3 Types of Experiential Consumers and How To Woo Them - Jennifer Houston

The beauty of experiential marketing is that you get to interact with consumer directly, in real life, face-to-face. Few other channels afford that luxury and it’s what makes our business exciting. There are three types of experiential consumers, whose strengths are actually also their weaknesses. Just as in the ancient Japanese martial art of Jujutsu, you can win them over by using their strengths to your marketing advantage. Here’s a look at the three types and how you can woo them.

1. The Non-Loyalist

AKA: “Oooh, samples!” or “I’ll try anything if it’s free”

Non-loyalists tend to be price sensitive, undeterred by fancy packaging or bundled upsells, and unimpressed with new product features or promises. There are thousands of products to choose from, but this consumer will always take the tried and true brand-name price leader. In fact, non-loyalists might be a bit of a misnomer, as we know they’re at least loyal to one thing—the deal. They span every kind of demographic including moms, college students, baby boomers and even some millennials and they realize that sometimes the best deal is that free sample you’re giving away.

The Challenge: With their go-to product in mind, why should they consider your more expensive, less familiar version? They’re happy to try a freebie but may have little intention of considering the actual product itself.

How To Woo Them: The good news is that non-loyalists are actually willing to approach your ambassadors and interact in order to get a sample, which is half the battle won already. Your task is to engage them in a language they’ll appreciate—the honest comparison. Non-loyalists are well versed in the market and they know the ins and outs of your competitor’s products, so talk to them about it. Show them that you’ve also considered it from their point of view and lay it all out on the table. Not only will this gain their trust, it will force them to consider your brand alongside others by more than price alone. You’re taking a great risk if you only showcase your product in a silo, especially if you’re looking to woo this consumer.

2. Underground Eye-rollers

AKA: Too Cool For School, Independent Spirit, “I liked it before it was mainstream.”

If you like what they like, they don’t like you, or, what they just liked for that matter. That’s putting it in extreme terms, but Underground Eye-rollers love being different and invest their time in all things undiscovered. They live for exclusivity and prefer their brands and products under the radar. They’re a coveted consumer because they fuel the word-of-mouth machine and take recommendations from trusted friends to heart. Underground Eye-rollers are in fact your most die-hard fans.

The Challenge: So what happens when your brand decides to reach a larger experiential audience? Now that all the Average Joes of the world are trying it out, your Underground Eye-rollers are likely to be turned off.  So how do you retain satisfaction beyond exclusivity?

How To Woo Them: These consumers care about their brands because they know and value them. They pride themselves on being the authority, so go ahead and speak directly to that sense of authority. Find ways to seek out their expertise, to get their feedback and incorporate them in the experiential activation process (or even the planning itself). Show that you still cherish the fundamental qualities that bound them to the brand in the first place, and are still offering them an exclusive expertise-based experience that Average Joe isn’t getting. It will build respect and get them to truly believe in a brand they will stick by.

3. The Tastemaker

AKA: Early Adopters, Your brother-in-law who always has a new tech gadget

Tastemakers care about the product and that’s why they’re willing to pay a premium to have it first. You might see people that overlap both Tastemakers and Underground Eye-rollers, or you may see someone start as one and turn into the other, but the main thing to note is that Tastemakers live for the thrill of being ahead of the curve. It’s a special place they love to exist in, requiring a higher risk tolerance and bigger salary.

The Challenge: How do you distinguish yourself when your product is second to market, less technologically advanced, or one of many similar options?

How To Woo Them: We all wish our rosters were filled with market-leading brands, but the truth is that oftentimes the most exciting experiential programs don’t happen with the biggest brands on the block. Smaller brands know that what they’re missing in market share needs to be made up in marketing—riskier programs, cutting edge hybrid campaigns, and groundbreaking creative concepts. It’s about blurring the lines between marketing and product, and creating a halo effect that will carry the brand upward. Tastemakers demand that you push the marketing limits.

http://www.chiefmarketer.com/promotional-marketing/3-types-of-experiential-consumers-and-how-to-woo-them-27082013

 Jennifer Houston is vice president of client services at Attack! Marketing. She can be reached at jhouston@attackmarketing.com.

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Changing Face of Activation

How strong in our view is the trend of spends moving away from TV and print to the BTL and more experiential and activation led spends?

Its directly related to people and consumer behavior as a whole, consumers are becoming more and more active in choices they make rather than passive in behavior. This doesn't mean mass media is dead and finished but it certainly means the heady days are over and the decline has set in. Activation, Mobile, social media, and a more empowered consumer are leading marketers to develop plans that give consumers the proverbial 360-degree product experience they can’t get from traditional media alone. Activation helps the brand extend Experience, Education, Engagement & Excitement to consumers. 

