With experiential marketing accounting for a growing share of overall marketing budgets, a new survey of the key stakeholders shows that 48% of participants believe that experiential marketing is most likely to return in Q1 2022 while 24% believe it will return in Q4 2021.
The survey, which was carried out by Raw Marketing, in association with Adworld.ie also examines attitudes towards experiential marketing and the role it will play in the future.
Notwithstanding the current pandemic-related challenges facing the wider events business, the survey’s findings show that 84% of respondents believe that investment in experiential marketing will increase in the future.
Participants in the research included both agencies and brand-owners. When asked how they would define experiential marketing, most brand owners answered: “A strategy that engages the consumer creating real-life experience that will be remembered”. For agencies, the most common reply was “a strategy that engages consumers using branded experiences” gathered the most answers.
Some 73% of the respondents working in agencies feel that experiential marketing is understood and valued while 69% of brand owners felt the same.
Around 63% of brand owners say their company includes experiential marketing in their marketing mix and 21% are considering it. As for agencies, 67% of respondents declare they always or often encourage experiential marketing as part of their clients’ campaigns. Just 4% never do, according to the survey.
Both brands and agencies said that engagement with the target audience is the main driver to invest in experiential marketing.
Another key finding is the contrast between the numbers of experiential campaigns run on average before and since COVID-19. 38% of respondents said they didn’t run any experiential since the start of Covid.
Both brands and agencies rated “engagement with target audience” as the best measure for a successful experiential campaign effectivity.
The survey’s participants also revealed that the most effective way of collecting data during an experiential campaign was through Brand Ambassadors.
When asked about the main changes in their activity since the start of COVID-19 most participants highlight the high numbers of cancelled activations (82%), as well as the reduction in budgets (61%).
To view to full findings of the research on experiential marketing click HERE
