Whether you are a business owner or a marketing expert looking to reach more people with your brand’s message, products, and services, read through our innovative and fresh brand activation ideas for your next campaign.
1. Mall Activation Surprise:
Mall activation is a popular marketing tactic used to interact directly with customers in a mall setting. Choose a busy and crowded mall where you can capture the attention of large and diverse audiences.
Set up display booths, banners, and interactive elements with a digital screen and sound system. Hire sufficient staff to handle and carry off this mall activation event. Train your team members to engage visitors effectively, and represent your brand well with products and services.
If you want to attract more people, offer exclusive discounts and giveaways.
2. Leverage Emerging Trends:
Utilizing trends to promote a brand is a modern and innovative way to connect with the target market. Stay up to date on the latest and popular trends through social media, news, and industry-specific sites.
Pick a hot topic and craft captivating content to engage an audience. Ensure the chosen trend is aligned with your brand personality and target audience’s interests.
3. Encourage Customer Promotion:
One of the great ways to generate buzz about your brand is to encourage your customers to promote your brand on social media by sharing engaging posts, or through word of mouth. Offer existing clients discounts on products or services in exchange for brand promotion.
Encourage customers to post photos, videos, or reviews of your product or services on their social channels such as Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn. This way, you can boost your brand’s organic reach and bring in new business.
4. Partner with Influencers:
Influencer marketing has grown in popularity over the past few years. This study states that, from just $1.7 billion at the site’s inception in 2016, influencer marketing has grown to an estimated $16.4 billion market size in 2022. It then grew another 29% to approximately $21.1 billion in 2023, and now Influencer Marketing’s Hub predicts the market size to reach approximately $24 billion by the end of 2024.
Check where your target audience is most active, and then find an influencer whose audience aligns with your target market and that best suits your brand. Partnering with influencers can help your business break into new markets, increase the credibility of your brand, and boost customer trust.
5. Collaborate with Other Brands:
Collaborating with other brands that have massive customer bases is a great way to introduce your business to a whole new audience. Discover a non-competing brand that caters to a similar audience. Clearly outline the terms of the collaboration including responsibilities, shared benefits, and more. Develop collaborative marketing campaigns that engage both markets.
For instance – Nike and Apple collaborated in 2006 and it is still ongoing. Their initial brand partnership goals focused on combining music and exercise. The first product that followed their partnership was the Nike+iPod Sport Kit, a wireless system that connects Nike+ footwear to the iPod nano. The kit included in-shoe sensors and a receiver connected to an iPod, allowing users to track information such as time, distance, calories burned, and speed, giving a unique personalized running experience.
This partnership helped Nike to tap into Apple’s technological expertise and reach a tech-savvy audience. At the same time, Apple established a strong presence in the fitness market and strengthened its brand image as an innovative company.
6. Pop-up Events:
Pop-up events are super effective when it comes to reaching new audiences and generating buzz about your brand. Host pop-up events for a few hours or days in a physical location. Define your pop-up event goal such – be it the launch of a new product, boosting brand awareness, or generating sales. Then choose a theme that is aligned with your event goal.
Following that, choose a location with a high traffic volume such as parks, malls, corporate spaces, and such. Hosting pop-up events helps create a memorable experience for audiences, spread awareness of your brand, and attract new customers.
7. Leverage What Your Clients Enjoy:
The most effective way to raise brand awareness is to engage your customers with something they love. It will help create a memorable customer experience and establish an emotional connection with your brand.
For example, If you determine that many of your customers love outdoor activities such as hiking, cycling, and camping, it pays to collaborate with a local organizer and plan these outdoor events to create tailored experiences that resonate with them.
8. Create an App:
Creating an app to promote a brand to a diverse audience is a great idea. It lets your brand directly connect, interact, and engage with customers. With a mobile app, you can make it easy for your customers to get information about products and services.
When developing your app, make sure that it’s available on both Android and iOS. This dual-platform approach will boost your brand’s reach and maximize your potential user base.
9. Interactive VR Experience:
Leveraging VR technology can be a great way to engage your audience and demonstrate the full potential of your products. It provides a much more engaging and memorable product display experience than traditional ones.
Your audience is sure to remember your brand when you flaunt your product features through an interactive VR experience.
10. Invite Celebrities to the Event:
Celebrities can significantly amplify your event’s reach and can prove to be a worthwhile investment for your brand promotion activity. Their presence can draw a large crowd, depending on who they are and what their niche is. Most importantly, celebrities attract media attention, which gets the word out about your brand to a larger audience.
When inviting a celebrity, make sure their image, values
11. Organize a Theme Party:
Hosting a theme party can bring extra excitement to your event and make your brand stand out. Theme parties with the right decor, lighting, food, drinks, and unique offerings can truly provide an immersive experience to your audience.
People are more likely to share photos and experiences from such themed events. Ensure that your themed party is aligned with your audience’s interest and the occasion.
12. Offer Gifts:
Who doesn’t love a gift? In fact, a valuable gift is something that people always remember. Offer interesting gifts with your brand’s product or services at your event to attract attendees and generate interest in your brand.
