Experiential marketing is the new standard of customer engagement for brands globally. Giants like Coca Cola, Pepsico, Nike have led the experiential space in terms of creativity and the ability to connect with consumers. They have put great emphasis on reaching out to their target consumers by providing experiences and engagement than the usual methods of simply printing traditional print ads, TVCs and OOH displays. In the digital world, social media has taken the precedence where the world is interconnected like never before. Information about an experience with a product or brand can spread faster than the fastest locomotive on earth. So, it has become really vital for brands to connect with consumers and shape their views on how they see the brand. In the earlier days, word of mouth was a way to get more customers buying, but that was slow and took time. Today, internet media can stir a conversation in a matter of minutes globally. This is why brands constantly come up with experiential activities around festivals and different occasions to create a positive feeling among consumers, who then share their experiences further through social media; a modern word of mouth form, by people who experience the activity in the first place. As much social media can act as a catalyst to make successful products, activities or brand message go viral, it can equally destroy a brand and its connect instantly if things go otherwise. So it is vital for brands to know few important things before they tread the experiential space. 1. Knowing the Audience A lot of experiential activities may not have got the desired result because they did an activity based on its popularity, without thinking how that would connect their brand with the audience. For an experiential activity, the marketer must think through what experience that activity will give to consumers and how that would relate to the brand. A little fun and quirky can make a campaign interesting but if gone too far, it may even as obnoxious to consumers. Knowing the sentiments of local population is important. What may be seen as cool in the west may be seen as intrusive in Asia. An activity must be sensitized as per the region it intents to target. Most important, it is the anticipation of what type of customers would interact with, how they would interact with and what connect they will get with the brand or a product must be taken into consideration. 2. Picking the Right Venue As much as it is important to know the audience, it is important to choose the right venue. A luxury car maker’s experiential activity may have zero impact in a festival like ‘Kumbh’ in India that is usually visited by the lower strata of income group. An activity that involves something to do with open theatre performance with high-power speakers may not achieve its intended goals on a rainy day. So, it is important to know what kind of audience will arrive at an event, where would they be spending most of their time at, what would be the likely environment at an event. In short, first, select the type of people you want to target for your brand or product, know the venue that receives most of your target group, know the time when a certain festival or an occasion brings targeted group under one roof and know the environment at the venue on a given date. 3. Give definitive Identity to your Brand With all the melee of choosing the venue, preparing for the campaign, budget etc., one may lose the core objective of the brand and the message that the brand wants to convey. One should always keep the message and engagement goal on top of the priority so customers feel connect instantly with the brand than just have an experience that they forget next morning. 4. Expand your Reach Experiential marketing outdoor is always limited to a small demographic but it is social media and various others forms of media that takes it beyond to many. An outdoor campaign supported by social media is always a good way of getting maximum reach out of a campaign. It also allows a brand to create an ongoing conversation that stretches before an activity to beyond it. Eventually, it is the conversation that creates most impact for any brand. 5. Stretch the Conversation An experiential campaign isn’t just about a phase or a cycle of activity. Like mentioned before, it should be an ongoing engagement and conversation. A brand can integrate aspects like instant consumer feedback so it gives a sense to people that it listens to them individually. It also nurtures accountability. A positive conversation works wonders for word-of-mouth marketing. It provides engagement that people would take it with them to their friends and family. Brands can also personalize their message and make it more human, which again will make consumers want to converse with the brand. Being social animals that we are, brands should make their experiential activity long term than a 7 day sale.
