Live within your means

The interaction with your brand that consumers experience at a live event is more influential, productive and enjoyable than that offered by any other advertising platform

Our industry is awash with buzzwords and jargon. Sampling became part of field marketing and then we had the mercifully brief emergence of FAST marketing. Now it is all about experiential, brand immersion and live marketing. Yet again, we create jargon for jargon's sake, ending up with myriad clever words, few of which describe what marketers actually do. Whatever we call it, it is of the moment - when brand meets consumer and they engage, immerse and interact.

Those that do it well have realised that it is about more than just picking people from a list of pretty girls and handsome boys (there is a much better, but totally un-PC, definition). Yet that is what many so-called agencies deliver. In essence, they are nothing more than list brokers.

Vital elements need to be considered to produce an effective, engaging and measurable campaign.

Brands must use an agency capable of producing a robust programme strategy that is totally aligned with the brand strategy and product proposition, and which understands the consumer's route to market (at SMP, we call it 'awareness to advocacy').

They need to know where these consumers are (targeting and profiling are super-critical) and the relevance of the message at the point of engagement. A good experiential agency will look long and hard at the way the message is delivered, when and where consumers are most likely to consume it, and, crucially, where they will go on to buy the product.

The major grocery multiples have already decided to own (and control) the in-store live arena, using their own staff as the brand ambassadors. This is fine, as long as the brand you wish to promote does not need access to a clearly defined audience.

Here's a true story about a store launching a diet snack bar. The person chosen by the store manger to sample the product was, to say the least, clearly overweight and therefore, with respect, not the best ambassador. >Both the sampler and brand owner were not best pleased when a shopper stood with her hands on hips and said loudly, 'Not working, are they love?'

Engaging and immersing your target audience involves basic common sense. Launching Windows Vista to consumers in shopping malls was a very different challenge from launching it to business executives.

SMP Live pushed BAA into allowing us airside at key UK business airports. We then got permission to go 'live' from 5am to 10am (when business people travel short-haul) and then we asked whether we could set up the demo unit immediately below the departure screens.

Our ambassadors watched the travellers looking at the screens. When they were told to 'wait in the lounge', we asked them if they would like to watch a demo while they waited - simple and very effective.

In the same way, understanding your target consumers' psycho-graphics is critical. If you are at a music festival, a sports festival or any 'target specific' event, then your programme must reflect what your audience are there to do and are happy to be part of.

Your ambassadors should therefore be your target market, so it is essential to spend an inordinate amount of time interviewing them. They are often the only people who are ever going to talk to your consumers on a one-to-one basis.

Work in partnership with your retailers, whether bricks and mortar, clicks and mortar or both. Let them know what you are doing and, if possible, implement an added-value offer or linked point of sale in-store.

Understand also the soft values of live marketing. Your brand is right in front of your consumer, with the ability to engage and interact on a personal level.

Remember, the time that consumers spend with your brand at a live event is a more influential, productive and often a far more enjoyable experience than any other marketing platform can deliver.

Martin Shellaker is director of SMP Live

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