Marketing, like every other industry, has undergone an evolution, borne out of consumer fatigue with passive marketing. It has evolved from mere advertisements into something that aims to connect with consumers more personally.
This evolved marketing approach is often called experiential marketing. As the name suggests, it’s about creating an experience for the consumers to interact directly with a brand to encourage awareness, action, and loyalty. And the more holistic the experience is, the better consumer engagement brands witness. This can help develop a brand’s reputation, boost sales, and create a positive word of mouth.
Mostly, experiential marketing involves creating and utilizing live events, in one way or another, to allow people to engage with a brand in a meaningful way. This up, close, and personal approach is incredibly effective for helping achieve marketing goals. But, some marketing agencies seem to do a lot better with this concept than others – makes you wonder if there’s a secret sauce to it.
For instance, consider Wasserman Experiential, many call it the best in the industry, which has won various awards globally to back this claim. Wasserman Experiential’s accolades range from Cannes Lions and Ex Awards to being named among Event Marketer’s IT List for Top 100 Event Agencies. Most recently, Wasserman Experiential was nominated for various awards including Best Launch Event (Target), Best Integrated Campaign (Lego) and Experiential Agency of the Year (Campaign).
And if you dig deep into what makes Wasserman Experiential so different from the others in the field, you’ll reach one conclusion: cultural relevance.
Working for brands, properties, and talent from across the globe, Wasserman Experiential has seemingly cracked this code of aligning their marketing approach with the audience’s culture.
As Fred Porro, Global Experiential Lead at Wasserman, puts it: “Being culturally connected is at the core of Wasserman. It’s an important aspect of everything we do. It’s a philosophy that shapes who we are and every campaign we create.”
Think about it: we’re all influenced by the world around us, our heritage, our beliefs, and the stories we tell ourselves. When brands tap into that cultural vein, magic happens. Suddenly, they’re not just selling a product; they’re inviting you to be a part of something bigger that resonates with who you are.
So, for all those curious, how does Wasserman Experiential pull it off?
While we don’t have an actual formula that Wasserman Experiential incorporates, we can chalk out a blueprint for their approach in connecting cultural aspects with their work, based on some of the case studies.
It’s clear that Wasserman Experiential is calculated about the way they immerse themselves in culture. Their process for creating authentic connections starts with a research and data driven approach to understanding audience behaviors, needs and passions.
With that foundation of insights, they then layer in cultural trends to develop a forward-thinking experiential strategy that comes to life in the form of creatively rich brand experiences, that feel genuine to the audience they’re engaging.
Take their work with BMW and Frieze Art for example. Art is a major part of London’s culture. And helping connect BMW with this cultural prospect at Frieze Art Fair turned out to be a unique and successful way for promoting brand engagement.
Wasserman Experiential delivered this joint initiative, called BMW Open Work, which was presented at the BMW Lounge. This lounge takes new themes every year, reflecting unique artwork inspired by a car. Besides the art display, there are other BWM related events as well, including Frieze Music, exclusive art talks, and partner activations. The impact of this project has been impeccable as it has become a key feature of Frieze Art Fair since 2017.
This case study pretty clearly shows the importance of cultural connection. Setting up campaigns in a vacuum of sorts may bring temporary success. But, when brands take the time to understand and embrace the culture of their audience, they create experiences that go beyond the transactional – they create moments that become memories, forging a bond that lasts long after the event.
And, teams like Wasserman Experiential are all about creating such experiences, helping brands speak to consumers in ways they never imagined were possible.
