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Shantanu writes for Everything Experiential
Vibgyor Brand Services recently collaborated with the make up Brand Maybelline New York for Amazon India Fashion Week Spring-Summer’16. Maybelline New York, the make-up partner for the New York Fashion Week (NYFW) was all set to bring the latest trends and beauty expertise to their Indian consumers. The five – day event was held from October 7 – 11, 2015 at NSIC Grounds, New Delhi. To create this feeling and encouraging Maybelline New York product trials, a Maybelline Lounge was set up at FDCI displaying all the range of Maybelline products. A free makeover zone was created for the fashionistas and the public. Vibgyor engaged the by giving them high brand immersive experience by offering complimentary express makeovers and nail arts by the professional Make-up artists and gave tips and tricks for color selection and product application. Photo-op zones were also set up to click pictures and were instantly uploaded on social media. A huge LFD screen was displayed showing the Maybelline visuals, models walking the runway and bytes of emcee interaction with the fashion fraternity. The whole theme of the lounge was edgy, young, vibrant and matched with the coolness quotient of the fashion fraternity at the FDCI. A chill out relaxing experience was created in the lounge and the guests were served cocktails while getting their makeovers done. A small Maybelline kiosks was also set up at the holding area near the ramp where the emcee was interacting with the models, bloggers, fashion icons, celebrities and other artists. The 4th day of the Fashion Week saw AthiyaShetty walking the ramp for the designers Rohit Gandhi and Rahul Khanna as the face of Maybelline. Vibgyor extended the brand’s reach and brand awareness through unique product trials and engagement while helping Maybelline New York connect with women by empowering them to make a statement, explore new looks and flaunt their creativity.
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The big bad world of internet today offers immense opportunities for an event planner to promote their next event. From Facebook event pages to Instagram picture updates and from real time Twitter sharing to creating a video buzz through Youtube, truly there are a variety of options available online that can be leveraged to promote an event. However, with all event planners promoting their events in the same manner it becomes rather monotonous for an attendee to differentiate between events to attend the ones to skip. What clearly can create a difference here is using offline as a more creative medium to promote events. How to do that you ask? Well we at EE, have the answers for you. Mobile Billboards- Remember in childhood, when circus and carnivals used to be promoted through megaphones on decorated rickshaws. Well, event organizers can too promote your next event by elevating the same technique up a notch. One can use cars, heavy commercial vehicles, rickshaws, motor bike rallies and also experiment with concepts of flash mob on wheels to promote an event. Not only will this cost an event planner lesser than what they would have to pay for a static billboard but mobile billboard ideas also offer you greater customization in terms of the messages one is about to send out to their prospective attendees. Hire people as volunteers- Now, this idea goes way beyond the conventional means of using people to advocate for your event. Instead, by hiring people as volunteers one can have them wear creative outfits or merchandise of your event and create live experiences on the road, parks or other public places. The main purpose here is to create an attention span for your event and when that is done people can be reminded or politely asked to come to your event. Organize offline competitions- Normally people do not get connected to an event or an idea unless and until they have some contribution in its existence. An event planner can capitalize on this ideology to organize offline competitions such as caption writing, designing layout of the event, creating decorative pieces for the event, ideas for seating arrangements etc. among the prospective attendees. Through this idea not only will your event create amble buzz but this will also make sure that the participants of these offline competitions attend your event with great curiosity. Create Pop ups and installations in empty spaces- Another interesting idea to promote your event offline is to create pop ups and installations at empty spaces such as outside colleges, public pavements, public libraries to generate interest among people. Through this strategy people would want to know more about the product you are offering and what your event is all about. You can also serve demos of your product if your event is about a product launch. Creative Flyers and Pamphlets- Most event organizers have stopped using flyers and pamphlets to promote events now simply because no one takes notice of them anymore. But without a doubt these are a handy way to dish some critical information out there to prospective attendees. Event planners can add an interesting twist to the processes of handing out flyers by simply not using paper at all. One can distribute chocolates and use wrapping paper as a flyer, one can also print out information about the event on umbrellas and hand them out, create branded shopping bags and distribute outside grocery stores as well.
