Andrew Loos CHIEF EXPERIENCE OFFICER Attack! http://attackmarketing.com

A sage person told us years ago, "Experiential campaigns appeal to our rational and emotional side. They go way beyond traditional feature-benefit methodology, and open up new points of connection with customers - their senses, hearts, and if you do it just right, their souls."*

Gone are the days of brands approaching consumers within a singular platform.  Since it’s no longer enough to do “one thing” with the product communication, stimulating experiences must be constantly created in order to connect people to your brand.  But the goal is not to force this upon customers – they already thirst for this connection.  The path to one’s heart is bridged through all the senses, and it is with the senses that an effective experiential initiative must connect. 

Senses are rational processes.  They work off of past feelings, young and old, burnt deeply into your brain.  The magic that occurs when those feelings all reconnect at once is called intuition.  Intuition is experiential’s judgemental sixth sense.  It is the “instinctive knowing” that a consumer uses to tie the engaged senses together, to recall a tangible series of past experiences, creating a fluid path to the heart.  A subtle, almost unrecognizable nudge that that says, “You already love this thing, this feeling - this is just a friendly reminder.” 

To begin with, you don’t simply get a product thrown in your palm - the environment invites you in, like a large “welcome home” mat.  The most successful experiential campaigns I’ve seen or been a part of have carefully chosen their components to affect all senses.   They have been meticulously planned to make their consumers feel like a welcome guest throughout the encounter.  If the experience does not form an immediate connection, consumers may immediately disconnect themselves from your brand, and nobody wants that.  Not us, not them.

Here’s how it works when it’s firing on all cylinders: You’ve just been greeted with a smile and handed a cold can of the latest-and-greatest soda.  Parched, you crack it open (who doesn’t love the sound of a beverage can opening?) and immediately hear the bubbles rise up to the top.  The reverberation of carbonation triggers a sip of what turns out to be an intense, flavorful taste; this fusion of audio and aftertaste brings into focus the loud neon label and glacial feel of the can in your hand.  It’s at that exact moment you get a whiff of a familiar, citrus-y scent that takes you there: hanging with your friends on that neighborhood cul-de-sac on a hot, lazy, summer afternoon.  Every sense engaged; your heart and mind open.

The flavor of the soda doesn’t have to remind you of a beverage from your childhood.  It’s the feeling that we want to recapture.  It’s the grown-up who attends an animated movie without their child, or a song that recalls a college party.  It’s all about the internal logos of our past and present.

Through experiential initiatives, we can help brands get to that special place in the customer’s heart by crafting campaigns that hit them on an all-encompassing sensory level.  A live event built solely around one or two senses will lack the dynamic necessary to bring audiences to that intuitive feeling—that they’ve known your brand forever.  Your brand and their memories can merge, but only if you pay close attention to how the experience is affecting each of their senses.

Additionally, a unique and rewarding experience can take place over the course of two minutes or two seconds of a consumer’s time.    Here are some recent, noteworthy examples I’ve seen of programs paying special attention to all senses:

• Mommy brand ambassadors handing out “scratch-and-sniff” coupons to new parents outside of baby yoga classes in LA.  The scent was modeled after the ‘fresh-scent’ baby powder the brand was selling. The Moms’ recalled the amazing fragrance of their newborn child.

• A famous retailer just came out with a food truck that sold branded tacos and gave the consumer an onsite retail experience.  The delicious taste of the tacos were said to be as appealing as the vivid environment in which consumers ate them.  Plus, they offered a same-day discount for targeted retail purchases!  Brilliant.

• A drive-in movie theater pop-up where participants were invited to watch a classic film in the 2012 convertible they were promoting.  Ninety minutes in a new car watching a nostalgic movie with someone you love.  How’s that for a favorably memorable experience?

An authentic brand experience bundles all of your consumers’ senses together at once and let’s them customize it, intuitively, to their past.  And since, intuition is that upon which everybody bases at least some of their purchase decisions, we’ll continue to influence them to tap back into those incredible memories they already own.

* Brandweek - Experiential Marketing - Erik Hauser - 7/26/07

(Bio) Andrew Loos
Andrew Loos co-founded Attack! in 2001 as a way to apply his passion toward the live marketing movement that was sweeping the industry.  In his current role as CXO, Andrew has built Attack! into one of the largest experiential services, field support and event staffing companies in the country.  As a progressive force in the industry, he’s authored several articles in trade publications such as Promo Magazine and Chief Marketer, is regularly featured in Event Marketer and was recently a guest speaker at Google for ForumCon 2011.  He lives with his wife, 5-month old son and two dogs in the Mt. Washington neighborhood of Los Angeles.