Feature: Experiential marketing: Go live together

This summer sees the latest incarnation of Innocent’s phenomenal Village Fete, which, for two days in August, transforms part of Regent’s Park in London into a vast brand experience. This event, with its quirky sideshows and country games, has proven a popular draw for other brands as well as consumers, with over 25 partners involved in last year’s event, which was created by Sledge.

While brand partnerships are familiar with in-store promotions, they are a relatively new phenomenon in the world of experiential marketing. However, Sledge’s sales and marketing director, Ian Irving, believes there is a growing trend for creating what he calls “brand eco-systems”. “It’s happening a lot now,” he says. “Brands are able to spread the cost of the event creation by bringing in like-minded brands which, in Innocent’s case, meant talking to the ethically sound brands that suited the ethos of the village fete.”

Brands taking part in various capacities at the 2007 fete ranged from Ecover, Alpro Soya and Yorkshire Tea to drinks brands Red Stripe and Pimms No 1. “Other ways of atomising the costs can be through concessions, bars and even the creation of VIP areas to support your trade marketing needs,” Irving adds. “If the attention to detail and the entertainment is a high-enough quality, the option is there to sell tickets, which can also afford a brand the opportunity to support its chosen charities from ticket sales.”

Ecover, a producer of eco-friendly cleaning products, has embraced the possibilities of experiential marketing through agency iD, and part of its strategy was to form a partnership with Innocent. It is returning to the summer event, formerly called Fruitstock, for the third year running after last year providing recycling facilities (for all the empty smoothie bottles) as well as bike racks to encourage people to cycle.

Nicola Jordan, client services director at iD, explains: “Innocent are a brand with real personality and, like Ecover, attract a certain type of discerning customer. The Village Fete provides the perfect forum for Ecover to reach out to a consumer who is open and receptive to a lesson in how to achieve a more ecologically sound home, not to mention the many kids who love the Ecover bottle slide and washing-up-bowl ball pond, freeing mums up to engage with the Ecover brand. Ultimately, it is all about engaging with the perfect consumer, and the Innocent events deliver a high volume of consumers that fit the Ecover profile.”

Vodka brand Grey Goose has embarked on partnerships as part of its experiential strategy, managed by agency 23red, which was tasked to drive awareness of Grey Goose as a super premium vodka brand. To help position it as A-list celebrities’ drink of choice, activities have included a link-up with Soho House, the international members’ club, for one of its pre-Oscars “pop up” events which bring together celebrities and press during Academy Awards week. Soho House created a temporary version of its London and New York venues in Los Angeles, with Grey Goose branding. “It delivered a very powerful global brand platform of premium association and PR,” explains Adam Wylie, managing partner at 23red.

“All brands in the future will seek to exploit content or strategic partnerships,” he continues. “It’s not about ‘third parties’ anymore, but two entities coming together to maximise their individual strengths as brands and reach beyond the limitations of their brand to new audiences.” However, Sharon Richey, managing director of BEcause Experiential Marketing, has reservations about extending the principles of partnership marketing into brand experiences. “It’s a challenge. It’s very rare that partnerships stack up and bring benefits,” she says. “You always have a leader brand, where you have one brand that is larger and tends to overshadow the weaker brands who want to piggy-back off the larger ones.”

Although she supports partnerships in retail marketing, she believes they can dilute the message in experiential. “The brand recall is so minimal that you don’t get any real return for your effort.”

Another factor is logistical and the extra resources needed to manage multiple brands. “They can be very difficult to manage, with very different clients with different sets of objectives,” Richey explains. “There are different timelines, different budgets, even within one company. It doubles the work but not for double the return.”

Panasonic Viera

Panasonic linked up with a number of brands for an experiential marketing campaign to promote its Viera plasma TV screens in the run-up to Christmas last year. It involved a partnership with 20th Century Fox, the British Olympic Association and the Nintendo Wii.

It was based around a roadshow touring the UK’s biggest shopping centres, created by experiential and live marketing agency Closer, part of the Billington Cartmell Group. The stand was divided into four sections, each depicting a different area to engage the twin target markets of men aged 25 to 45 and families.

The partnerships were involved in three of the four sectors. The sector focusing on games linked up with Nintento Wii, giving people a chance to play using a Viera screen. Closer found that this partnership helped to attract a wider target audience than those who were just interested in the Panasonic brand and also added breadth and stand-out to the activity.

The movies sector featured a home cinema system showing full high-definition content supplied by Fox Movies.

The sports sector showcased Panasonic’s sponsorship of the Olympic Games, with tailored sports footage illustrating how the plasma screen was good for watching high-speed action.

Holmes Place and Alpro (pictured)

Alpro soya ran a major partnership programme with health club group Holmes Place, now part of the Virgin Active chain. Agency Carbon Marketing developed activity that broadened the appeal of the range of health food products into the mainstream – rather than just people who are lactose-intolerant.

Holmes Place was seen as targeting a similar, aspirational, and upwardly mobile audience aged 25 and over. With trained brand ambassadors from staffing agency Union, there were designated Alpro soya advisory areas set up in all 46 clubs offering advice on healthy lifestyles.

Promotional literature was available, including in all lockers, inviting members to pick up a free Alpro soya chiller bag from reception. The bags first contained Alpro snacking products and later Alpro soya milk, sampled along with Alpen, the breakfast muesli.

The two brands also collaborated on Wellbeing Open Days, where members could check their fitness and progress. Alpro provided additional health, nutritional and lifestyle assessments. In some clubs, an Alpro chef demonstrated the products’ versatility for cooking and smoothie making. There were also other joint events and advertising of Alpro through Holmes Place’s magazine and website.

For Holmes Place, the alliance was seen as a good way to create a value-added promotional experience that demonstrated the value of membership, while also offering opportunities to bring new members in. Louise Elstone, who was Holmes Place’s UK head of marketing at the time, said: “Alpro fitted so well with our message. It fitted nicely with the holistic communication to potential members. We’re always actively looking to add value to our membership.”