True influence – SpaceandPeople Report
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Carefully targeted brand experiences are increasingly being used to influence early adopters and specific fan bases.
In the column various activities were mentioned that have used St Pancras International on different event days in order to maximise fan group penetration, whether away day travelling rugby fans (Thomas Pink, Guinness) or travellers seeking romance (lastminute.com, Penguin Books).
The column enjoys a mix of these anecdotal examples and some key industry statistics and the data also points towards influencer activities. In Q1 2014 the two biggest sectors in brand experience were automotive (20% share. No great surprise to see this trend sustained) and Government/health (18% share).
Of these, whilst the automotive sector’s interest in front of mind influence is obvious – and highly accountable via test drive sign up – the Government and health campaigning is budget earned by the brand experience against the temptations of less pricey channels of communication.
Government campaigns are often only granted on a highly accountable basis. One FMBE award winner a few years ago was paid on results for a stop smoking campaign which saw them get rewarded not when someone signed a pledge to quit smoking but when they turned up at an appointment with an expert adviser in a pharmacy.
One could argue that health campaign brand experiences show marketing at its most powerful and influential – actively turning a mission from someone who came out to shop, or to travel, into someone who changed their life for the better.
