The convergence of social media with wider digital media offers marketers reach beyond what is possible through any other media and is well reported and understood. The convergence of experiential and digital however is less well reported and even less understood.
This is being reported however by Hospitality & Catering News and we are once again following their regular reports and case studies. We say ‘once again following’ as regular readers of The Marketing Blog may be familiar with Hospitality & Catering News from our coverage of their social media crusade this year.
Maximising the reach of any campaign is essential but equally essential is the impact of the campaign. Enabling consumers to see, touch, smell, taste and hear that campaign can only be delivered by experiential marketing. Food and drink brands are therefore presented here with both an obvious sensory advantage and a unique opportunity.
The combination of physical and digital does indeed present opportunities for marketers and not just those in food and drink. Digital is able to extend a physical experience beyond the traditional boundaries through social, online and mobile communications, whilst the physical experience moves people to action through a sustained conversation that encourages brand loyalty in the most powerful way.
The series of articles in Hospitality & Catering News are from BEcause Brand Experience and each include one or more case study elements including video. The videos show the reaction or consumers demonstrating meaningful and memorable brand engagements. Brands featured utilising experiential include… Boursin – Kellogg’s – Bird’s Eye – McDonald’s – Cadbury – Milka – Pepsi – Danio’s – Bulmers and many more.
The articles are all listed below and we would recommend all as more than a worthy read and watch.
Helping consumers to fall in love with brands
Experiential marketing for FMCG brands
The seven steps to sampling heaven
Have you mastered brand experience yet?
The seven sins of sampling
The growing importance of shopper marketing
Experiential marketing for food brands – 6 tasty examples
Looking for a food and drink campaign that surprises and delights?
As always to get a real insight you need to speak with someone and we spoke with Denis Sheehan at Hospitality & Catering News to find out why they are covering what many would consider not typical B2B ‘trade’ content.
‘As a media business we of course try our best to stay informed of media and marketing trends that effect how we best communicate with our readership. The hospitality, catering and foodservice industry in many if not most instances is made up of companies that market to both B2B and B2C audiences. So we feel that watching how both audiences are being reached and engaged with effectively through media and marketing is not just important to us but equally our readership.
Experiential marketing was something we were not well versed in and we suspected that would be the same for many of our readers. So we took ourselves along to a brand experience masterclass to find out more. Held at The Mondrian Hotel in London and a free to attend event we found the two hours enlightening. In the first instance we came away with a much better understanding of experiential marketing.
Even more beneficial to attending was that we came away with ideas we then applied to our events. I would not hesitate to recommend to any marketer in our industry to get along to the next one.
We are also delighted that Google Analytics show our decision to address experiential marketing was a good call, as page views and reading time testify.’