If we are to continue to sling brand fame and create work that you talk about, we’ve got to be sponges for any and everything related to our craft. That’s what Red Tuesdays are all about. In case you’ve not read our fair blog, here’s the idea: on the first Tuesday of each month, we host a speaker to educate the Square on a particular topic, in an effort to keep us abreast of the latest and best practices and to spread brainwaves throughout the agency. So far, so good.

This past Tuesday, Wagner from Beloved Experiential visited us. Not to get too off-topic, but first things first. Wagner is his name. Like Madonna or Cher or Prince. Not just anybody can pull this off–you have to be great at whatever you do, your job has to be something to write home about and you need an interesting name. So, check, check and check for our pal Wagner. By contrast, the most incredible salesguy in the world has still got to go by Bill Smith. Sad, but true.

Beloved is headquartered in Orlando and specializes in experiential marketing, which is loosely defined as an event, promotion or some other live experience that engages and interacts with the consumer. You’ve most likely seen or taken part in one of the following: product sampling, publicity stunts, wild postings, guerrilla tactics, mobile tours. These events are carried out by brand ambassadors who deliver the brand message to the consumer. Wagner’s team works with names like Coke Zero, Google, McDonald’s, Ford, P&G, Red Bull and many other blue chip brands.

Having collaborated with Beloved on street team projects over the past couple of years, we always look for ways to add experiential to the mix in our integrated campaigns. Still, Wagner’s talk opened our eyes to some new technology, new possibilities and some interesting consumer stats:

70% said participating in an experiential campaign would increase purchase consideration

80% who participated in an experiential event told their friends about it

57% said that participating in an experiential campaign led to quicker purchases

9 out of 10 said an experiential campaign made them more receptive to advertising

In a nutshell, adding an experiential component consistently accomplishes two of our favorite things quite well: it sells product, and it generates word-of-mouth. What’s not to love?

When we launched the “Hello Life” campaign for Brookwood Medical Center in 2007, we spent the first three weeks working with Beloved to seed the market with teaser materials–posting fliers, passing out stickers, t-shirts and tons of other “Hello Life” branded swag. Coupled with some traditional media used in non-traditional ways (2 second radio spots that simply said “Hello Life” and about 26 different outdoor designs), this approach built buzz and generated a good deal of press when the full Brookwood branding campaign was revealed. How often do hospital ad campaigns land on the front page of the newspaper in a major metro market? And after six months, Brookwoood Medical Center advanced to first (from fourth) in top-of-mind awareness in a crowded, competitive environment. The experiential tactics played a major role in this success.

Why? Why does experiential create such brand affinity?

Very simply, it creates an emotional connection through a sensory experience. The name should tell you enough, right? You experience the brand in living color. And that perceived one-to-one interaction increases the likelihood of establishing a strong bond with the consumer. As the Chinese proverb goes, “Tell me and I will forget. Show me and I may remember. Involve me and I will understand.”

We plan to continue to bring all kinds of experiential moves to the streets in the future (and who are we kidding, we love the P.T. Barnum-type atmosphere these things create…remind me to tell you about the elephants sometime). As far as we’re concerned, experience is required.