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Experiential marketing is quite evidently picking up pace and becoming the hot favorite style of marketing for brands these days. This marketing form as we all know is about conveying a live brand experience to the consumers that provides them the opportunity to interact with the brand. Brands have now understood the USP of effective marketing and building connect at the same time. They have realized that social and digital marketing in itself is not enough, experiential marketing is what is best accepted. But in such stiff competition and advancement in technology, brands overlook some basic attributes of marketing. So here at EE we pick few don’ts of experiential marketing. Make sure you have clear objectives: It is very necessary for brands to realize that being ambiguous in their approach and strategies will lead them nowhere. One should not invest in an activity just because their competitors are, but for their own establishment. A brand should have a SMART approach, meaning- specific about the approach, measurable (should be able to measure performance against objective), achievable objectives, realistic plans of action, time-bound goals. It is always fine to have multiple objectives but there should always be one main focus so that the brand does not go astray in its approach. Now why brands should pay heed to this is because there is often a great deal of wasted money and resources that go into experiential activities. Thus, it is important to have established set of objectives and not involve too many entities in one event. Experiential marketing is not a tactic but a methodology: Experiential marketing isn’t a tactic and neither it is a fad. Perhaps it’s the worst of all mistakes to think that experiential marketing is merely a tactic. There is a plan, a pre-plan and a post plan to be executed behind an initiative. Experiential marketing is structuring a feeling catering to the point how potential customers see your business and how you convert that feeling into a reliable, unswerving decision to choose you over others. Thus it should never be a hasty decision but to have a smart approach yielding better ROI. Create activities designed to meet you objectives: All experiential activities that a brand designs and plans should rightly adhere to the audience and satisfy the objectives behind the initiative. Setting objectives is fine, but doing the right things to accomplish these goals is important. If a brand wants to create awareness against women empowerment and hosts a marathon in lieu of that, it won’t solve its purpose and neither would it generate a buzz. Therefore may it be creating awareness about a social cause or celebrating a spirit, the activities should be planned accordingly. One size fits all events hold no good. Hence all events should not be planned in the same manner under the same cloud. Don’t forget to always generate the right audience: As we talk about generating experiences and building relationships, who do we do it with? Well yes the most important part of any event is certainly the audience that it manages to gather. The challenge that prevails further is to get the right audience together. Agencies should focus on delivering as many people as possible to all exhibitors and sponsors. Brands should intend to promote and focus on reasons that would ultimately compel their target audience to attract. The location also plays an important role in choosing the right audience. The activities can be planned and designed in a manner catering to a specific audience at an event. Topics to be discussed at an event should be persuading enough to trigger the emotions and arouse interest in the audience. It is also vital to show to your audience what different and special they can avail at your event and not anywhere else. Also choosing the right audience is interlinked with its previous objective of having clarity about the objectives because only then it is possible to gather the most appropriate audience for the brands initiative. Never overlook the pre and post event details: Social media trending before and after the event is as important as it is during an event. Not only social media but it is essential for brands to create buzz to gain recognition and attract their potential buyers to an extent. Mostly brands overlook on the post event aspect of their marketing initiative. It is important for brands to follow up with their customers quickly and consistently. Generally brands are not prepared as to hoe they will address leads post event. Thus there should be a plan of action to sort and manage queries. Keeping an appropriate track of the acceptance of the event is very significant. Thus pre and post event feedback mechanism should be generated by each brand. No matter it is a negative response or a positive feedback, it should never be ignored because this is what helps a brand to become better every time. These were a few key points that brands overlook while executing activities and planning events. Hence these were gentle reminders for brands and agencies to have a look at.