If you reward customers with gifts, their loyalty to your brand can increase. They are more likely to become repeat customers and recommend your products or services to others.
13. Online Live Broadcasting:
Until recently, before the boom of the digital age, brands relied on TV and radio to reach out to their audience. But now with a free Facebook or Instagram account, you can go live and share your brand message and story with millions of people.
It is a great idea to run a live online event to engage directly with the audience in real-time. You connect with a global audience and expand your market reach by doing so.
14. Interactive Installation:
An interactive installation is a form of art or exhibit that encourages participation and engages audiences with a different experience. It typically involves visual or tactile elements or even physical experiences to create an immersive and engaging environment.
You can consider making various kinds of interactive installations such as large-scale multimedia displays, sensor-based artworks, interactive sculptures, and more.
15. Social Media Wall or Photo Booth:
Incorporate a social media wall at a brand promotion event. It will enhance the event’s appeal and leave lasting impressions on your visitors and customers. Also, design a photo booth using props and backgrounds and encourage guests to click pictures, take selfies, and share them on social media accounts. Both ideas will entertain and engage the participants.
16) Anniversary Celebration:
Invite your customers to celebrate your brand’s anniversary and create lifelong memories for them. This day can be a perfect time to show your loyalty to your customers and strengthen an emotional connection with them.
When you make your audience a part of such a special occasion, they are more likely to share their experience with their friends, family, and networks, ultimately boosting your brand’s visibility. In fact, your celebration reflects your success, and people believe in your brand.
Here is an actual case study
The Coca-Cola Company celebrated its 125th anniversary on May 8, 2011, by thanking people worldwide. Muhtar Kent, Chairman and CEO of The Coca-Cola Company, thanked his colleagues, customers, partners, and everyone who loves Coca-Cola. On the occasion of the anniversary, the company brought people together through music, art, and entertainment and created moments of joy for all. They offered a free sample bottle of Coca-Cola to the public.
17) Guerrilla Marketing:
Guerrilla marketing is an unconventional method used to attract people to a brand in a way that no one can imagine. This marketing approach actually helps grab attention in a crowded market, create buzz, and make the brand stand out. According to this stat, 90% of consumers find Guerrilla marketing campaigns to be memorable and attention-grabbing, compared to 30% for traditional advertising.
Here are great guerrilla marketing examples:
1.KFC Crocs:
Kentucky Fried Chicken, purveyor of world-famous fried chicken, partnered with popular footwear brand “Crocs”, maker of the world’s most delightfully comfortable shoes, to introduce spring’s most popular shoe – the Kentucky Fried Chicken x Crocs.
The Crocs featured a bold red-and-white striped pattern, mimicking KFC’s signature chicken bucket. and, The upper part of the Crocs was decorated with a fried chicken print that resembled real KFC chicken.
2. Google- Pixel Fold Billboard:
This was a highly creative marketing campaign designed to highlight the amazing features of the Google Pixel’s foldable smartphone. The campaign used large 3D illusion billboards and animations to showcase the phone’s sleek design and its immersive display features. Video footage of this show was widely shared on social media to garner more public attention.
3. Dominos Paving for Pizza:
The “Paving for Pizza” campaign was based on the genuine problem of certain customers. Due to the rough roads and gravel, the pizza was not reaching the people fresh as the cheese was stuck to the roof of the box, and the ingredients were scattered all over the box. In this case, Domino’s launched a campaign to remove potholes from surrounding streets, called “Paving for Pizza”
4. Gold Toe – NYC
“Gold Toe” is one of the largest sock brands in the world. In 2010 he dressed up famous statues in New York City in t-shirts and underwear to celebrate the launch of his new shirts and underwear. It also included the Wall Street Bull statue. Many people thought it was a prank but it was not but a promotional stunt. This guerrilla marketing activity was really strange & unique and took social media by storm.
18) Educational Workshop
A fantastic way to get your target audience excited about your brand and provide them with detailed information about your products or services is to hold an educational workshop. It is truly an amazing opportunity to connect with your people, strike up interactions, and effectively engage them during the workshop.
You can offer free samples of your product and let guests experience it first-hand, as hands-on experience is more likely to be worthwhile. Hosting an engaging workshop will not only elevate your brand’s visibility but also establish your brand as an expert in your field.
How to Plan a Brand Activation Campaign?
Brand activation is the process of raising awareness of your brand. Typically, your brand activation strategy depends on your brand identity, industry, and target demographic. Designing and delivering an effective brand activation campaign requires a clear vision and proper planning. Only then will you be able to give an outstanding experience to your desired audience and build a lasting relationship with them?
Let’s see how to plan brand activation campaigns so you can give your audience the experience of a lifetime, and make them remember your brand.
Define Your Goal: The first step is to define your brand activation goal. You have to figure out what you want to accomplish by launching a brand activation campaign, such as increasing brand awareness, attracting new customers, strengthening brand loyalty, or boosting sales or revenue.
Set clear, measurable goals to align it with your overall marketing strategy. Once you know your goals, you can start considering different brand activation campaigns.