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An integral factor that drives the marketing strategies for any brand today is the sole purpose of churning out the maximum profits as soon as possible. In popular culture today, even if big brands are investing into experiential initiatives, they somehow desperately seek out a measure to sell their products in the market with the initiative. In such money minded times, the Schwarzkopf Shaping Futures initiative is a guiding force to brands on how can they truly establish themselves right there in the hearts of not just their TG but across all age groups and markets. The Shaping Future philanthropy project undertaken by Schwarzkopf Professional mirrors the Indian PM’s agenda for the next 5 years of Skill India movement. As our Honourable PM Narendra Modi rightly says that our youth doesn’t want to live a life of pity, they want to live with self-respect and dignity. And for this we need to create structures and mechanisms to nurture youngsters, enabling them to find employment, to be empowered with skills that will aide them to support themselves and their families. Through this social initiative, Schwarzkopf every year gives unprivileged young adults the opportunity to learn a valuable vocation, for free, instead of a life of unfair working conditions and low wages. This philanthropy project has also been instrumental in creating numerous success stories where the young professionals post their training have gone on to run successful business units and supporting their families in different parts of the country. The way in how this initiative runs is that the candidates for this training program are pre-selected by a non-profit organisation, Plan India. Post the pre-selection, the most deserving and motivated candidates who wish to make a living as a hairdresser are finalized to be trained under the Schwarzkopf Professional team. The training classes usually last six weeks and consists of five modules: consultation, cutting, dressing, colour and form. During the course of training, students regularly meet with local salon owners that enable them to pursue careers in a near-by salon. This year Shaping Futures Initiative India, 2015 is in the 5th consecutive year and 22 young candidates who have the passion for hairdressing are participating in the training program. Interesting is to see how an international brand like Schwarzkopf has through this initiative struck the right cord with enabling development while creating experiences at the same while a majority of Indian and local brands are failing to do so. What marketers need to understand is that customers today are more smart and aware of what is happening around them. By merely launching a flashy ATL campaign with gimmicky messages or fun filled BTL activity alone the brand is not going to benefit today. In the dynamic and rapidly evolving market today brands need to earn the respect from their TG first and form a bond that goes beyond the traditional relationship of hard and sell. Through an initiative like Shaping Futures, Schwarzkopf has weaved stories around its brand ethos. Stories that are going to stay in their customers mind every time they will see the brand, stories that they will share with their friends and foes feeling proud of their association with it and isn't this an identity all brands across the world are trying to establish for themselves. Initiatives like these are the only way brands can hope to have a loyal customer base over the years.
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One of the most prominent reasons of why events fail even after investing in a lot of money is that it sees no participation from its attendees. Most events that are being organized today are no different than the election rallies where a host comes on stage, explains the occasion of the event and the curtains are rolled out again. What event planners do not understand is that most event attendees are hesitant in nature and will not become a part of your event or even thoroughly engage themselves into it, if their participation is not weaved into the overall design of the event. But what are the ways one can convert event attendees into participants? Well, we at EE reached out to event agencies and curators to ask them the same. Pradyumn Tandon, Founder and Director, The Brand Brewery says, “It is indeed very important to actually engage the audience at your events today rather than restricting their presence to that of passive listeners but how can one do that completely depends on the nature of the event one is executing.” Adding further he says, “You need to understand your TG better and give them what they want if you want them to be more involved at your event and customization is the key here. To cite an example for a high end property launch which saw attendees of different age groups ranging from kids to the elderly we had created family photobooths for families, hobby class for kids, golf sessions for men and spas for women. So it is boils down to designing the correct experience for your attendees which is dependent upon better understanding them.” Speaking on the same subject Jatin Dua, Director, Event Jockey said, “For us the process to facilitate more involvement from event attendees goes back to the initial phase of planning for the event. The buzzword here is to surprise your attendees by serving them something unseen and unheard. As an example for a ticketed event recently we had used social media to create buzz before the event by asking people to show their excitement about the event by posting selfies. Later we used the same photographs as an integral part of the event décor with some lighting effects. The audience was positively surprised with the idea and loved it.” Rishabh Panchhi, Director, Panchhi Events responds to the same question by saying, “You have to weave the element of participation by attendees within the concept of an event. As an example as a biker I was a part of this initiative of the Saheli Trust where participants had to come in pay some money and then they get a chance to enjoy a bike ride and also understand the nuances of it. Additionally there were choirs singing customized songs and the overall approach of the event was very focused on the attendees which resulted in its success.”