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Recently at EMF’s maiden event ACE 2014, event managers and agencies convened together with a spirit of eagerness and excitement to debate on the changing phases of events and entertainment industry. A session by Mr. Tarsem Mittal, Head TM Entertainment, Ms. Reema Gupta, Director Red Entertainment and Mr. Rajesh Sharma, Founder Laughing Colors shared their thoughts and views about the challenges they face as talent managers with the artists. Artist management is not anymore the concept and practice that it used to be. It has become a more grand and extravagant show in the present days. Mr. Tarsem Mittal highlighted the issues associated with managing artists considering past, present and future. Earlier most people felt that a celebrity manager is an unnecessary broker between an artist and its organizer, whereas there has been a change seen over time. People have realized and started accepting the talent that our artists have been showcasing these days. Some of the other points that Mr. Mittal mentioned were, the talent managers have become an organized agency these days and thus they have become easily accessible to official agency representatives. He further moved on to explain what an entertainment manager does and offers to its clients and what the clients expect in return of the budgets they invest. “Today event manager is the boss, who decides which artist should be performing in which event and he has the liberty to customize and conceptualize his event according to his requirements so that he can efficiently fulfill the needs of his clients, said Mr. Mittal.” Taking the subject forward, Ms. Reema Gupta elucidated on the need and importance of featuring international artists on our national platform. She clearly said it is no more the same situation of bringing a singer or a Bollywood personality to the table and attaining satisfaction. As event managers, it is needful to accommodate and bring international artists to India considering the increasing talent seen nationally and globally. There was a time when a big vacuum was generated, to be filled with something which was unique, an experience worth remembering and that when certain agencies came into existence and went all across the world to pick talent that suited the Indian industry. This urge brought a lot of artists to India, adding to the economy, showcasing unknown talent, adding value in terms of clients and thus making it more convenient for logistics. Ms. Gupta said “People have become more quality conscious and creative. Imagination plays the key role in events of present times.” She stressed on the fact that how important it has become to fulfill all verticals of the event one is hosting. But what makes it a complete event, is when both Indian and International artists can perform on one stage. “International artists coming to India might reduce in future but what will surely increase is the usage of International concepts in this country.” Speaking specifically about comedians in this industry, Mr. Rajesh Sharma threw light on the challenges faced with comedy artists. He started off by mentioning how comedians in earlier times were considered as fillers in an event, but with the advent of comedy shows on television “these fillers have become pillars, said Mr. Sharma.” They have gradually started stealing the show to a great extent. He also spoke about the demand of the comedians in terms of budgets with the increasing acceptance and love showered by their viewers. Mr. Rajesh Verma summed up the key issues; first being a contract to be signed with the artist before the event, post event report should be capitulated and analysis should be made. Another point made was to form an artist association which addresses the issues that occur, and last but the least talent managers should generate trust in their clients when asking for a quotation.
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MTV, gives selfie enthusiasts a chance to whip out their phones and strike a pose with the ‘MTV The Great Selfie Challenge’. An innovative digital show to kill boring and legitimize the unhealthy obsession with taking selfies, ‘MTV The Great Selfie Challenge’, is a unique show where five selfie enthusiasts will get the opportunity to travel across India completing challenges in the quest for the most epic selfie ever! Selfies go back to the mid 1800’s where Robert Cornelius took the first ever ‘Selfie’ only he didn’t know it was called that. Since being coined in 2002, the word ‘selfie’ and selfies themselves gained popularity in 2010 and by 2013 it was declared the ‘Word of the Year’. As people around the world are going crazy taking selfies in every pose and situation possible, MTV, is all set to pay tribute to the biggest phenomenon of our times with ‘MTV The Great Selfie Challenge’. Explaining the phenomenon further, Ekalavya Bhattacharya, Digital Head at MTV India says, “The selfie was supposed to be like every other fad that came and went; but that hasn’t happened and I personally don’t think it is something which will die any time soon. While several brands have tried to create a quirky campaign around selfies, none of them have been particularly striking. They have almost always exclusively been contests asking users to send in their photos. How boring! What’s different about this show is that – It isn’t just about an epic selfie but also the incredible, crazy and adventurous story that’s behind every great click.” MTV is looking for selfie buffs who are willing to travel thousands of kilometers, go to logic defying lengths, doing some of the craziest stuff imaginable – from cliff diving to going underwater to hanging out with ghosts – all in the bid to get that perfect selfie. All one needs to do in order to be on this show is to complete three selfie challenges that have been laid out on www.mtvindia.com/selfie. The five best entries will be selected to experience the most thrilling and adventurous selfie dares which forever will leave their mark in selfie history!
