The advertising landscape is changing and Experiential is moving to the front of the queue. As brands look for ways to better engage with their audience, the Experiential option provides an opportunity for brands to interact with their consumers in a meaningful way. Experiential can include everything from co-branded multi-faceted events, social media and digital engagements to integrated and complex experiences with user-generated content.

Today, marketers are using these types of experiential activations to reach consumers beyond the traditional advertising channels. According to a special report by The Event Marketing Institute/Mosaic, experiential marketing is making such a buzz in part because of the content sharing opportunities it affords: the vast majority of attendees at live events capture content on their own devices, and 100% of those attendees share that content across their social networks. This means that Experiences continue even after the Event has ended, via User-Generated Content and amplification.

The power of the channel is evident for many advertisers, but from a production standpoint, there are still many questions and challenges to consider. Below are the six biggest challenges faced by advertisers stepping into the experiential space:

1. The Brief: Develop a brief that sets clear expectations with your agency partners and defines success metrics.  

2. Creative Development: Always ensure that the creative idea is feasible from a production standpoint, for example: if drones are included in the idea, you need to know that in many locations drones can’t be used at night.

3. Scope and Integration: Experiential campaigns are the most integrated of all productions. What does that mean? It means that you and your team need experience in video production, sound design, usage rights and social deployment in order to produce a successful event with reach.

4. Budgeting: Determining a budget for an event that’s never been done before is daunting. When you factor in how you might split the budget across all media and integration points, many advertisers are left with more questions than answers.

5. Location and Timing: Location, Location, Location. Often the location proposed for your next activation will greatly impact the creative and the timing.

6. Vendors and Agency Partners: The experiential space is vast and growing so finding the right partner for your next campaign is paramount to its success. Some experiential agencies are strategic, others execute and only some do both.

All in all, in order to succeed, advertisers need the right partners, process oversight, transparency and greater control over expenditures in experiential. To learn more about how APR can help you with your next experiential production call +1.303.759.2509