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Experiential Marketing
Defined
Experiential marketing gives customers in-depth
experiences with products in order to give them enough information to make
the purchase decision.
Experiential marketing refers to actual consumer
experiences or interactions with products for the purpose of driving the
sale of that product
– i.e.
marketing
– not
merely the consumer seeing an idealized experience in a TV, print, or radio
ad. Experiential marketing is the difference between telling people about
features or benefits within the confines of the thirty-second TV spot and
letting them experience it and get their own "a-ha!" event.1
Why Experiential Marketing?
The best way to communicate to potential buyers
the
value of a product is to let them experience it.
Yin-Yang of Customer Value Creation
Creative
experiential marketing, when applied correctly, will lead to greater impact
for the consumer, increased effectiveness for the advertiser, and even cost
savings relative to traditional advertising or marketing techniques.
Case in Point
IKEA Hotels
Given the commoditized status and lack of
differentiation
of many hotel chains like Hampton Inn, Fairfield Inn, Red Roof Inn, etc.,
imagine if a particular chain partnered with IKEA to decorate their rooms
with simple, clean and comfortable bedroom furniture. This fact alone would
give that hotel chain a significant point of
differentiation. The hotel chain also gets the economic benefit of
furniture at prices that are even better than wholesale prices on generic
furniture. IKEA gets significant "consumption-experience level" exposure to
target customers at a fraction of the expense of TV ads.
Consumers get to experience IKEA furniture "in
action" which undoubtedly would give them enough first-hand experience
information to make future purchase decisions. Finally, some creative
"consumer insights research" opportunities can even be built in, such as
allowing visitors to select from among differently decorated IKEA hotel
rooms and tracking such decisions to gather which items are most popular or
even how to make IKEA's in-store bedroom sets more appealing. In summary,
both the hotel and IKEA achieve "experiential marketing" which drives
greater marketing effectiveness (i.e. hotel chain differentiates themselves
from others; IKEA lets customers actually experience their products prior to
going to a store), delivers a more impactful experience to customers, and
even reduces costs for both parties.1
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