We’re only a couple of weeks in 2016, but with announcements such as an upcoming Creme Egg cafe and Hendrick’s celebrating Scottish roots with Burns Night events, it’s clear experiential is on the rise. But why?

Traditional marketing is everywhere

Whether it’s during an ad break, a pop-up on your web browser, or a promoted tweet in your timeline, advertising is everywhere. With advertisements becoming more and more intrusive, it can be hard for a brand to stand out. Unless you have a big budget, make it a grand event (John Lewis Christmas ad), or have a celebrity endorsement/spot, you’re pretty much background noise. This is why experiential marketing is making a breakthrough more than ever before. Focusing on individual experiences, experiential marketing allows brands to not only cut through, but exceed their potential reach.

Experiential helps your brand in more ways than one

With brands fighting a never-ending battle for a spot in this growing industry, experiences need to make an impact in more ways than one. Not only does experiential marketing need to stand out, it needs to go beyond traditional marketing. Event Marketing Institute and Mosaic recently found that respondents were 96% more likely to purchase a product after participating in a live branded event. In addition to that, brands can also use what happens after (think feedback, reaction shots) as the basis for further content too. As they say ‘Content is King’.

It’s the best way to engage your audience

If that statistic wasn’t enough, E.M.I. and Mosaic also found that 74% of people will have a more positive impression of your brand after attending an experiential activity. What better way to engage your audience by letting them take the lead? With streaming apps such as Snapchat and Periscope on the rise, it’s never been a more exciting time for experiential. This innovative way of marketing won’t be able to thrive without real-time media as the passionate consumer is the new influencer. One of the greatest examples of this is when Essex branch of Ikea organised a sleepover for 100 people in response to the Facebook group ‘I wanna have a sleepover in Ikea’.

Last week, it was reported that there will be a rise of augmented and virtual reality. This will only benefit and drive experiential further; not only will these new technologies make the experience feel more special to the individual, they will also allow them to re-live it too. Furthermore, social media is the perfect platform for consumers to share their excitement and details of experiences. This level of reach is something traditional marketing simply can’t buy.