No longer just a buzz word in the industry, experiential marketing is an excellent way to get closer to the consumer, immersing them in a fun, engaging and memorable experience.

Encouraging brand loyalty with a customer means that there is a much stronger possibility of a future sale. If you can create a positive emotion around the brand, the consumer will associate this emotion with the brand itself when making a future purchase.

We have put together some of our favourite examples of experiential marketing to encourage your creativity.

CARLSBERG

I think we will all know the slogan “Carlsberg don’t do…”? Well they only went and did it with a billboard in Brick Lane! Carlsberg produced “probably the best poster in the world”, with a working beer tap where the public could pull their own pints. As you might imagine, it didn’t take too long for the queue to grow. Like any event, there were some T&Cs and some careful planning. The campaign was limited to one pint per person and plain clothed security was on hand to keep control of the situation. Still, a clever poster and a very clever tactic in what is already a very up-and-coming area.

SAMSUNG

During the Olympics Samsung decided to create the Samsung Studio, which was part of their sponsorship deal. They took the studio to key destinations in London including St Pancras, Stratford International, Westfield Shopping Centre, Canary Wharf, Heathrow and many more. The campaign ran from July to September, showcasing their new Galaxy S3 and Galaxy Note smartphones. There were competitions on the stand but notably you could not buy anything – it was purely a brand and information exercise. There were some key stats behind the event with 35 percent of people saying that they were now more likely to consider Samsung for their next purchase. With the clever use of demonstrations, they were able to keep consumers on the stand for an average of time of almost eight minutes.

THE SIMPSONS MOVIE

Back in 2007 20th Century Fox, the creators of The Simpsons Movie, partnered with 7-Eleven to re-skin their stores with graphics to look like the famous Kwik-E-Marts. It didn’t just stop at the graphics. During the promotion they sold Krusty O’s cereal, Buzz Cola, and Squishee frozen drinks. They also released a special edition of Radioactive Man comic book and a life size cut out. Perhaps not the most up-to-date example but still a great example of experiential marketing. It is also a very clever use of the power of partnerships when putting together a marketing campaign.

NUTELLA

Who doesn’t like Nutella? In October 2013 the lucky shoppers of Westfield London had a chance to “win a day everyone will love” by using a touch screen to draw their ultimate day directly on to a two metre high virtual slice of Nutella-covered toast! It is a simple campaign but the stats were great – overall sampling of Nutella was boosted by 17 percent, and the event secured more than 300,000 Facebook fans and 15,000 competition entries.

BEN & JERRY’S

Now you know I said who doesn’t like Nutella… well, who doesn’t love Ben and Jerry’s?

In another (and my final) example of a great experiential event, the popular ice cream manufacturers took over a large part of Covent Garden in the summer as part of its Core Tour, where customers received free ice cream and listened to live music. Showcasing the power of social media, users could interact with the tour through Facebook and Twitter (or via an app on their phone), asking the vans to stop off at their offices or homes!

Clever stuff.