This lecture examines the relationship between branding and experiential marketing

1. Events Marketing
Week 9 - Branding and brand
experiences

2. The coming weeks
• Week 10: Marketing Evaluation and
Control
• Week 11: no lecture/seminar –
individual tutorials by appointment
• Week 12 – no postgraduate teaching
• Week 13: Case study report (due
21/1/16 at 3pm)
• Week 15: Unseen exam (date will be
released around 9/12/15)

3. Session Objectives:
Lecture:
• Present the elements of branding as a
marketing communications strategy
• Discuss the relevance of branding in the context
of events
• Explore branding through experiential
marketing/ brand activation
Seminar:
• Understanding and communicating the brand –
experiential

4. What is a Brand?
‘Brands are promises which set up customer
expectations. Successful brands deliver on
their promises, by meeting or exceeding
expectations, consistently.’
Fill (2011:141)
Watch this video (ca 2:45 mins.)

5. Definitions of a Brand
Author Definition
Alexander (1960)
American Marketing
Association
‘A name, term, sign, symbol or design, or a combination of
them, intended to identify the goods or services of one seller
or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of
competitors’.
Assael (1990) ‘…name, symbol, packaging and service reputation’.
Schmitt (1999)
‘a rich source of sensory, affective and cognitive associations
that result in memorable and rewarding brand experiences’.
Riezebos (2003)
‘…every sign that is capable of distinguishing the goods or
services of a company and that can have a certain meaning
for consumers both in material and in immaterial terms’.
Keller (2008)
‘…something that has actually created a certain amount of
awareness, reputation, prominence…in the marketplace’.
Source: Fill (2011)

6. Some “disconcerting facts” about
brands (based on Bullmore 2003, cited in Sherrington 2003: 69-70)
• Products are owned by companies, brands
are owned by people
• The image of a brand is a subjective thing
• A global brand is therefore a contradiction
• A brand is difficult to control
• Brands are organic entities
• Although the brand is a company’s most
valuable asset, it is near impossible to
measure that value

7. What is a Brand?
• 3 main components of a brand:
1. Brand elements
2. What the brand stands for
3. Associations one has with the brand
• Brand elements
A name, Logo & Symbols, Packaging, Slogan
• Expectations
• Perceptions (regardless of the purchase)
• Lasting impressions
• Value

8. What is a Brand?
• What does the brand stand for?
– Perceptions (regardless of the purchase)
– Perception of value
– Reputation (lasting impressions – positive or
negative)
– History (heritage)
• Associations that one has of the brand
– Individual vs Group
– Societal (religious, ethnic, ethical, etc.)
– Global

9. Sherrington’s 5 simple questions
for developing a branding strategy
1. What is our purpose – or mission? To put it
another way, what is the mark we want to
leave on the world?
2. What is our market?
3. Who are our competitors?
4. Who are our buyers?
5. What are we good at and how does this stack
up against the success factors in our market?
(Sherrington 2003: 56)

10. Anatomy of a brand
• Internal vs external branding
• Brand promise
• Brand theme, values and/or storyline (see
Cornelissen, Christensen & Kinuthia, 2012)
• Brand equity
• Brand ambassadorship
• Brand consistency

11. Why brand?
• Differentiation
• Source of competitive advantage
• Building brand equity (awareness,
satisfaction & loyalty, image and resonance)
• Emphasising quality
• Highlighting uniqueness of products
• Source of customer satisfaction and loyalty
that leads to higher returns
Source: Keller (2008)

12. What makes a strong brand?
• Distinctiveness/Uniqueness
• Brand ‘platform’ – positive associations in
stakeholders’ minds
• Full sensory and emotional experience
(Lindstrom, 2010)
• Effective use of new media in creating
conversations and allowing the process of co-
creation

13. Brand Management
• The process of building and creating the
consumer’s image of a brand before their
buying decision
• The process of building brand equity
• The process of creating and enhancing the
brand reputation now and in the future
• The process of sustaining the brand in the
market forever
Source: Melewar and Syed Alwi (2012)

14. Event Branding
• Corporate event branding through the
creation a sponsorship vehicle, e.g. Tennents
Lager and the “T” in the Park festival
• Sponsor taking ownership of existing event
so that it becomes synonymous with the
brand, e.g. Vans and Warped Tour
• Sponsor’s name in the event title, e.g. Virgin
Money London Marathon

