Experiential events are growing at an impressive rate in the UK events industry because they have the power to stick with their attendees on an emotional level.
That’s according to Peter Clarke, of event marketing and communications agency Pumphouse. Writing on eventindustrynews.co.uk, he explained that marketing an event in an experiential manner enables its target audience to have brand empathy in a way that promotional marketing cannot.
Using a model by David Kolb, which was conceived back in 1975, Clarke suggested that anyone could host a successful experiential event if they understood the experience cycle – otherwise known as learning by doing.
“The concrete experience is the actual event or ‘experience.’ The next mode is observation and learning – how people engage with, and react to, the experience. Out of the reflective observation flow the abstract concepts – how people move from the experience and use the event to develop their own thinking,” he wrote.
The final mode, according to teleosleaders.com,is that of testing in new situations, which is how people “use the new learning to change, develop and improve in a different context,” Clarke said.
The tricky part of managing this cycle is deciding how much focus should be placed in which area. Clarke argues that all-too-often delegates leave event venues and don’t take on board the things they’ve learned or put them into practice.
However, enough pre and post-event planning could see businesses-owners get a return on their investment from every event their employees attend.
It’s perhaps for this reason that the Event Marketing Institute (EMI) finds that experiential marketing has grown by eight per cent in 2012.
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