PART II ‐ PLANNING EXPERIENTIAL BRANDING
15 E NHANCING EXPERIENTIAL BRANDING EFFECTIVENESS
In the above sections we have argued for the use of experiential branding in terms of company staged, real lived experiences as an effective method for building brand equity, through the first hand experiences with the brand obtained by attendees in a personally involving context. However, in spite of its effectiveness in terms of brand equity building with attendees, experiential branding has an inherent weakness as a marketing communications medium. This weakness lies in the limited reach of a staged event in terms of the percentage of the target group that actually participates, which is influenced by the following factors:
Place – As a staged event in most cases is confound to a physical place, a natural limitation is put on how large a share of the target group that can potentially participate, as there must exist an upper limit of how far individuals are willing to travel to attend. Hereby participants living too far away from any given event will choose not to participate, and hence not be influenced directly by the event.
In some cases however this does not apply, e.g. in the case of a company selling extremely high priced goods to a very limited target group where individual invitations and
transportation to the event is possible and economically feasible. Or in the case of staged experiences centered on online content, such as Microsoft’s “Vanishing Point” campaign for the launch of Windows Vista.
Time – Even if a potential participant is situated in the geographical area where an event is staged, numerous factors relating to that person’s family‐, social‐ and working life may determine his or her ability to participate. As most events will be one‐off or limited to a few days at a given geographical location, a person unable to participate at given day can in most cases not postpone attendance to one of the following, as the event will then be at a
different location. This is opposed to traditional advertising where increased exposure of an ad to the target group is ensured through increased frequency or extending the duration of the campaign.
Again, online centered events are not influenced in the same way as they can last for an extended period of time and the attendee will be more or less free to choose an appropriate time for participation.
Space – Most events will as mentioned be based at a geographic location and exist for a limited time. Further, some events will have an additional natural limit on the share of the target group that can participate – limited space. Events that are centered on a specific location for a specific amount of time, such as concert/festival‐like events will have a
maximum limit for how many people may be present at any given time. Such limits could be imposed by police/fire‐departments regarding safety concerns, or by the company itself in relation to the maximum number of participants able to attend the staged experience.
For online events, limitations in this regards can exist in the form of the available bandwidth for participation, e.g. an online event centered on a game requiring high speed connection to participants will need to limit the maximum number of connections to ensure a lag‐free experience.
If the number of “participants” at an event exceeds the allowed capacity and individuals hence are forced to leave or wait for extended periods of time before being admitted, the total event experience for these individuals is very likely to be affected negatively, and may elicit negative word of mouth. To avoid this situation the company should set up a pre‐event registration through which control is gained, ensuring only an appropriate number of participants at individual events.
In the optimal case the entire target group of a brand would participate in the events staged by the company, maximizing the potential brand equity building effects of the experiential branding campaign. In cases of ultra high priced products/brands with a very small target group this might be possible, however in most conceivable cases, the above described limitations may leave a significant share of the target group unaffected directly by the events staged by a company.
In the following sections we will discuss some of the initiatives that may enhance the brand equity building potential of an experiential branding campaign in terms of getting attendees and through communicating to those in the target group who did not participate in the staged events.
15.1 Leveraging experiential branding
The concept of leveraging brand equity building effects is most predominantly discussed in relation to sponsorships. In this regards it is generally accepted that sponsorship leveraging (also known as sponsorship activation) includes all initiatives a company can take to enhance the communicative effects of a given sponsorship ((Cornwell, Weeks, and Roy 2007; Kinney and McDaniel 1996)). Most examples include the use of the sponsee in other brand communications, as when the Danish energy provider DONG used the Danish national football team in their TV commercials, presumably in an attempt to transfer the values associated with the team on to the brand in the minds of the consumers. The same goes for Nutella’s use of the Danish national men’s handball team in their commercials. However, due to the inefficiencies of traditional advertising in traditional media as discussed in chapter 2, the effects of the sponsorship activation initiatives of DONG and Nutella are
questionable from a brand equity building perspective. Such advertisements in traditional media may nevertheless serve to create awareness of the sponsorship as this is not dependent on the formation of a positive attitude towards the brand, as likewise discussed in chapter 2. However, focusing on other media as base for the communication relating to a sponsorship or event may have a stronger leveraging effect in relation to building brand equity. Regarding experiential branding we will discuss alternative options for post‐event brand equity building with unparticipating members of the target group, however before this we will present potential pre‐event communication initiatives to aid in creating awareness of the events in the target group.
15.1.1 Preevent – Getting attendees
Through the use of the framework presented in section 11.1 the choice of event content will be based on elements in relation to which a significant share of target group is predispositionally involved. Further, based on the findings of Whelan and Wohlfeil (2006b) we described in chapter 9 that the key aspects of consumer motivations to participate in events are their predispositional involvement with either the event content or the brand. Given these two factors, we argue that to elicit this motivation to participate from the target group, the company merely needs to create awareness in the target group of the event as staged by the brand. In creating this awareness, the target group will, as indicated by the research referenced in section 9.2, become situationally involved with the event based on their predispositional involvement with its content. Since predispositional involvement with either the brand or the event content will be present for a significant share of the target group the company does not need to elicit positive judgments and feelings (i.e. build brand equity in relation to the event) through their communicative efforts to ensure situational involvement and motivation.
