Are you an event organizer that has an event you’re looking to promote? Are you trying to generate buzz and increase visibility around your brand? If so, you need a good event marketing strategy. If you’re stumped and looking for event marketing examples and ideas to implement, we’ve got you covered. Keep reading for 10 examples every planner can learn from.
What Is Event Marketing?
Event planners and organizers use event marketing and activation campaigns to promote products, services, and brands. It offers marketers and brand representatives a way to engage face-to-face with potential customers and improve sales. Event marketing allows you to:
- Connect with and educate your audience
- Improve brand visibility
- Create buzz around products or services
- Generate leads and convert potential customers
Whether you’re launching a new product or revamping a brand, an event may be just the thing you need to get people interested. Nevertheless, you might need some inspiration from innovative marketing campaigns to get you started.
10 Event Marketing Examples Every Event Planner Can Learn From
If you’re looking to supercharge your event marketing strategy, check out these 10 event marketing examples to add to your event marketing campaign.
1. Spotify Everywhere Brand Activation: An Immersive Experience
Spotify’s experiential marketing campaign, Spotify Everywhere, promised music and podcasts everywhere you turn. The Spotify Everywhere event was an immersive experience for attendees, featuring rooms filled with audio tools like smart speakers and more. Event attendees could immerse themselves in the world of sound.
The event also allowed users to test features and learn about Spotify partnerships, including those with Sony, Samsung, Google, and more, as well as enjoy finding hidden easter eggs with scannable QR codes linked to a Spotify playlist. There was even a virtual tour that allowed Spotify users who couldn’t attend in person to do so virtually.
If you’re looking to learn something from Spotify’s brilliant campaign examples, consider this: Your guests want an immersive experience, and the best way to give them that is through their senses, whether that be sight, sound, taste, or touch.
2. Gatorade Combine: An Interactive Event
Gatorade partnered with the NFL in a creative marketing campaign for its latest drink Fast Twitch that appealed to football fanatics: Gatorade Combine. The event was an interactive experience, allowing students to compete in NFL Combine events that tested their athleticism while trying Fast Twitch. The event included tests in speed, strength, and skill, letting fans see how they compared to their favorite athletes.
Once again, interactivity pays off. Implement it into your event campaign and give your audience a chance to experience your products and services in an engaging way through experiential events.
3. Burning Man Festival: Marketing Success Through Partnerships
Teaming up with partners and influencers can help your event stand out. How? Just look at the Burning Man Festival as an example. Burning Man achieves success through partnerships with artists and other partners who support and fund their event year after year. Past attendees return due to excitement and the buzz that the festival’s partnerships generate when the time comes. Burning Man has built a community around artists, partners, and fans.
The takeaway? Community matters. Build up your partnerships and community and keep attendees coming back for more.
4. Coachella: Highly-Targeted Marketing Campaigns
Coachella has mastered the art of highly-targeted creative campaigns through influencer and social media marketing and brand sponsorships. They have figured out where their fanbase is (social media) and who their fanbase wants to hear from (influencers) and have used both to appeal to their target audience.
They also go above and beyond to appeal to their audience’s values to attract both new and old attendees. Some examples of this include showing their support for the #metoo movement and #blacklivesmatter. They use these tactics year-round to keep the excitement of their event alive.
So, what can you learn from Coachella’s example of event marketing? Here are a few things you can implement in your next unique marketing strategy:
- Use social media to connect with your audience and promote your event
- Collaborate with brands and influencers
- Understand your target audience’s values and interests
- Maintain year-round engagement
5. Comic-Con: Celebrity and Influencer Marketing
Comic-Con and other conventions are great at bringing like-minded people together who share the same interests. How? One, by bringing fans of movies, TV shows, and comics together, and two, through celebrity and influencer marketing. Think about it, who doesn’t want the chance to meet their favorite celebrity?
Celebrities and influencers alike take to social media to promote their appearances at Comic-Cons, generating even more excitement around these events and appealing to potential attendees. So, if you’re looking for a way to boost your attendance, maybe partnering with a popular and well-liked celebrity is the way to go for your event strategy.
6. Lean Cuisine: Creative and Reaffirming #WeighThis Campaign
Lean Cuisine is notorious for its weight loss campaigns and messages. Its frozen meals promise to help its audience with their weight loss journeys. But its #WeighThis campaign changed that, focusing more on health and lifestyle rather than weight loss. Lean Cuisine used emotional tactics in its #WeighThis campaign, encouraging the audience to consider what’s important in life.
But it didn’t just stop at advertisements. The #WeighThis campaign also included a two-day event where artist Annica Lydenberg painted inspirational success stories from social media posts, shared under #WeighThis, on bathroom scales. The scales were displayed publicly for people to view.
The innovative marketing campaign allowed Lean Cuisine to rebrand itself. Sometimes, if one message isn’t working, it’s okay to make a change and rebrand yourself. If you’re struggling to reach your target audience, consider reworking your messages.
7. Globetrotter: Out-of-the-Box Product Quality Proof
Globetrotter built the “World’s Coldest Fitting Room” to show that its product could do what it promised — protect from insane weather conditions.
They invited their attendees to participate in their room where they were exposed to heavy rain, storm-grade winds, and freezing temperatures. Their out-of-the-box marketing campaign allowed customers to purchase their products with confidence, knowing that their clothes would protect them as advertised.
If you want to prove your product’s quality through unique advertising and successful events, put your money where your mouth is and give your audience a hands-on experience.
8. Herr’s Flavored by Philly: Building Community Relationships
If you don’t believe that building a sense of community matters in event planning, take a look at Herr’s and think again. Herr’s connected to their fans and audience through their Flavored by Philly contest, a contest where fans could submit their favorite flavors in an attempt to be the next big flavor in Herr’s potato chip. This generated a lot of excitement and brought the community together to brainstorm ideas for chip flavors.
This type of event marketing is also a great way to show your fans that you care about them and what they want to see. It builds excitement, trust, and loyalty, and provides a memorable experience. Follow Herr’s example and let your audience have a voice in what you offer.
9. Kylie Cosmetics: Pop-Ups in Los Angeles
If you’re looking for a way to generate excitement for your upcoming event, the best way to do that is by teasing your potential attendees and giving them a sneak peek of what you have to offer. Kylie Cosmetics has done just that through pop-up shops in Los Angeles, where a limited supply of Kylie Cosmetics was featured for fans to try for a limited time.
Pop-ups usually last a week or two, which is enough time to give your fans a small taste of your products and services. It’s a great way to generate leads, convert your audience, and improve event ROI. So, talk to your marketing teams and figure out how to include some pop-ups in your next marketing strategy.
10. Häagen-Dazs: GIF Photo Booth at Wimbledon
When attending an event, your audience will want to take something home to remember the experience, especially if they enjoyed themselves. Häagen-Dazs offered Wimbledon guests the chance to do just that — and gained the benefits by placing its products in the background.
A GIF photo booth can be a great investment. Your audience can step into a photo booth and create fun and quirky GIF images to take home as a keepsake. But don’t forget to include your brand within the photo booth and encourage your attendees to share their GIFs on their social media channels.
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