Brand activation is a marketing term that is often used along with terms like “guerilla marketing”, “experiential marketing” and various other marketing buzzwords. But what exactly is brand activation?
Brand activation solutions are activities that fall under the broader term of brand engagement. They are useful in creating a buzz around a new product or promoting the entire brand itself.
Brand activations are typically focused on creating a lasting impression of the product or the brand on the customer. It is often achieved using interactive installations, event activations, and experiential marketing solutions.
Essentially, brand activation is any campaign, event, or experience that enables the brand to create a deep connection with their consumers directly and to build a loyal community rallied around its product and story.
It is the science and art of driving brand engagement and customer action through brand interaction and experiences. In this blog, we take a look at some brand activation ideas for your next event but before that, let’s understand why brand activations should be used.
Table of Contents
Why use Brand-Activations?
Here are some reasons why brand activations should be used by brands:
- Brand activation solutions create an emotional bond between the customers and the product, which leads to a long-lasting impression and as a result, more engagement and brand awareness is created for the brand.
- Event activations allow a brand to add some life to its overall image. Interactive installations and interactive technology solutions can be used to create a brand image that is full of life and not dull and boring.
- It allows customers to participate in two-way communication with the brand. Direct customer feedback can be incorporated into brand activation solutions to gather data and understand how to improve the product further.
- Experiential marketing solutions are characterized by voluntary participation which sets it apart from other types of marketing. It is easy to create an emotional bond between the brand and the consumer by creating great experiences that relate to the brand.
Here are 7 brand activation ideas for your next event:
1. Create an Automated Branded Photo Mosaic Wall Using UGC!
Most people who attend events take pictures during it for various reasons like preserving memories and keeping souvenirs. A lot of those people also share those pictures on their social media.
By using an automated photo mosaic wall like Wootclub’s Social Mosaic, brands can utilize the massive amount of User Generated Content (UGC) that is created at any event. Just tell your guests to use your event’s hashtag while posting photos on social media and Social Mosaic will take care of the rest. The resulting mosaic can take the form of a brand’s logo or tagline, resulting in impactful brand activation for the product.
2. Share the brand’s story in a fun and impactful way
One of the main purposes of brand activation is to create a bond between the consumer and the brand. This can be achieved by educating the consumer about the story behind the brand. However, this should be done in a fun and impactful way in order for it to be effective.
Sharing the brand’s story in a fun and impactful way can be achieved in various ways, like creating an interactive game or experience which is based around the core history of the brand and its lore.
3. Use a Hashtag Printer
Another brand activation idea revolving around pictures and UGC is using a hashtag printer. These printers work by aggregating social media pictures posted using a branded hashtag and serve three main purposes:
- Providing the guests with a physical keepsake reminding them of the fun time they had at your event, marked with custom branding which associates the brand’s image with the said fun experience.
- Create a database of potential customers for the brand.
- Drive social media engagement for your event.
4. Fun activities and games with free goodies!
Lastly, one of the most well-proven brand activation tactics is to create a fun game or activity-based around your product and give away free goodies as part of the promotion. This type of brand activity fulfills many objectives:
- It creates a fun experience for the people participating.
- Raises brand awareness and engagement.
- Create a lasting impact of the brand on the consumer and promote the brand further by providing free goodies, which also double up as souvenirs for the guests.
5. Create fun and branded selfies using AR
Augmented Reality is an interesting technology that allows reality to be enhanced by augmenting it using technology. Tools like AR Selfie Booth can be used to create brand activations where your event’s guests can take awesome selfies with unique graphics and effects.
Brands can use the AR selfie booth to create a fun experience for the guests while creating branded content that can be shared all over the world wide web, raising brand awareness and engagement.
6. Demonstrate the making of the product
A great brand activation idea for food products is to create a demonstration or walk through over how the product is made. By inviting people to understand how the final product is created and what goes into the making of it, brands can create a personal connection and a lasting impression on the consumer.
These demonstrations can also be a fun affair where the participants get to have fun and learn something new at the same time while getting closer to the brand on a personal basis.
7. Let Your Guests Star in a Unique Photo Experience with Social 360
Social 360 is not just any ordinary photo booth. It is a modern photo booth that is designed to create unique photos and videos by using a revolving camera that stitches all the pictures together to create a 360-degree picture where your guests will be clicked from all angles.
The photo booth can be branded and utilized as a brand activation as it allows your guests to create a connection with the brand in an exciting and unique fashion.
Experiential Marketing is Mandatory in Today’s World
It’s getting harder for brands to stand out in the mind of consumers as there is massive competition across all sectors and industries. Experiential marketing allows brands to interact with their consumer directly and create an impression which is long-lasting.
It allows brands to cut through the clutter and speak to their customers directly. It is not only important for a brand to have a solid brand activation strategy but mandatory in today’s world of marketing.
