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Defining Experiential (Part 2 of 3)
Over the years there have been many attempts to define experiential, and generally they have fallen short. This is hardly surprising, as recognisable examples of the discipline have taken on an unlimited number of forms.
What, for instance, is the link between these two ideas?
We can see they’re both “experiential”, yet behave very differently. They share no format or formula, goal or purpose, and we wouldn’t even place them in the same strategic marketing territory.
What marketers need is a holistic definition of experiential that encompasses all the discipline has to offer, acting as a platform from which to create great work yourself.
The easiest way to think of experiential is simple:
Communication through creating or doing something tangible in the real world.
There is no need to complicate it any further than that. This definition holds true from the most basic sampling campaign (where you actually get to hold and taste the product), right through to outlandish YouTube stunts, which gain traction through their edgy “reality TV” nature.
The crucial thing to understand about this definition, and experiential in general, which separates it from many other fields of marketing, is this:
Experiential is a technique, not a channel.
Historically we’ve grown used to discussing marketing disciplines by referencing the physical format in which they’re delivered, their channels. TV is “on TV”, print is “in print”, and even social is typically “on social channels”. This approach has never worked for experiential (causing great confusion), simply because experiential actions can take on any form you wish. They represent, in effect, an absence of channel – which is why they often work hand in hand with other media for the purposes of amplification.
The clue is in the grammar. “Experiential” is an adjective, not a noun, so describing a campaign as experiential is more akin to describing a campaign as “scary” than outlining its physical format.
It is this ability to think outside marketing channels which separates brands who “get” experiential from those who don’t.
By Alex Smith, Planning Director at real-world marketing agency Sense
[*Please Note: The above is an extract taken from the book ‘Real World Ideas: A guide to modern experiential marketing’. Click here to download a pdf copy of the book. Keep an eye out for Part 3 next week!]
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