Brands that can create memorable experiences and interactions with new and existing audiences are much more likely to hold onto or win loyalty, sales and ultimately succeed. Activation events are an excellent way to create meaningful connections with your customers and allow your brand to remain in the forefront of their minds for months to come. At Pages Event Hire, we are highly experienced in activations design and brand activation equipment hire and have helped thousands of companies create unique and exciting events.
What is a Brand Activation Event?
Brand activation events are limited, exclusive and well-planned special promotional events that help a brand to quickly reach a wide audience in a memorable way. While the aim of most marketing initiatives is to build awareness and connect to an audience, brand activation refers to a specific campaign, event or product launch staging an isolated experience, with the singular purpose of elevating your brand.
They encourage customers or the public to engage with a product or to see the brand in a new way and deliver an experience that’s memorable, shareable, often unique and difficult to replicate.
Here’s our guide to brand activation and a few winning tips for creating your own memorable and successful event.
Tips for a Successful Activation Event
Make it Exclusive
Whether your event is running for a single day or a couple of weeks, make sure your audience and customers know the event has a definite start and end and use this to your advantage when promoting it.
It’s important to create the sense of urgency and the fear of missing out by letting audiences know your exclusive event can only be experienced on the given time frame.
Local media and influencers are attracted to short-term events, especially when they’re exciting and creative. You can also ask people to register for the event, if that’s appropriate, so you have an accurate headcount or even better, sell tickets for the ultimate in exclusivity.
The more exclusive the event, the more likely attendees will share it on social media. Everyone wants to be seen at the latest and greatest event or one of the lucky ones to have tried your new product or service.
Create a Human Interaction
One of the fastest ways to kick-start meaningful relationships with your target audience is through an authentic human interaction so be sure to involve real people who represent your brand.
Human interaction puts a face to your brand, which immediately makes you more relatable and trustworthy.
So, while you may think a giant billboard is a good way to draw attention to your brand, a pop-up booth run by employees or dedicated brand ambassadors, with an enticing experience, offers a much more personal interaction.
Engage the Senses
By focusing on drawing people in by appealing to their senses, keeping them in, and sending them off with a variety of experiences, you are well on your way to creating an unforgettable event and forging lasting relationships with your target customers.
Sensory experiences contribute to powerful memory recall so don’t be shy in using a mixture of elements such as music, visuals, smells and textures to produce an event that is unforgettable.
Multi-sensory experiences trigger an authentic emotional connection so employ the senses to conjure up all the feel-good emotions. This will create something positive that customers will remember about your brand.
Surprise your Audience
While your event shouldn’t stray too far from your company’s core values, it should also surprise and delight your audience.
An element of surprise is a highly effective marketing tool for any brand.
Brand activation is an opportunity to push the boundaries just a little — just make sure you plan and prepare your brand activation with your audience in mind, creating a campaign that is fun and engaging, avoiding any activity that is off-brand or inappropriate.
Whether your company launched yesterday or you have been around for a while, to survive and succeed, you need to know your target audience, build meaningful connections with them, generate engagement and give your audience a reason to be excited about your company.
If you are planning a brand activation event let the team at Pages help design & build your structural requirements. We also maintain a huge range of brand activation equipment hire to create a cohesive look that excites your customers. From sound and visual equipment to décor and styling and all your structural needs, we have everything you need to activate your brand. Contact us today or browse our range online.