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India is rapidly evolving as a market today where experiential is being effectively used by brand owners and marketers. From automobiles to FMCG goods and from apparels to even fast food restaurants, the landscape of experiential is swiftly changing and more brands overtime are realizing its importance. However, the country is yet to witness a truly engaging and immersive experiential initiative from an airliner. If one would agree to look at countries like USA or UK, they will be flooded with examples of how airliners created diverse experiences for their customers during holiday seasons or even otherwise. But such examples are rarely present in the Indian context is something one is aware about. The thought is contradicted by Sangeeta Sharma, who heads the marketing for Lufthansa (International group of European airline headquartered in Germany). Sangeeta believes that experiential initiatives have always been an integral part of the marketing strategy of Lufthansa and it is in fact through these initiatives that the global airliner had managed to secure a strong foothold in the minds and hearts of its travelers. Speaking about the marketing philosophy of Lufthansa, Sangeeta says, “We at Lufthansa have always followed a 360* approach in terms of marketing. We want to constantly engage and surprise our target audiences with communication messages that keep them connected with our brand ethos. As a result, we have used ATL campaigns, Digital campaigns and also BTL initiatives to keep our audiences engaged.” The airliner has recently launched a Diwali campaign on a global scale to charm its flyers in the upcoming festive season. Conceived and seeded by Lufthansa India, the #Diwalisurprise campaign has been rolled-out simultaneously across 80 countries and expects a participation of 1 million Indians worldwide. The #Diwalisurprise campaign will give participants a chance to unite with their loved ones by registering their “wish” and getting a chance to win tickets for Lufthansa flights. The campaign offers three interesting avenues for users to participate in – Light up a heart where participants can register their wish to win a ticket for themselves and their loved ones; Illuminate a plane where a user’s wish will add light to help create a digital marvel of a Lufthansa 747-8 illuminated in Diwali lights. Once registered, users will be able to see their wishes progressively illuminating the Lufthansa 747-8 on the microsite home page. In addition to illuminating the plane, with the use of technology, users will also be able to view the ‘Wish Network,’ a live map where their wishes will light up the countries of the sender and recipient. Finally, the campaign includes a Light up a life dimension in the spirit of Diwali where the users wishes help brighten a child’s life. Every registered wish will help children in need through help alliance projects across India. Focusing on the concept behind such experiential initiatives for the brand, Sangeeta says, “Every year we roll out different kind of BTL initiatives that are in synch with the ideology of Lufthansa and one of the main ideas when we are formulating such experience driven campaigns is to offer something innovative every year for our target market.” Lufthansa last year also launched a successful advertising campaign for its brand in the country which won laurels and great admiration from its travelers. When asked about what works better for Lufthansa ATL or BTL initiatives? Sangeeta says, “Nor ATL or BTL, can survive in isolation. BTL is just a more engaging and immersive medium to reiterate what you are trying to communicate through ATL. For us our key messages t are the same but what makes them unique is the manner of storytelling. It is for the same reason that we have only one agency MRM worldwide for both our ATL and BTL campaign needs.”