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[caption id="attachment_1982" align="alignnone" width="300"] Challenges Road Sign with dramatic clouds and sky.[/caption] Experiential marketing may have caught up with the big brands in India but a big chunk of them might refrain from taking the leap. Contrary to popular belief that the brands in India simply do not want to shift from the traditional marketing means, there are many other challenges that Indian marketers might face in executing experiential marketing campaigns as it is widely done in the west. Let’s look at some of these factors that may hamper an Indian marketer’s plan to create and execute engagement activities: Lack of qualified and skilled talent This not only applies to the IT industry, which is actually a big challenge for pretty much most industries in India, but finding the right talent is a war to be won in the country. India is a country where hundreds of thousands of students graduate each year in various streams but most of them are not employable and lack skills, as it is widely reported. Similarly, out of most MBA graduates, few are trained to exploit experiential domain in marketing and many are not even aware of this new marketing space. Creative is another attribute that is very vital to experiential marketing, which again is not easy to find. Short term visibility Many agencies in the experiential marketing domain are seen often complaining about the short term visibility of marketers. They are more inclined on hiring an agency for PR purposes but resist investing in engagement activations that are long term in terms of return and are not immediately measurable. This short sightedness makes brands refrain from giving experiential marketing a chance and benefit in the long run. Vandalism Experiential activities in the west are often done through kiosks and various installations that are outdoor. India is a country where even the dustbins and copper wirings get stolen and vandalised. Factors like these may not completely hamper an experiential activity but may limit the scope of what can be done and what not can be done. On the positive side, it encourages the marketers and agencies involved in engagement activities to be more creative. Pressure on agencies to measure The humans have a tendency to take control of every aspect of their lives including the outcome of every effort they put. This applies on ROI too. Before making any investment, we want to know the immediate benefits, which drives many marketers from taking a step forward towards initiatives that may bring huge returns in the long term. It may be hard to measure ROI with engagement activities but many brands have been successful in leveraging engagement to attract loyal following. Professional courses Today, any field requires a professional degree that could be true for experiential marketing. Although many big names in the space may have started early with a simple management degree or management experience over time, but a degree certainly helps. However in a country like India, there aren’t many professional courses offered that specialize one in experiential domain and trains students with hands-on experience. So, finding a fresh talent in the domain might be a bit of challenge at the moment, especially for agencies.
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City-to-city ridesharing app, ‘BlaBlaCar’ has entered into a partnership with travel search marketplace ixigo. The strategic partnership allows BlaBlaCar to advertise its ridesharing services to ixigoers through its website and apps (trains app, PNR status app and bus app). As a part of this partnership, when ixigoers search for travel options between any two cities in India, they will be shown information about available car ridesharing options on BlaBlaCar as well. BlaBlaCar connects people looking for a city-to-city travel solution with car-owners going in the same direction, so that they can travel together and share the cost of their journey. The service allows users to choose co-travellers in a member community with declared identities and peer-to-peer ratings. ixigo offers travel search and planning across flights, hotels, buses, trains and packages, and has recently entered the taxis and cabs segment. Over 20 million people around the world connect using BlaBlaCar’s people-powered network which is present in 18 countries. BlaBlaCar members include students travelling to see their friends and family, as well as urban professionals returning to their family on weekends. Raghav Gupta, India Country Manager, BlaBlaCar said, “India’s response to BlaBlaCar has been great. In our first 100 days, over 100,000 seats have been offered on BlaBlaCar across 700 unique cities and towns. ixigo’s market leadership on travel search & planning apps made it a natural partner for us. This partnership gives us a potential reach of over 60 million travellers across India. BlaBlaCar provides a strong alternative to people for their city-to-city travel needs especially as public transport infrastructure is insufficient.” Aloke Bajpai, co-founder & CEO, ixigo said, “We are delighted to be bringing Europe’s largest ride-sharing platform closer to Indian travellers. With this partnership we are able to offer ixigoers more choice and convenience over overcrowded buses and hard to get train seats.” BlaBlaCar is a friendly sharing community, not an on-demand or a professional driving service. Price per co-traveller is limited to a partial contribution towards the cost of the journey and does not allow the car-owner to make a profit. The platform makes a distance-based cost recommendation for every journey that is fair and transparent for both parties.