Understand Your Audience: Your target audience plays a vital role in growing your brand. If you want to effectively activate your brand, you have to identify who your ideal customers are. For that, conduct market research and understand their preferences, behaviors, interests, and needs. Also, see who your competitors are targeting.
Set Your Campaign Budget: You don’t necessarily need a budget of millions or thousands of dollars to enjoy successful activation campaigns. But it cannot be too low, either. Understand what you really need for your campaign such as activation space, staffing, materials, technology, marketing material, etc, and plan your budget practically.
Choose Brand Activation Idea: Select a brand activation project based on your campaign goals, target audience, and budget. Make sure the activation program you chose includes engaging and immersive experiences to make your brand memorable for them.
Promote Your Campaign: Marketing your interactive campaign is a fantastic way to generate hype for the event. Promote your campaign on social media platforms to increase its reach and generate buzz before, during, and after the event.
Analyze Results and Success: Finally, assess the campaign’s performance. It is important to understand its overall impact and see if everything went according to plan. Then evaluate the effectiveness of your brand activation efforts such as engagement, sales, feedback, and more.
Conclusion
Brand activation is a promotion strategy that involves creating engaging and memorable experiences for audiences through interactive events or campaigns. They not only attract a new audience but also help maintain a bond with existing ones.
From pop-up events and mall activation surprises to theme parties and interactive VR experiences, each brand activation idea offers a unique experience to your customers.
Whether your brand is new to the market or an established one, the brand activation ideas listed in this blog will definitely create a buzz about your event and assist you in delivering an experience that captures the attention of potential customers.
Frequently asked questions
Brand activation is a brand awareness strategy used to connect and build relationships with a target audience. It usually involves interactive events, campaigns, and experiences. Brand activation aims to create memorable experiences that show the brand’s unique personality, identity, and values to the target market. In fact, interactive events allow you to create a positive & remarkable brand experience and connect audiences emotionally with your brand. One interesting thing about brand activation is that it can happen anywhere and you can even use it to introduce new features of old products or services.
The main goals of brand activation include:
- Boost brand awareness
- Drive sales and revenue
- Build trust and customer loyalty
- Enhances the brand image
- Strengthen the brand’s value proposition
- Build relationships with potential customers
Brand activation is an interactive event designed to generate interest and excitement about a specific product or service and brand. They create an interactive experience where consumers directly engage with a brand.
On the other hand, advertising campaigns are a series of promotional ads planned to promote a brand’s products or services.
Brand activation typically costs anywhere from $25,000 to $100,000. However, the cost of each brand activation depends on the size, location, and audience engagement strategies.
Some of the most common brand activation challenges include:
- Lack of clear goals and strategy
- Low budget
- Limited tools and resources
- Unclear brand message
- Lacking the ability to engage an audience.
- Ineffective measurement and evaluation.
Brand activation allows you to engage with your target audience in a great way. In fact, it makes audiences fall in love with your brand. Brand promotion campaigns engage potential customers in an interactive and memorable manner. When people attend one of your live events or experiences, they are more likely to form an emotional connection with your brand. A brand activation campaign significantly creates a buzz, captures media attention, and boosts social media shares which extends the reach of your campaign beyond immediate participants.
Brand activation initiatives include:
- Experiential marketing: Experiential marketing is all about providing a unique experience to the target audience. The primary goal of this activation campaign is to create a memorable experience that can engage customers on an emotional level.
- Guerrilla marketing: Guerrilla marketing is a surprising marketing strategy that uses unconventional interactions to promote products or services. This approach aims to craft a fun and unforgettable experience for the audience.
- Pop-up experiences: Pop-up experiences are temporary events designed to create a unique engaging customer experience. They take various forms such as pop-up shops, art installations, interactive exhibits, and more.
- In-store activations: In-store activations are a way for retailers to engage with their customers and create an immersive experience. They aim to boost brand awareness, and drive sales.
- Sponsorship campaigns: A sponsorship activation campaign is one in which a brand partners with an event, organization, or property to create a meaningful interaction with its target audience. It involves placing a brand logo on event banners, merchandise, uniforms, or digital channels.
- Location: In order to attract an audience and create a memorable experience, you need to choose a location that excites your attendees. To maximize the visibility of your program, consider choosing a high-traffic location such as a shopping mall, bustling city centers, and more.
- Timing: The timing of your campaign plays a big role in reaching as many audiences as possible. Schedule your activation program during the holidays or seasonal trends if you want to maximize your event reach and engagement.
- Budget: Budgeting helps you determine the scope, and scale of the campaign. When you have a well-planned budget, you better use the resources which ensure that your activation campaign delivers a strong return on investment.
- Interactivity: How you present your brand to your target audience is very important. When you engage people in an interactive experience, leave a stronger impression of your brand on them than with passive advertising.
- Lead Nurturing: To foster long-term relationships with potential customers and convert them into paying customers, you need to nurture leads. Your brand stays top of their minds when you provide them with personalized experiences through lead nurturing campaigns.