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Adlabs Imagica, a project of Adlabs Entertainment Limited (AEL) is geared up to ensure its visitors are drenched in the festivities of Navrtra celebrations this year. Adlabs Imagica has decided to curate a unique experience this Navratri with live music, delicious Navratri vrat (fasting) delicacies from all over India and loads of fun. Popular duo Preeti-Pinky will be performing on October 10. Shibani Kashyap, who sang the cult favourite Sajna aa bhi ja, will perform on October 16 & 17. Both the performances will be from 7pm to 10.30pm. Imagica Captial – the buffet restaurant, will be serving Navratri vrat delicacies from all over India during the evenings from October 10 to 21. This will be in addition to the regular menu at the restaurant. Where – Adlabs Imagica, Khopoli How – Book tickets on their website http://www.adlabsimagica.com/
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Over the last decade, the world is observed to be more aware about charitable causes and issues that affect society as a whole. As a result, one can see a large number of charitable events and fundraising galas being organized on a regular basis. However, most charities, especially the ones that are just starting out, don’t have the budget to hire a party planning expert or have really smaller budgets even if they do. As a result, a charitable event which should ideally inspire and motivate people to help others ends up becoming a dud which over a period of time people start avoiding with the fear of it being too boring. But, there are always some interesting and innovative ways how you can turn things around. This time at EE, we share with you 5 innovative ideas to add color to a charity event. 1-Give it a theme Just because it is charity does not mean it has to be sad. One can do so much to spice up boring events even with smaller budgets but one needs to start that process by giving a proper theme to the event overall. With a theme in place an invitee is stimulated to put some effort into preparing himself before the event which is so much better than non-excitement to show up. As far as ideas for themes are concerned, through the theme of the charitable event one can give its attendees an idea of the cause that they are supporting. As an example- Belfast ByteNight which raises money for homeless kids in UK provides to its guests warm food, a cardboard box and plastic sheet to lie on to give them an idea of what homeless kids feel as a result, their annual event raises a bundle every year for the cause. 2-Add adventure Everyone loves adventure and in fact people sometimes are also willing to pay extravagant sums of money to just get that adrenaline rush. So why not do an adventurous event for your next fund raiser rather than just organizing a simple dinner gala. One can take all its invitee on an outdoor adventure experience and charge for high on action activities rather than asking people to actually donate the money in the name of charity. This is a charity event which can double up as a holiday for everyone and also raise money for a good cause. 3-Incorporate music and dance into it isn’t it the most fun filled way to raise money for the needy? Music and Dance are two elements that are of everyone’s interest and helps people unwind from their routine schedules. The same can be used to liven up a charity event as well. Ever imagined hosting a dance marathon for charity? It is an interesting twist to the usual marathons that one sees or participates in. Organizing a dance marathon is easy and its success is almost guaranteed. And if done correctly, this kickass idea is a sure shot to be a crowd pleaser. 4-Ask people to sell their skills One of the main reasons why people eschew charity events is that if they want to do charity they can also support a cause online or by mailing a cheque. They feel it is unnecessary to go out for an event that talks about the same thing that they already know. However you can make a charity event interesting by asking invitees to sell their services or skills on a particular day for free of cost and not pay a single penny. An organizer can get in touch with reputed doctors, serviceman, bakeries etc for a day. Give them stalls and organize a soiree where people can come in avail the services of specialists and the payments that they make against it goes to charity. Through this the money for a cause is rather earned in an engaging manner and not just given away out of petty. 5- Reverse Raffle The concept of a reverse raffle is swiftly spreading across the globe but is yet to make its mark in India yet. In a reverse raffle all potential invitees and guests get a raffle ticket and sell it back for an amount of money to avoid getting their name drawn to do something embarrassing such as dancing to an old bollywood song, or doing a chicken dance etc. This concept of a reverse raffle is a simpler and easier way to add unintentional humor and entertainment to a serious charity event. Always remember, the happier people are the more they will be willing to donate.
