Consumer Influencers Are In Love With Brand Experiences … And They Are Telling Their Friends.

These are just some of the key findings from recent research by Reach3 Insights and The Keller Advisory Group The conclusion for marketers is clear and compelling if brand experiences are not part of your marketing mix they should beBut wait there39s moreI have now dug deeper into the data and discovered that the group that is the most engaged with brand experiences is the segment that many marketers most covet amp8211 consumer influentials or what Reach3 and I have dubbed InfluenXials These are not the paid influencers with huge followings on YouTube or Instagram but everyday influencers the ones who organically share recommendations with friends and family They do so sometimes online and other times offline but either way their recommendations are highly valuedWhen it comes to brand experiences these InfluenXials areTwice as likely as others to have participated already in brand experiences 29 vs 15 for the rest of the public And those that haven39t want to with 94 of InfluenXials either having participated or wanting to participate in brand experiencesNearly half 43 quotlovequot the idea of brand experiences That39s three times the rest of the public A whopping 90 love or like the ideaIn headtohead comparisons between brand experiences versus traditional ads InfluenXials prefer experiences every time often by margins of 71 or even greater They associate brand experiences with excitement uniqueness memorability likelihood to share and emotional connectionAnd whereas the rest of the public was split evenly on which is more relevant experiences vs ads InfluenXials find brand experiences to be more relevant by a margin of 49 to 19Brand experiences win out as well in motivating brand trialamp160 50 of InfluenXials say brand experiences are more motivating vs traditional advertising when it comes to promoting trial or purchase of a brandThe importance of consumer influencers embracing brand experiences is severalfoldThey are early adopters and trend setters The fact that they are three times as likely to say they love experiences and twice as likely to have already participated suggests that other consumers will be following their lead and their participation in brand experiences will grow A groundswell is building and should be nurturedThey share and talk about what they love and they love brand experiences Asked about various attributes of brand experiences the biggest gap between influencers and others is their likelihood to share or talk about them amp8211 they are 22 points higher on this attribute This is where the power of wordofmouth kicks inWhat types of experiences do InfluenXials value most highly They can be in person experiences virtual experiences or experiences that are tied to advertising thereby making the ads more valuable Here are a few examplesPhygital physical digital experiences In the leadup to this year39s Super Bowl Pepsi gave away 10 million Pepsi Zeros to people who texted quotFREE PEPSIquot during the playoffs In our testing before it launched this performed very well Consumers told us they would want to participate in this experience share about it and that it would have a positive impact on their impression of PepsiInperson experiences should not be neglected Also during this year39s Super Bowl Lowe39s hosted a Home Team Experience an NFLthemed park where visitors could play interactive games get autographs from star players and visit the NFL shop If available to them consumers told us they would be likely to attend this experience and share about itWhat about AR experiences Back in 2020 Visa sponsored the HeroMirror amp8211 an experience that allowed fans to have an AR photo session and create unique moments with the NFL39s biggest stars In some recent testing we learned this experience still resonates and in particular is highly shareableWhat is exciting is that there is now a way for marketers to pretest their ideas for experiential brand activations before they go to market I have been working closely with Reach3 to develop the Brand Experience Predictor BXP an innovative solution to predict the performance of experiential brand activations By pretesting experiential activations brands can identify and invest in the ideas that are most likely to engage consumers create buzz and support the brandEvery marketer I know of wants to create excitement build emotional connections between their brand and consumers become part of the national conversation and yes drive brand trialsThe message from this research is clear The most influential segment of the American marketplace is on board with brand experiences And a large number of others are ready to follow suit Let39s give them what they want in order to reap the benefit of their excitement and advocacySelfpublished at MediaVillage through the wwwAvrioB2Bcom platformClick the social buttons to share this story with colleagues and friendsThe opinions expressed here are the author39s views and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet

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Consumer Influencers Are In Love With Brand Experiences … And They Are Telling Their Friends.

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Ed Keller

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Consumer Influencers Are In Love With Brand Experiences … And They Are Telling Their Friends.

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