According to the EEMA White Paper, the Indian Events & Activation industry has grown at over 20 percent during the last two years and is expected to grow to INR 4,375 crore by 2013-14. While these numbers still far behind the mass media numbers but the growth levels are quite intense. Add to this the other experiential and active media spends and the turning tide is obvious.

Some sharp trends being observed in this shift – in terms of quality as well as the quantum of shift? Globally which are the markets leading this shift and also which are the brands (and categories) leading this? 

Key Trends:

- Digital media and technology spurring the growth of BTL media: With the growing penetration of the internet and the mobile platforms, marketers across industries and verticals are focusing on the digital media to drive brand engagement

- The key to brand activation is the marrying of digital media and experiential activation. Consumers love the combination of information at their fingertips and brands experiences around them to make a more educated brand decision.

- Increasing number of Advertising and media groups venturing into activation services - primarily through acquisitions

- Brand Activation becoming a key element of the marking communication strategy and budgets as against being a tactful media. 

South-East Asia, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Jakarta are fairly evolved markets for Activation than ours. This is mainly owing to the number of malls and the retail industry being high.

Markets such as Brazil & Mexico are doing some interesting work in the same space as well.

Going forward what do we think would be the emerging face of activation – especially with the huge onslaught of technology and digital mediums?

To me, its a no-brainer, the future of activation lies in the marrying of digital and experiential to create seamless and integrated activation campaigns. Over the past few years, consumer lifestyle has moved towards increased interaction with the digital world. This has developed in multiple ways, email, browsing, social media, e-commerce, mobile phone platforms - gradually, people are developing an alternate digital lifestyle. Not to substitute their real world existence but clearly to complement it to get more out of their lives.

This throws up a lovely little challenge for marketers as much as for marketing communication specialists. How do you communicate to and activate consumers in the real world AND the virtual world in an integrated manner? This is particularly exciting and interesting from a Brand Activation viewpoint. Consumers and internet users are increasingly showing an inclination to buying on the internet in India.

This throws up massive opportunities for brands to create digital engagement platforms with consumers and lead them to the ultimate brand engagement - SALES. Historically, brands have been approaching offline and online as silos and getting commensurate value, the future of brand engagement in the next 10 years lies in making them work in conjunction and getting a value plus!

Some sharp examples of activation leading the way for brand building?

•       SURE, the World’s No.1 antiperspirant brand by HUL wanted to get college students talking about body odour when the product was just launched in India. For this, an internship program ‘Friends of SURE’, a WOM / Peer-to-Peer marketing campaign was conceptualized across India. Students at colleges across the country were invited to join the program as SURE Trainers, who then informed peers about the benefits of using an antiperspirant vs. a regular deodorant or talc and encouraged women to participate in the program by telling them about the hygiene benefits of using SURE. Through this activation, close to 30,000 students registered on ground as SURE trainers, which is about 89% of those who attended the sessions in colleges. 

•       For Pidilite’s Dr. Fixit Pidiproof LW+, the idea was to educate dealers in over 68 cities about the product benefits, and why it is a must-use component with cement. ‘Shaadi Ka Atoot Bandhan’ a wedding ceremony event for the dealers was conceptualized in each city, where the inseparable bond between cement & the product were highlighted. The concept ensured that in times to come, consumers and trade will take home the key objective of ‘whenever one thinks of cement, LW+ is a must-use combination.

•       To create hype for Nissan Micra before its launch in India, the focus was on design and technology to bring alive the new car. For this, a wire-frame replica of Nissan Micra, designed by automobile lover Faisal Nensey, was put on display in 25 cities and over 30 malls to build intrigue for the then upcoming launch of the car. This wire-frame car was then replaced by the actual car, post its the launch in subsequent months. Through the activation, over 6000 leads were generated in six weeks and over 1000 pre-order bookings for the car were done.

•       To introduce Google to smaller towns and cities across India, we took Google to them – literally. A Google Bus was conceptualized & fabricated that went to Educational Institutes & Hot-Spots pan India to demonstrate TG the different Google services, thereby educating them about internet. The bus has touched the lives of over 12,00,000 Indians in more than 125 towns and continues to do more

•       To launch Oreo in a crowded biscuits category in India, the strategy chosen was to dwell on the father-child bond through the togetherness quotient of building relationships. An exclusive fabricated Oreo branded bus was created which was also the mascot for the campaign. The ‘Oreo Togetherness Bus’ brought alive the brand proposition by getting the kids to ‘Twist-Lick-Dunk’ with Oreo cookies through fun games & engaged over 1,00,000 people across 9 cities pan India.

When Cadbury Oreo started its distribution in smaller towns the Oreo Togetherness Bus was replicated into an Oreo Togetherness Mela using multiple Oreo Vans. The objective of activation was to make TG in the 2 & 3 tier towns feel special about Oreo coming to their city. The activity was conducted in 550 towns and cities.