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In a first-of-its-kind effort to spread the spirit of football across the length of the city, Mumbai City FC players will now ride with millions of Mumbaikars, with branded bogies along the Central, Western and Harbour railway lines. With display branding across multiple trains on all three crucial lifelines of the Mumbai railway network, fans will now get to see their home team players greet them at multiple stations throughout the 2nd edition of Hero Indian Super League. The football stars will adorn 36 panels on each line, and will reach over seven million fans daily. The train branding will feature players like Nicolas Anelka, Subrata Paul, Sunil Chhetri, Ashutosh Mehta and Keegan Pereira. Mumbai City FC’s message ‘Jahaan Dhadakte Hai 2 crore Dil’ is one that resonates with every Mumbaikar who is a Mumbai City FC fan, and feel a part of the larger journey as the team battle it out for the coveted ISL trophy. On this new initiative, Team owner, Mumbai City FC, Ranbir Kapoor said, “The local train is Mumbai's lifeline. It makes the city what it is. Our club logo, in fact, features a local train and signifies the role it plays in every Mumbaikar's life. The branding of these trains is our little way of paying tribute to the railways and connecting with the lifeline of the city.” The 2nd edition of the Hero Indian Super League started on 3rd October in Chennai. Mumbai City FC will play their 2nd match against Kerala Blasters FC in Kochi on 10th October, and their first home match on 16th October at the fortress, DY Patil Stadium, Nerul, Mumbai.
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According to a research conducted by the Content Marketing Institute, 83% of marketers across the globe have agreed to be having a content marketing strategy to promote its brand and products. Meanwhile, 29.6% of respondents to Communication Advertising Marketing Foundation survey said that the most commercially important digital marketing trend for 2015 was content marketing. It is indeed a truth that as the scale, nature and formats of events around the world is diversifying; there has also emerged a massive need to promote your events through various means and mediums. Digital marketing today through copious social media website serves this purpose. However, with abundance of information already present on these platforms it is integral for an event planner to add an edge towards marketing their event today. This edge can be forming a content marketing strategy to promote your event so that it doesn’t get lost in the big, bad, disorganized and chaotic world of information on the internet. For those of you who do not know, content marketing describes the process of developing a themed exhibit, display, or presentation to promote a product, service, cause, or organization leveraging in-person engagement. Events can happen online or offline today and even though you can host only a fixed number of people at your next event however a bigger impact can be created through it by marketing it appropriately. But marketing an event today is no longer limited to floating a status update with a few photographs on the social media platforms. By forming a content marketing strategy, an event planner ensures how will an event be promoted, creates the content for it, deep dives into making it more attractive and user friendly and consistently adds on innovative touched to achieve the same impact from an event online that it would make in person to its attendees. When a brand manager organizes an event, his aim is to help, engage and inform his consumers and also build a striking relationship to ensure loyalty towards his products down the years. He uses content marketing to promote the event but what most marketers do not understand is that without a strategy in place content marketing too adds to an act of hard sell for the brand. It merely gives the consumer an idea of an event was organized as at a specific location at a specific time. The information is static and does not stimulate the curiosity of a prospective consumer to know more about the brand and the event. However, with a pre-decided, effective content marketing strategy in place, a marketer can in each time frame before and after the event track the kind of attention his experiential initiative is gaining and this can help him in making the last minute changes to his overall event, if needed any. Carefully created content on social media helps businesses spread their brand message and enables them to increase company authority in the industry. This is when content marketing has more of an effect than unsolicited sales messages. With an effective strategy in place, content marketing also enables content to be shared at the most relevant time and it needs to be written well-enough to get shared and read, this in itself can be quite a challenge though effective when it works. Updating the social media space with frequent, relevant and strategic content gives a marketers event and the brand name overall a positive impact on search rankings. Additionally, if the SEO and keyword research is done correctly then each update made about the event has a higher chance of appearing in results and being shared by people. To conclude, it can be said that formulating a strategy for content marketing has been an indispensable part of many digital marketers marketing strategy. From better SEO benefits, to brand awareness and traffic to the site, developing a strategy before you start content marketing for your event should not be avoided.
