by the client or the media agency on behalf of the client. The recommendations, treatment, approach and plan are developed and shared by the agency.  The final approvals are invariably determined by the client (rarely the media agency), though sometimes the process of negotiation and finalisation involves the media agency. The execution is fully done by the activation agency with supervision and reporting to the client/ agency SPOC.”

On-ground Activations Seamlessly Integrating Overall Marketing & Brand Messaging

How do the brand, the event agency and the media agency - ensure that the on-ground activation seamlessly integrates with the overall marketing and brand messaging?

Srivastava stresses the responsibilities of the three parties involved. “The brand’s responsibility is to share brand imagery, brand zones, and brand guidelines to engaged party (designers in case of LFW), ensure vehicle availability and accessories, overview content production as the setup and content promotion plan.”

He adds, “The media agency’s responsibility is to conceptualise the event (fashion show during IIFA, Swift song idealisation), and the overall execution of the association. The event agency’s responsibility is to ensure timely physical setup as per the brand’s requirement.”

Jha says, “All activations are meant for a purpose and the entire activation communication plan package is designed accordingly. Usually, it is in sync with the brand communications package - we add dimensions by adding tech innovation, influencers' involvement, and media layers to it to make the experience far-reaching, impactful and loved. We would also add customised content pieces to enhance the activations too.”

Vora, on the other hand, brings to the fore that there is no standard procedure for this. “However, for every successful campaign, the principles of collaboration, cohesive working approach, regular reporting and listening to the voices from the ground are key to success. The overall marketing and brand messaging defines the key communication pieces to ensure impact, consistency in messaging and an experiential approach to messaging is paramount.”

Logistics & Planning

What considerations should be taken into account by the 3 parties for logistics and planning to ensure smooth execution of on-ground activations?

Srivastava elucidates that the brand’s responsibility is to take care of the vehicle movement and on-time availability, social media blocking, and content plan. “The media agency is in charge of booking media space, coordination with media partners of the event, event brand management, and celebrity management (if required). The event agency’s responsibility is to keep an eye on logistics management, on-ground coordination with organisers and government agencies, manpower deployment, safety compliances, and content production.”

All ground activations are very logistics-intensive, hence Jha reveals that they get into every detail, and put it all down to the T on paper, with all actions planned as a process flow chart involving all team members and agencies. “With responsibilities and roles defined, checks and corrective interventions are introduced. In some cases, we even do sample test runs, before going whole hog.

Certain activations like sports activations need to sync with larger events of which the brand is a part and it has to provide visibility, fan engagement and hospitality during such large events, this needs to be planned to match with the larger event deliverables and needs.”

Vora feels that It is extremely important to understand ground realities: legal provisions, local mores and customs, timings that are most suitable to the audience, festival dates, timing of prayer etc. “The more one understands the local on-ground reality, the more successful and effective one can be. These factors must be weighed in when plans are put into place.”