Given these factors, we argue that the overall communications objective for pre‐event marketing designated to recruit participants should be to create awareness of the company staged events in the target group. Due to the fragmentation of media and the media use of consumers, as described in section chapter 2, the creation of awareness in the entire target group may require the use of multiple media to attain a satisfying reach. However the creation of awareness in an individual through communication, requires only one or very few exposures to the message. Following this we identify the following initiatives as most appropriate for pre‐event awareness creation
• Public relations
• Traditional media
The broad reach of both public relations and the traditional media make them ideal for awareness creation in the target group. Public relation initiatives are not influenced by the same limiting factors as advertisements in traditional media, as viewers/readers generally do not view this editorial content as advertisement (Belch and Belch 2007; Harris 1997), but rather choose to view/read it on their own initiative. However, as PR initiatives are dependent on liking/acceptance of the media in order to reach the consumer, we argue that despite their inherent disadvantages, advertisements in traditional media are a necessity in assuring a broad reach.
To complement the broad‐reach initiatives, a company may try to employ “below the line” tactics to spread the word of the events, such as:
• Word of Mouth initiation
• Influencing Web 2.0 initiatives
Word of mouth based advocacy of brands and products has been widely cited as one of the most credible and influential bases of communication (Belch and Belch 2007; Gildin 2003; Ogden 2001) though it is not under the control of the company. Should a company have the possibility of communicating directly with members of their target group, e.g. through newsletters, or previous event or competition registration, an attempt can be made to initiate word of mouth through a pre‐
event, pre‐campaign, “leaking” of information to these individuals. The novelty of the information may encourage word of mouth (Keller Fay Group 2006).The potential reach of such attempts of word of mouth initiation may be limited depending on the number of contacts the company can make, and the characteristics of these individuals. However, as this approach to word of mouth initiation is virtually costless, it should not be avoided.
Similarly, if there are well established online communities relating to either the brand or the chosen event content world, the company may seek to initiate online user‐generated communication regarding the event through similar leaking of information. Potentially through hired or directly informed lead personalities in these communities in order to raise credibility. An example of such an approach can be found in Microsoft’s online event the “Vanishing point game”, described in section 13.1, where several hundred bloggers, forum moderators etc. initially received mysterious packages with clues regarding the game (and hence campaign), which kicked off online discussions worldwide4. These above mentioned tactics used to gain participants for events and hereby maximize the number of direct experiences herewith, will most likely not ensure full participation by the target group even if there are no limits on capacity and ability to participate. Hence, for events to build brand equity
4 An example of one such package can be seen here: http://laughingsquid.com/microsofts‐vanishing‐point‐
game/
with this unparticipating share of the target group, the company may try to “share” part of the experience with these individuals. In the following section we will discuss such potential initiatives.
15.1.2 Postevent Campaign activation
It is this “sharing of the experience” we argue to be analogue of sponsorship activation as described above, whereby the company should seek to build brand equity through inclusion of event‐related elements in post‐event communications.
As we have discussed in section 7.2 the building of brand equity is based on the formation of a positive brand attitude based on strong favorable and unique associations with the brand, and through experiential branding, these associations are linked to the event content. To build brand equity through post‐event activation, the company must, as for pre‐event participant acquiring activities, ensure a broad reach in the target group. However, opposed hereto the communication must create brand associations related to the event as basis for attitude formation, to build brand equity – i.e. share the experience. Due to this factor, we rule out the use of traditional media as basis for campaign activation based on the discussion of their decreasing brand equity building efficiency in chapter 2. Alternatively, the company may use the following:
• Public relations
• Word of mouth initiation
• Web 2.0 initiatives
The benefits of these three media are as described in relation to pre‐event communication, however, instead of being only awareness creation oriented, the main objective of the communication should be to share the experience. In this sense, it is the already staged event that should form the basis for the content of these initiatives.
For public relations the aim should be to deliver a description/review/story of the unfolding of the event, in order for the target group to live the experience second hand through a credible/likable medium.
For word of mouth and web 2.0 the aim should naturally be to stimulate off and on‐line
conversations regarding the participation in the events. Stimulating off‐line word of mouth could be tried through sending reminders of the events in newsletters to the participants, or by handing out real usable memorabilia at the events which the participants can use for a long time after the event.
An example of this could be in handing out sports clothing with the brand and event name on it relating to a sporting event, which may stimulate word of mouth at a later time when the clothes are worn in a similar sporting situation. Stimulating on‐line user generated conversations regarding the
event (Web 2.0) could as getting attendees pre‐event be attempted through “leaking” of information, pictures or video of the events unfolding in the weeks or months following the campaign.