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Who says it is only brands with products to sell who use experiential as a means to engage their target audiences? In the dynamic marketing environment today even service providers and restaurants can be easily spotted constantly using varied and immersive experiences to establish connection with their target customers. Case in point, the multinational food giants like Pizza Hut, McDonalds, Hard Rock Café and Burger King. All of these food outlets are somewhere down the line competing for the same set of target audience and hence in order to race ahead each other have time n again come up thoroughly engaging experiential campaigns. So if you are wondering which food giant has an upper head in terms of experiential campaigns? Well, you are in luck as we at EE this time, deep dive into the experiential campaigns of these giants to provide you with an exclusive insight on who does experiential better? To start off McDonalds has been one of the most pro-active food brands when it comes to experiential. The fast food giant has come up with multiple experience driven campaigns across the globe. From enabling customers to play games on public billboards to promoting a no littering ideology through ‘kick the trash’ campaign and from launching an outdoor breakfast campaign in UAE to launching a Piccadilly circus campaign in London, McDonalds has constantly and consistently used experiential as an important aspect of its overall marketing strategy. Interestingly, even though the food giant invests a lot of money into the execution of these experiential campaigns, however most of them are based on similar lines of using digital as the only interactive element for most of its campaigns. Additionally, McDonalds is not widely known to tell a story with its experiential campaigns as a majority of them feature the target customers having fun with the brand rather than establishing an emotional or sentimental connection. Have a look at some of its most applauded experiential campaigns Burger King on the other hand, which stands as a direct competitor to McDonalds can be said to be weaving the aspect of storytelling into all of its experiential campaigns. Be it creating a Statue of Liberty Time Lapse moment for its customers or the Burger King Motel case where it asked foodies to cheat on its famous whooper burger and try on the newly launched chicken burger, Burger King always has a message embedded in all its experiential efforts. It recently was also awarded the coveted Cannes Lions for its ‘We are all the same inside’ campaign, where the food giant supported and advocated the agenda of LGBT rights. Clearly between Mcdonalds and Burger King the experiential efforts of the latter are more thought provoking and are likely to stay in a consumers mind for a more prolonged period of time. Moving on to the food giant which is famous for introducing the word, foodgasm in the universe, i.e. Pizza Hut. Pizza Hut as a multinational food giant has though invested in experiential but experience driven campaigns have not been a key contributor to its overall marketing agenda across the world. The brand has often come up with campaigns like engaging gamers in a retro arcade, in store activities during its ‘taste freedom’ campaign which was executed in 28 locations in the UK and others. However, the food giant mainly uses ATL as a primary technique to connect with its consumers and is yet to make a substantial effort in the experiential space. The last remembered globally successful experiential initiative run by the brand was in 2010, where Pizza Hut made its staff ‘the star of its brand’. The campaign was centered around a beautiful message and used mediums of ATL and BTL to promote itself heavily. But Pizza Hut has not been successful in coming up with a hugely successful experiential initiative anytime after that. Clearly, the brand believes that ATL is still the way to go as far as promoting the sales of the brand is concerned. Hard Rock Café on the other hand is one of the most evolving, attracting and engaging fast food giants which thrive on experiences. From organizing Comedy nights in countries to music fiestas in others and from establishing a successful souvenir line for its customers to having a special Hard Rock Café outlet in every country that the giant operates in, Hard Rock Café has been constantly involved in coming up with initiatives one after the other to make sure it has new experiences to share every time a customer walks in. Though India as a country sees less of experiential by these fast food multinationals however the Hard Rock Café outlets in the country are always on the verge of curating different experiences. Be it celebrating EMD festivals to the season of cricket, or bringing Puddle of Mud to India to coming up with India’s first ever Mojito festival, Hard Rock Café has done it all. Though there is less of innovation involved and no storytelling present. However, Hard Rock Café manages to charm its audiences better than other food giants simply on the basis of something new being served in terms of experiences to its target customers. Undoubtedly, experiential sits high for the Hard Rock Café as far as their marketing initiatives across the globe are concerned. And why wouldn’t it? Isn’t it a good experience that truly matters at the end of the day?
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