Neuroscience in Experiential Marketing & its Value Post-Pandemic
A piece I wrote about the importance of brand experiences, and engaging consumers' senses, in a post-pandemic world. It's somewhat dated as it was written a couple of years ago, but I think some of the lessons we learnt from the pandemic are still just as instructive today...
Background & the Role of Experiential
With the Covid-19 pandemic mercifully in gradual retreat, it’s time to take stock of how it has changed us: what will prove to be a temporary blip and what will be more enduring. It’s clear that the move towards online and digital communication has accelerated, and face-to-face encounters, whether social or professional, are now often regarded as optional. But what effect has that shift had? And how have brands, marketers and agencies acclimatised?
In this context, the desire for authentic and sensory experiences has only deepened – there’s a real appetite for our emotions to be piqued. And while experiential marketing has clearly been dealt a blow in the last few years; equally, it’s also the channel that can provide audiences with the immediacy and engagement that they crave now – more than ever.
This represents an opportunity as well as a challenge – both for brands and marketers considering experiential as part of their activity this year. Those businesses that can establish an affinity with consumers and evoke genuine feeling are sure to be rewarded with increased ardour and loyalty.
Habits and circumstance are changeable, as we’ve seen, but there are nevertheless key drivers of interest, emotion and action that can be leveraged to create various associations and connections and elicit feelings of identification.
Tapping into these is crucial if you’re aiming to cut through the noise and stand out from your competitors. This is where live experiences come in. And from our perspective, neuroscience along with it.
Our Approach
We’re used to delivering hundreds of live events a year and reaching millions of consumers through our amplification activity – and we’ve been experts in the field (often literally) for well over a decade.
We put insights, derived from neuroscience modelling, at the core of our strategy and planning. We don’t want to create spectacular branded experiences merely for their own sake – rather, we aim to deepen and entrench the relationship between a brand or business and its prospective customers.
For an experience to really hit the mark, it’s vital to consider each and every sensory touchpoint and emotional trigger: yes, advertising is often principally a visual medium, but taste, smell, sound and touch shouldn’t be overlooked, either individually or collectively.
By engaging all the senses, we can create a truly immersive experience, forge lasting memories and a durable brand legacy.
According to The Drum, “when it comes to live experiences it’s crucial that these shifts in society are reflected in how events are planned, created and executed. Brands must meet consumer’s new demands, ensuring all the different human senses are utilized to provide long-term joy and happy consumers. We have the technology and creativity to make people feel fulfilled”.
When we’re conceiving a live experience, then, we want to ensure the product can be viewed in the best possible light. But there are other – equally important – considerations: what music or sounds will the visitor hear during their time at the event; are there any other sensoty features we want to highlight and emphasises to amplify a sense of luxury, relaxation or indulgence?
Scent, in particular, has been shown to be especially evocative, prompting memories and stirring emotions – and yet it’s often ignored in favour of visually arresting work.
Is taste an appropriate sense to target? And what about touch?
All of these, in a variety of combinations, should be considered, even if they are not ultimately included in the planning.
And together, they can help provide a truly immersive experience which the brand team and event organisers are fully in control of.
After all, it’s much easier to broadcast a call to action to an audience that’s already engaged – through their senses – in a deep and primal way with a product or service.
The Opportunity
Live experiences, for some time now, have had to accommodate various restrictions – and perhaps even more enduring, audiences’ anxieties around social mixing: as The Drum has reported, manifold solutions have emerged during the pandemic, from “dancefloor boxes introduced at gigs and outdoor festivals” to “bars and indoor events experimenting with sitting down settings as a way to allow a select number of people to engage within a particular space.”
In addition, moving events online or exploring hybrid set-ups and instillations have become popular ways to keep punters safe and comply with regulations, while still offering immersive and bespoke experiences. A great example of this was Kraken’s Screamfest Halloween collaboration with the agency, Cow, which won ‘Best At-Home Experience’ at The Drum Awards for Experience.
Some virtual innovations will probably prove popular beyond the Covid. For example, “the virtual changing room – which allows consumers to try on items they’re considering purchasing through artificial intelligence (AI) and augmented reality (AR) technology – bypasses the hassle of doing it for real, and takes into consideration restrictions around limited changing room space in a post-Covid era”.
So, it’s important to learn lessons from the shift from physical to online that’s been necessitated, without giving up on in-person events; there are several ways to achieve genuine engagement, and the face-to-face and digital worlds can and should complement one another.
Ultimately, in-person events can deliver a potency that can’t really be replicated online.
As The Drum puts it, “we’re all human. You can’t get all five senses in a virtual experience. People want to connect with those they haven’t seen. It’s the experience that matters and you can’t replicate that online – at least not yet. Right now, there’s nothing that can compete”.
Simply put, “marketers should prioritise reconnecting with consumers after so long apart.”