15. Event branding
• More than a logo
• The event brand must not obscure the
“parent brand” – but it must still have its
“own” brand identity
• Event branding should be flexible

16. Delivering Brand Experiences
• The totality of interactions between the brand
and its target audiences, supporting the
brand identity
• Needs to be well thought out and designed
strategically
• Must be supported with the appropriate
marketing communications mix elements

17. What about experiential marketing?

18. Experiential Marketing
1. Experiential marketing is an integrated
methodology, always engaging target audiences
at their will through brand-relevant
communications that add value.
2. The experiential marketing campaign is built
around one big idea that should involve two way
communication between the brand and the target
audience in real time, therefore featuring a live
brand experience at its core
3. The other marketing communications channels
that are selected and integrated are the
amplification channels, which amplify the
impact of the big idea (the live brand experience)
Smilansky 2009: 6

19. Smilansky 2009: 6
The big idea
Live brand experience
Face 2 Face or remote technology
Digital
Live broadcast
TV/Radio/onlin
e
Advertising
Public
Relations
Amplification Channels

20. Sense amplification
example

21. Why experiential?
The consumer perspective
• Trying before buying
• Memorable experiences (the surprise effect)
The brand perspective
• Memorable experiences – brand association
• Creating and maintaining relationships
• Testing products and marketing approaches

22. • Field Marketing:
Face-to-face sales promotion (often
“one-way”)
• Event Marketing:
Can be, but doesn’t have to be,
experiential
• Live Brand Experiences:
“Face-to-face” or remote two-way
communication – always experiential

23. Formulating the brand
experience: The BETTER Model
Smilansky 2009: 52
Brand personality Three brand values that sum up the brands' human-like
characteristics
Emotional Connection Multi-sensory and/or authentic, positively connected
and personally meaningful
Target Audience What they like, their lifestyle, their aspirations, the time
they have available
Two-way interaction A live brand expereience [F2F/remote] that combines
the above B,E & T
Exponential element A trigger mechanism that encourages participants to
pass on their experience
Reach Two way interaction, word of mouth and amplification
channels

24. Experiential strategy
• Strategies should be based on achieving
a two-way interaction between the brand
and the customer
• Live brand experience
• The STRATEGIES acronym (Smilansky
2009)

25. STRATEGIES (Smilansky, 2009: 123ff)
Service
Theatre
Research
Adverts
Televised or Broadcast
Entertainment
Game (or Competition)
Interactive technology
Education
Set

26. Integrating selected
elements of STRATEGIES
Educational+service+research+set
Smilansky, 2009:129)

27. The brand experience staff
• Recruitment is key
• ”Brand Warriors” – Tribe experiential
event agency training session
• Is this only for a certain type of people?
• Front line sales versus experiential –
what is the difference?

28. Measure, measure,
measure…
• Price reduction codes, offers etc linked
directly to the experiential event
• Social media linkage
• Surveys on the website (and on site
feedback)
• Separating different campaigns
Note: Sometimes companies collect feedback
and data without actually analysing it!

29. Useful resources
Keller, L.K. (2008) Strategic brand management: Building, measuring and
managing brand equity, 3rd Edition, Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice-Hall
(hard copy available in the library)
Kotler, P., Kartajaja, H. and Setiawan, I. 2010. Marketing 3.0: From Products to
Customers to the Human Spirit, Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons (available as
ebook)
Lindstrom, M. 2010. Brand Sense: Sensory Secrets Behind the Stuff We Buy,
London: Kogan Page (hard copy available in the library)
Melewar, T. and Syed Alwi, S.F. (2012), "Branding and brand management", in
Baker, M.J. (ed.), Principles of Marketing: Guidelines for effective practice, The
Marketing & Management Collection, Henry Stewart Talks Ltd, London (online at
http://0-hstalks.com.emu.londonmet.ac.uk/go)
Sherrington, M. 2003, Added Value: The Alchemy of Brand-led Growth, London:
Palgrave

30. Useful resources
• Smilansky, Shaz (2009) Experiential Marketing
Online newspapers and magazines:
• Event Magazine (do sign up for their newsletter)
• Experiential Magazine
• Huffington Post
• Marketing Week
Also:
• Most events agencies publish case studies and
share results (the positive side) and videos online