Traditional advertising models are facing stiff competition. Consumers have never liked ads, but now they have more tools at their disposal than ever before to ignore them. With the rise of ad-blockers, ad-free streaming, and the ability to fast-forward and skip commercials, broadcast and digital advertising have become less effective for advertisers and are reaching shrinking audiences.
Those challenges are pushing brands and advertising agencies toward new ways to reach potential consumers. One tactic that’s providing them with success is immersive experiential marketing.
Experiential marketing is a way of directly engaging consumers through an interactive experience. These experiences can be online or in-person, but on-site activations are more effective at raising brand awareness among audiences not already committed to your brand. These are events that can make new audiences feel connected to a brand in a way they never were before.
When you’re planning an experiential brand activation, consider how digital billboards can make a big impact on your campaign. Portable digital billboards can enhance your activation or become integral to its execution. Find out how you can benefit from our digital signs for rent when you want to create an immersive experiential marketing campaign.
What Makes Experiential Marketing Immersive?
Immersive experiences bring audiences deeper into an activation than ever before. They create an illusory environment that may also be interactive. Participants can explore, play, and engage with the activation. As digital technology has evolved, it’s become easier to take these experiences out into the world and surprise audiences with something they’ve never seen before.
Portable digital billboards are a critical tool in immersive experience making. They provide digital and visual support to help you make your vision a reality and impress audiences.
Experiential Marketing Examples
What does immersive experiential marketing look like? These are just a few examples of the things you can do to create an immersive experience.
Immersive Rooms: Creating a room-based experience gives participants a 360-degree experience around a theme. They can be interactive, curated, or gallery-like experiences. The experience can be anything, from art installations like Kusama’s Infinity Mirror Rooms to a pop-up hotel room.
Gamification Experiences: Gamification marketing opens up the door to creative and novel ideas. Any kind of game that participants can play in person or on their phone can electrify a brand activation, whether it’s as simple as a spin-the-wheel game or a one-of-a-kind interactive experience.
Branded Environments: A branded environment takes the spirit of your brand and turns it into textures, materials, colour palettes, lighting, and more. In the context of an activation, brands have been using shipping containers and other innovative ways to create branded environments out in the world when they’re reaching out to new audiences. They can be used effectively as an attraction at bigger events, making them a great idea for a sponsor activation or other campaigns where you’re in competition for the audience’s attention.
How Portable Digital Billboards Support Immersive Marketing
BIG Digital can support your immersive marketing campaign with portable digital billboards that can be deployed anywhere, any time. We have digital displays for both indoor and outdoor environments that can be set up in minutes without the need for permits or inspections. Our billboards for brand sponsorships extend your digital communication reach into the real world. It’s not just convenience that our displays offer. They can support your immersive marketing campaign by bringing new capabilities to your activations.
#1 Ads and Video Campaigns
Maximize your campaign effectiveness by adding powerful digital media to your activation. No matter what kind of activation you have planned, our displays will help you draw more attention and get your message noticed. You can complement any installation or activation with your digital assets and campaigns.
#2 Promotions and Contests
Digital billboards can help you with contests, giveaways, and other in-person promotions by activating your audience. They can include fun features like interactive contests via mobile phone that allow audiences to participate or even compete against each other. They can be used to display leaderboards or game elements.
#3 Augmented Reality
You can make a major impact with Augmented Reality at your next activation. The technology superimposes a digital image on a view of the real world, allowing you to incorporate it into both gamification experiences and sampling activations. AR can let people virtually try on products like clothing or cosmetics that don’t need to be on-site.
#4 Gamification Marketing
Get participants excited about joining the action through gamification marketing. BIG Digital provides a huge library of gamification experiences, including arcade classics, sports themed games, games of chance, and custom and more complex experiences. We help you find the right solution for your next activation.
#5 Mobile Integration
Mobile devices open the door to deeper engagement with participants and new user acquisition. They’re a great tool for getting people to engage with your activation and open up all kinds of opportunities for gamification or Augmented Reality experiences.
QR code triggers make connecting mobile devices simple and create an opportunity for your marketing follow-through.
#6 Pop-Up Commerce
Digital displays can even drive sales directly. If your activation revolves around the idea of a pop-up shop, digital billboards can do a lot of heavy lifting. They can instantly create mobile commerce to drive online sales. Flexible programming lets you change your content throughout the day and provide targeted, real-time content.
#7 More Product Information
If your activation is at a trade show or conference focused on B2B sales, a digital billboard can provide product demonstrations and more information about new products. These displays can be both engaging and entertaining while freeing up your people to engage with guests who are further down the conversion pipeline.
Why Is Experiential Marketing so Powerful?
Experiential marketing works because people are emotional beings. Brands use experiential marketing to make emotional connections, creating brand awareness and lasting brand loyalty. You’re involving customers in your brand’s story. It changes the narrative so that they no longer feel like they’re being sold to but rather being invited to connect.
Digital billboards go way beyond wayfinding signage and video advertising. Make them a critical part of your next experiential marketing campaign to drive engagement and target strategic locations.