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[caption id="attachment_1968" align="alignnone" width="300"] Best practice pinned on noticeboard[/caption] There is no one size fits all solution to everything in life, similarly, there is no thumb rule when it comes to marketing. Every person is unique, every situation is unique, but is it possible to tailor a product or solution for every individual? Definitely not, this is why we need guidelines, not a set of fixed rules that can be applied universally. In the experiential marketing domain, there are many success stories like the Coca Cola ‘Open Happiness’ campaign that has set a benchmark for emotional connect with consumers through its various initiatives across the globe. Every brand cannot replicate that and should not. However, there can be best practices or in other terms strategies that every brand can leverage to create its own successful experiential campaign for its target consumers. Connect Emotionally This goes without saying, the need for experiential marketing arose for the sole purpose of emotionally building a relationship with a consumer. It is probably the most important reason why brands even explore experiential domain. It is the only factor that separates it from other marketing tactics. Even most cleverly written copy or visually striking ads cannot compare with the emotional power of human-to-human interaction, which is why business meetings are still done in person even today in a world of Skype, FaceTime and WhatsApp. Brands should be investing time in understanding their potential target audience, their overall persona and what kind of messaging can resonate amongst them. To summarize, every activity needs to address how it will impact consumers emotionally. Event Marketing Event marketing is a powerful strategy that many brands have mastered like Red Bull. Creation and fostering of long-term relationship between brands and people happens where there is interaction. An event provides an ideal platform for this to happen. Brands today are increasingly making use of events to build relationships and create positive experience of their brand with customers. Red Bull has created events like Red Bull Flugtag in India, where audiences become participants. Once consumers get involved in an activity physically, they automatically build a relationship. So, event marketing can be used by brands to achieve higher level of consumer engagement that can be turned into long-term consumer loyalty. Sponsorship Sponsorship may not be always about attracting brands to your event but it is also about co-branding for an event that can amplify a brand’s messaging. For example, Red Bull is a co-sponsor of many extreme games and sporting events that makes its flagship drink resonate with consumers as a drink meant to revitalize one when they are doing a tough task such as sports or any activity that has ‘toughness’ quotient to it. Being co-sponsor at major events not allows a brand to convey a subliminal message but gain more visibility at the same time. Social Media This medium provides a parallel platform to engage with customers as well as amplify a regional or event-centric activity to the wide pool of people on social media, who may otherwise not even come to know about an activity of a brand. Not only that, using social media a brand can connect and engage with customers before an activity, during an activity and post an activity. We live in a digital age where news breaks on social media before traditional mediums of news, so it offers a huge potential if leveraged right. Today, brands have started becoming inclusive of social media links and hashtags even in their outdoor advertisements. In 2014’s Super Bowl, most brands were seen carrying social media links and tags on their advertisements, which reflects the increasing importance of this medium for brands today. Follow-Ups Once the engagement happens, the duty of a brand doesn’t end there. The engagement isn’t an eternal proposition and agreement that just happens once. The brands needs to follow up with consumers on a regular basis, so through experiential marketing, brands ambassadors are created where they go to their friends and family and genuinely promote the product. Follow ups also make consumers feel valued by the brand and a sense of relationship is established. However, a brand must ensure that they do not over communicate with consumers that they feel spammed.
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The entertainment industry has witnessed remarkable changes in recent years, and this change has blurred the traditional distinction between agents and managers. It has become typical for managers to behave like agents and vice versa. The relationship between the artist sand their managers is usually the most important one they have. The manager ultimately becomes responsible for looking out for the artists’ best interest when dealing with agents, promoters and press. Thus both artists and their talent managers are accountable for the efficient working of each other in this industry. Here at EE, we delve deep into the issues faced by talent artist managers in the present time. Speaking to a few renowned names in this domain we make an effort to identify and analyze their issues. Listing issues from his industry experience, Mr. Tarasame Mittal, Founder TM Talent Management mentions the following: Problem: Lack of Understanding about the term Talent Management/ Artiste Management/ Celebrity Management – a lot of talent do not understand the process and need of talent management. They either see us as someone who will handle their calls or someone who will get them more business. The truth is these are all short term situations. In long term an association with artist and management can only sustain if both understands the subject matter clearly. Solution: We make sure that before signing any artist/ talent – we make them understand the entire process of Talent management we follow. This includes a presentation, detailed discussions and meeting with the entire team. We try to make them understand the importance of everything- Building Image, Strategic Promotions and Tie Ups, Liaisoning with the Industry, Sales and Service Process etc. Problem: lack of trust – with their past experiences and what they had been hearing about management generally, they don’t really believe in the honesty and transparency of the management. Solution: Honesty and Transparency is the