How To Measure Experiential Advertising

The overall success of an experiential campaign can seem challenging to measure, however, brands need real data, to figure out if their live events have worked, and, if not, how to fix them.

How you measure your experiential campaign will differ depending on the goals you set for the event. For example, if your goal is to build brand awareness, you may include event registrations as a form of measurement.

In a global survey of 375 marketers across four key industries, Whitepaper discovered that 22% had not utilised experiential events and exhibitions in their campaigns. Among non-users, 41% cited the inability to measure effectiveness as a primary reason, following lack of experience (49%) and insufficient budget (42%). These findings reveal a detrimental cycle: the absence of measurable ROI leads to a lack of belief, resulting in a shortage of budget, knowledge, and confidence. To address this, Whitepaper devised a three-pronged formula for measuring the value of experiential marketing.

Depth

To gauge long-term brand value, consider depth, emphasising time spent engaging with a brand. Experiences, compared to above-the-line ads or social media, correlate with higher dwell time. A standard metric like engaged minutes enables marketers to compare experiences with other marketing forms. Metrics like Net Promoter Score or qualitative surveys can measure impact.

At the last FIFA World Cup, Visa's interactive football pitch had an average 60-minute dwell time, accumulating 7,920,000 engaged minutes with over 120,000 visitors. This equates to £3,745,716 in media spend compared to online video.

Behaviour

Behavioural change has both long- and short-term aspects. Extensive research over a decade validates the influence of brand engagement in shaping long-term perception, preference, and lifetime value. The depth of engagement measurement instils confidence in the enduring impact of experiential marketing.

Simultaneously, experiential efforts can drive immediate short-term behaviours. Concentrating on conversion metrics like lead generation, product trialling, or actual product purchases allows us to assess the potency of experiences in effecting short-term shifts in behaviour.

Reach

Experiential activations can be measured by assessing the multiplier effect of the story on both traditional media and social channels. While experiential marketing traditionally emphasised in-person experiences, there is now added value in designing experiences to be shareable and newsworthy. This creates a multiplier effect on social and traditional media, measurable through tools like social listening and media monitoring.

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