Experiential marketing is all about connecting customers with brands - and doing so in a non-traditional and memorable way.

Customer-experience marketing or experiential marketing aims to personalize the branding experience to each individual consumer. It goes beyond the common confines of features-and-benefits marketing tactics and appeals to all people - whether they would personally benefit from a given product or not. It is proven that many people are very resistant to traditional advertising techniques - and they go to great lengths to avoid them.

The idea is to help clients, regardless of industry, sidestep competition and do something completely original that creates its own demand.

Robert G. Valle Jr. at the George P. Johnson office in Torrance, CA looks at challenges down the road in 2009.

“We are definitely seeing the same signs that are giving brand marketers pause and recognize that budgets have to stay in line with organizational priorities affected by the current economic climate.

Fortunately, while live experiences are an important part of the marketing mix in good times, they become absolutely essential when times get tough. No other medium is as cost-effective or as successful at cutting through the clutter and moving customers to a purchase behavior — and repeat purchase behavior — like experience marketing.

I'd also say that in order to retain customers, expand existing business and attract new customers; brands will be making a shift from event management to strategic event marketing. In a nutshell, creativity and innovation — ideas — are as or more important than production and delivery.

We're talking about using events to promote creative ideas that drive integrated marketing campaigns. In this model, live experiences become “idea platforms” that move brands to a life-cycle model, where you're tracking customer touch points across the event portfolio and driving them to a specific purchase or loyalty behavior.

As people continue to be resistant to traditional advertising approaches, messages not only have to strike the emotional centers of potential consumers - they have to do so within a few seconds at most. People’s lives are flooded with electronic media and technology, and face-to-face communication is becoming surprisingly rare. Today, nothing beats a live experience for making a lasting brand impression. Non-traditional marketing events produce better ROI than your other efforts."

Build Authentic Relationships

Attention-grabbing, awe-inspiring non-traditional marketing grabs the minds of your targeted audience.

Nothing shouts image like a hot air balloon. An ad in the sky is always a surprise. If it is in the shape of a giant floating brand name product, it is the ultimate surprise. No billboard or TV commercial can get half the attention. The impression it makes for will last forever in the minds of your audience.

No other form of advertising can compete with the burst of color or the shear size of a corporate hot air balloon against a perfect blue sky or appeal to the senses and create a long-lasting emotional connection. In advertising, image and relationship is everything!

Positive brand experiences fuel loyalty and irreplaceable peer-to-peer recommendations.

Experienced event and non-traditional marketing is a powerful tool that drives consumer acquisition and retention. 

From mass media to targeted marketing campaigns, a corporate hot air balloon is one of the most effective promotional tools any organization can use in enhancing its overall image.