Touch and Feel

Experience marketing is old hat. The world uses it to effect and India is catching up. It is well-established now that Gen Z and youngsters prefer experience over the sheer utility of a product to stay loyal to a brand, and companies now are more inclined to press that lever than ever. It is this shift in consumer behaviour that has prompted brands across categories to bring forth their experiential marketing arsenal.

Globally, an example that come to mind is the iconic ‘Free No Wi-Fi Zones’ from snackbar company KitKat back in 2012. In Amsterdam, the confectionary brand set up Wi-Fi-free zones in outdoor spaces by blocking all signals within a 5-metre radius of branded benches—so that people could take a break there and chat with friends or read a book or a newspaper. The concept blended perfectly with KitKat’s slogan: ‘Have a break, Have a KitKat’.

Another prime example is from the legendary furniture brand IKEA which came up with a ‘sleepover’ concept in their Essex store for 100 lucky customers. IKEA leveraged social media to listen to its customers. It all started with a Facebook group titled, “I wanna have a sleepover at IKEA”, and from the 100,000 people in the group, the furniture retailer randomly selected 100 lucky winners. The winners were taken through a series of steps to personalise their sleeping experience at IKEA, being hand-held at every instance with sleep-oriented themes. The company even hired a sleep expert to offer tips on getting a satisfying sleep.

Back home, PepsiCo’s Lay’s wafers brand has launched its ‘Ways to Lay’s’ experiential campaign to strike a chord with India’s street food culture. Lay’s has partnered with food trucks to curate dishes inspired by Delhi’s street food legacy. Think Lay’s ki Aloo Tikki. Lays’s is a snacktime favourite. By way of the Ways to Lay’s campaign, the brand is trying to tap into the food subculture.

PepsiCo rival Coca-Cola launched its ‘Share a Coke’ experiential campaign back in 2018 by printing popular Indian names on Coca-Cola bottles. The objective was to have people try out a bottle with their name on it and then share with friends.

Hero Cycles is another homegrown example that is moving from just selling cycles, and focusing on the health quotient of the user. The company wants its customers to not just see cycles as a mode of transport but as a way to reconnect with their environment and community.

Again, take the case of digital payments brand Paytm that made inroads into experiential marketing with ‘Paytm Party Mix’ on New Year’s Eve with musician Gravero, enabling Paytm users to bond over shared love of music. Paytm even launched a campaign during the wedding season last year wherein the groom was shown wearing a QR-coded garland, making its utility evident at a memorable occasion.

Other “experiential” examples include Zomato’s Zomaland, a food and entertainment carnival, and Myntra Fashion Weekend, where visitors can enjoy fashion shows, shopping and celebrity hangouts.

In an age where it is not just difficult but impossible to break free from the clutter of me-too competitors and social media, brands can only outlive their utility by getting under the skin of their consumers through myriad experiences.

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