biggest and the most important tool in any association and it’s the same in talent management. We at TMTM have a unique CRM software (1st of its kind in talent management) which gives details and updates of each query / business we discuss and conclude for a talent. The Talent is completely aware of everything what we do for him/ her. Another issue that arises at times is insecurity. This is one of the biggest problem which artists have. When we have good business for them – this problem doesn’t arise, it only happens when the business is low. Although we have not been able to find an apt solution of this as yet as it is more psychological. We try our best to have regular business for them. Mr. Jayesh Shah, Managing Director, Glow Show Entertainment looks at a broader perspective considering both Indian and International artists and relates to the following: Problem: Bollywood artists need to upscale the standard of their performances and need to improve their presentation. With the advent of technology and innumerous bright ideas being incorporated by artists worldwide, people’s expectations have increased to a much greater level. On a general note, International artists are much more punctual, their deliverables are unique and indulging with them is a value for money. Solution: Mr. Shah believes that there is a need for unique concepts to be created. Artists need to work on their packaging and incorporate variations in their performances. They need involve backdrops and be technically advanced and be aware of unique concepts being practiced in the world. Delving deeper into the scenario, Mr. Raj Bhanushali, Director Black Hat Talent Solution & Consulting lists the two problems as follows: Lack of adherence to appearance/call time of a show: There are times when we face this issue especially with some well established artists wherein they don’t adhere to the call time given to them for the show. Their attitude is rather casual & in spite of having ample time to get dressed, do their make-up etc. & be ready for the show, they are late to reach the venue. This happens even when the venue is at the same hotel where they have been put up by the client. It appears that they think it’s acceptable or shall we say their ‘birthright’ to be late. This attitude is highly unprofessional even though they are paid 100% in advance & the standard terms and conditions of the agreement followed by the event industry are totally in favour of the artists. The artist needs to understand that we cannot call them just 5 minutes before their entry as that would pose a serious risk to the timely flow and execution of the event as some of the other activities which are also a part of the event flow (for e.g. speeches by company officials) cannot be timed exactly. Hence it’s paramount that the artist in question be ready back stage at least 25- 30 minutes before their scheduled performance to ensure a smooth and stress-free execution of the event. The uncertainty and stress caused by their late appearance increases the tension faced by the event crew which is often worried that they could miss the timing of their entry which in turn would upset the rest of the event flow. Even if the artist just about makes it on time before the entry I think it’s not acceptable as it adds to the stress for the event crew due to the uncertainty on whether the artist will turn up on time for the entry. It’s anyways a high pressure, stressful job for the event crew. Unreasonable requirements on travel/stay for their entourage There are times when we realise that there are too many people traveling with the main artist(s) whereas the job could have been done smoothly even with a smaller entourage. Just because the cost for such travel/stay is to be borne by the client, the artist shouldn’t expect the client to pay for accompanying family member, additional crew members who have a minimal or no role in their performance. In some cases it would seem that the artist is travelling not for an event but on a holiday with friends which is funded by the client. The solutions to the above issues as he suggests are: I think our industry association EEMA should set some guidelines for the artists & these need to be circulated amongst the artist fraternity. It should encourage agencies to report such incidents or issues faced by them with artists & their managers. I am sure there will also be some cases whereby the artists would be facing issues with the agencies in terms of the deliverables as per the agreement not being met by the event agency. The artists should also be encouraged to report such issues. Although at times it may be difficult for EEMA to ascertain the faulty party as both sides will have their stories to tell. However the artists/agencies that exceed a certain number of complaints against them can be penalised by EEMA. The artist may be warned initially & given a chance. However if they still don’t change their ways & cause trouble for the event manager EEMA should term them as ‘Blacklisted’ & thereby discourage its members to book them. This will ensure that the artists & their managers don’t take event managers for granted. Mr. Sonu Tyagi, Director, Approach Entertainment feels logistics are a great issue while dealing with artists. He says “If an artist asks for a luxury car and a five star accommodation and somehow the client doesn’t provide it, it is when the ego issues arise.” Artists like to be treated as celebrities, and we all know it. So in circumstances like such, there arise trust and ego issues. Another problem as he quotes is at times artists are not in the favour of performing for longer duration at events which they are being asked for either by the client or the crowd. This also results in an issue at times. He says “The problem only arises during the time of the event. We do not generally face any problem while hiring artists.” Solution: I think clients should mention even the minutest of details in the contract to avoid any sort of confusion and disagreement with the artists. This would bring transparency and will be better for both the artists and the clients. These were some of the most important issues faced by talent artist managers these days. There are several other similar issues that talent managers face in this industry. To conclude, talent managers feel that their clients should generate enough trust in them and consider them fair while they quote their prices.
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