A brand activation is one of the most important marketing activities that a company can undertake in order to build awareness amongst customers. A brand activation can help increase awareness and engagement across a plethora of channels. When a new brand launches or a company launches a new product or service, no one knows about it unless you bring it to people who matter. Let’s take a look at what brand activation is and how it can help a business bring its brand, products, and services to life.
Brand activations can create and improve interactions with customers that are designed to increase their loyalty to that brand. A brand activation also helps customers connect with a brand emotionally. In some ways, brand activations can also reduce your marketing budget. By developing strong emotional connections with a product or service, customers are easier to acquire, reducing the cost per acquisition required through traditional marketing methods.
How do you activate a brand?
Perhaps exploring the ways you can activate a brand will help explain a brand activation in-depth. There are several different ways to activate a brand. These include experiential marketing, product samplings, and other marketing activities that help connect a brand with a target demographic. Here are some of the different types of ways to activate a brand.
Mega events to launch a brand
This is the best way to maximize your brand activation. These are gatherings that attract celebrities, influencers, potential partners in your industry, and a wide array of other people that will become spokespeople and champions of your brand. These types of events include speakers, VIPs, parties, prizes, and can last for days. They might include venues, booths, and other things that will maximize people’s exposure to a brand.
Guerilla marketing
This buzzword entails everything that comes to mind. Spokespeople for your brand hit the pavement with free samples, flyers, and other freebies that can put your product or service directly into the hands of people that matter. These events include organizing with a retail partner, throwing an event in a park, or other techniques that involve “pounding the pavement” to get your brand message out to the people that matter the most.
Exclusive experiences
This is one of the areas where Rooted helps new brands the most. Exclusive experiences, in some ways, are VIP-only events. The VIPs are your prospective customers. By making them focus on the experience, you convince them of your brand’s value, you give them your message, and you help your brand connect with future customers in a way that will make them remember you.
Why should you make your brand activation a rockstar experience?
First and foremost, 68% of B2B marketers and 63% of B2B marketers reported holding in-person events during the last six months of 2021. During 2022, the majority of all brands planned on hosting some sort of in-person brand activation. 75% of B2C marketers believe the in-person events are going to be key to success for their brand in 2022.
Brand activations and other experiential marketing tactics are ways to make a brand stick with customers. Even back in 2017, according to Eventbrite, 95% of event creators found it to be the most potent means of marketing available in their marketing arsenal. Other research suggests that brand activations are super important for helping customers become regular users of a product. After a brand activation, 70% of customers will continue to use a product or service after they are introduced to it.
Purchasing decisions are also often made during a brand activation. According to Event Track, 98% of brand activation participants feel inclined to use a product or service after participating in a brand activation.
What are some of the companies doing brand activations in 2022?
Some of the big brands are doing brand activations in 2022. These companies include Dunkin’ Donuts, Starbucks, Zappos, Addias, Stella Artois, and other big names that you might recognize. Rooted Creative Agency does brand activations for some of the big name companies that you have heard of, including Addias, Red Bull, Jurgens, and other big brands. Not a lot of research has been done on how much companies spend on brand activations, but it’s a huge number. In 2015, companies spent $560 billion on brand activations. That number was expected to reach $700 billion to $800 billion in 2022.
Driving home a product or service through a brand activation
If you are thinking about doing a brand activation in the future, there are several different ways a company like Rooted Creative Agency can help you come up with a way to bring your product to potential customers. We can help you:
- Put together some messaging that tells people what your brand stands for.
- Help you research and define your target marketing audience
- Do a SWOT analysis to see what types of strengths and opportunities are out there for your brand.
- Develop tactics and implement them to help you better reach your audience.
Whether you want your brand activation to surprise your audience, include some sort of interactivity, or showcase your products and services, Rooted Creative Agency can help you bring your product or service to market. Here are some guidelines to helping you plan and have a successful brand activation:
- Choose an event that respects your audience and gives them a way to connect emotionally.
- Humanize your brand by making sure that customers get to interact with people in your company, as well as your products and services.
- Listen to customer feedback. If your feedback is positive or negative, you can make your products and services better for future customers.
Are you looking to jumpstart your brand or bring a new product to market? If so, Rooted Creative Agency will help you with a successful brand activation.
