Category Archives: Strategy

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Posted in Experiential, Strategy, Technology Bookmark the permalink. What do you think?

#4 ways to educate your audience on VR

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Virtual Reality

Virtual Reality (VR) is being heralded as the next frontier in advertising, marketing, and storytelling. We know global search interest in VR grew nearly 4X over 2015 alone (data from Google). Still, there are large amounts of people that never tried it yet. That is because many people still feel intimidated by the technology, especially by the use of a headset.

Here are 4 ways to get your audience to use VR technology with ease:

#1: Experiment with multiple entry points

Create multiple ways for your audience to interact with the content. Use clear instructions and clear choices every step of the way in every device.

#2: Guide people through the experience

Clear instructions at every turn: in website copy, in the content itself, even in the voiceover of a video. Think of it as a guided tour that will serve to educate rather than alienate new users.

#3: Create simple mobile experiences

We’re all turning to our phones more and more. Over 60% of YouTube’s views come from mobile. Use it as a medium to interact with your audience and introduce it to VR.

#4: Don’t forget about desktop

By bringing a fresh, new experience to a more traditional platform, like desktop, you can keep viewers engaged with your content. That is still the most used platform to reach content and the one most people are used to. Bring a new experience to a familiar platform.

In conclusion, like any other emerging technology, Virtual Reality presents challenges, especially to new users or users that are more averse to change. However, it has the potential to bring audiences into another world and allow them to interact with a brand in a whole new way. By putting the experience first, instead of pulling everything for technology, brands and marketers can develop welcoming experiences, both to VR pros and to newbies, thus overcoming the hurdles of new technologies.

What do you think about this? Give us your thoughts and personal experiences on the use of Virtual Reality.

Sources:

Cox, A.; Virtual Reality Is the Next Frontier. Make Sure You Don’t Leave Your Consumers Behind, Think with Google, July 2016.

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Posted in Custom Branded Games, Data Capture, Events, Experiential, Gamification, Interactive Brand Experiences, kiosks, Lead Generation, mobile marketing tours, Multi-Touch, ROI, Strategy, Tradeshow Technology, Uncategorized Bookmark the permalink. What do you think?

Educating Audiences with Infotainment

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The main goal of many of our clients is education. They want the audience to learn something—this is particularly true for our tradeshow clients but many others as well. Infotainment works well to achieve those goals. What is infotainment? Info from information combined with tainment from entertainment. In essence, it’s a great way to teach information in a unique way.

The most effective way to teach something to someone is to make it fun. Many companies realize this too, which is why gamification is gaining popularity in the work place too, for on-boarding new employees and for ongoing training programs. While we enjoy adding gamification to infotainment experiences, and we do it often, it’s not the right solution for everyone. Some brands like to keep it interesting and interactive but simply want the information to be accessible and engaging. (We do that too!)

By making it interactive, the participant becomes more engaged in the experience. People fall into different types of learners: visual, auditory, reading & writing and kinesthetic (hands-on). Our infotainment solutions can be created to reach all of these different styles and all of the ones we develop will benefit both the visual and the kinesthetic learners. For those that are reading & writing learners, our trivia app adds the question and answer element that those learners crave.

We developed a cool interactive catalog experience to teach attendees about Oil and Gas. Check out our project video.

Learn more about our infotainment and gamification solutions.

We would love to develop a solution that meets your needs. Contact us today.

Elation Digital develops a wide variety of experiential interactive brand experiences and event technologies to draw crowds for tradeshows, events and mobile marketing tours including photo & video activations, custom branded games, social media, data capture, tracking and reporting. Their solutions are perfect for all budget levels from simple solutions to complete integrated campaigns.

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Posted in Advergames, Custom Branded Games, Data Capture, Events, Experiential, Gamification, Interactive Brand Experiences, Lead Generation, mobile marketing tours, Strategy, Technology, Uncategorized Bookmark the permalink. What do you think?

What’s Hot in Experiential for 2016?

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About a year ago, I wrote about the Tech Trends for 2015 and which ones matter. I took the angle of discussing that choosing the right technology to fit campaign goals is more important than choosing solutions simply for the sake of having a trendy gadget. Of course that still holds true but technology has made great strides in the past year. And, for the most part, companies are using them wisely.

What you should to expect to see more of this year:

Virtual Reality—VR is still hot and is being predicted by many to be an even greater attraction this year. It’s use has been growing since last year. The number wearable devices have increased and can be found in prices that range from under $3 (Google Cardboard) to over $600 (Oculus Rift). There’s something for everyone’s budget. You’ll also see more immersive VR experiences that will include the senses—smell, sound and motion. Check out this experience for Boursin made in the UK.exp-2016

Wearable Technology—This is not going away any time soon and the technology keeps getting better and the number of ways to incorporate these into experiences is improving. We are still seeing RFID for movement tracking, registration and data capture as a popular choice. Smart phones, watches and bracelets, and others, will be incorporated into experiences making more a personalized connection.

Beacons—I touched on this last year. It was starting to take off and made real progress in 2015. Forbes sites beacons will drive $44 billion in sales in 2016. Why wait for people to stop by your booth or attraction? By sending push messages, you can attract people to you or keep them informed about promotions, product information or meet me at cocktail hour to chat.

Vertical Video—Meercat and Snapchat were first. Vertical videos (ads) make sense for mobile devices, not so much for your office environment. Vertical LED’s look cool at events. It will be interesting to see how this is used this year.

What you should keep an eye on:

CES had so many great technologies available for preview. Many of them won’t be ready for incorporation into many events this year but hold promise for late 2016 and 2017.
Samsung Rink VR Controller—A series of palm controllers that give you the ability to use your hands and fingers within the virtual world. This should be big with gamification. Having the ability to interact with your hands and more intricately your fingers will open up many possibilities. I know our team of developers will have fun experimenting with this once it’s available.

8i Volumetric VR People—3D Hologram people at your event? How is this different than other hologram solutions? They are using 2 or more video cameras to build the figures rather than depth sensors.

HTC Vive “Chaperone” Mode–Tired of bumping into the coffee table while you are wearing your VR headset? Your actual living environments can be over laid into the experience so you can move around fearlessly.

With so many interesting items available, 2016 will be an exciting year for experiential technology. 2015 was amazing too. It just keeps getting better and better. Yes, I love my job—and I’m just a small part of it.

Learn How Elation Digital Can Create Experiential Solutions for You!

Elation Digital develops a wide variety of interactive experiential brand solutions to attract crowds for events, tradeshows and mobile marketing tours. Their cutting-edge technology includes photo & video activations, custom gamification, social media engagement, data capture, tracking and reporting. These solutions are perfect for all budget levels from simple solutions to complete integrated campaigns.

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Posted in Custom Branded Games, Data Capture, Events, Experiential, Interactive Brand Experiences, Lead Generation, ROI, Strategy, Uncategorized Bookmark the permalink. What do you think?

Measuring the ROI of Adding Branded Interactive Engagements to your Event

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The one tried and true way of measuring overall ROI is to take the revenue generated, subtract the costs and divide by those costs to get the percentage. Seems simple enough. To measure the ROI of adding an experiential element to your booth is a bit more tricky and yet can still be determined.

First, as I always mention, start with your goals. What are you hoping to gain by adding an interactive technology? These goals will help to figure out what to compare against at the end of the show.roi

Positive Brand Engagement—adding an experiential solution increases the connection to your brand. Playing a game, taking a photo, learning about your products through interactive screens, make a lasting impression by reaching them at an emotional level. If someone took the time to interact with your brand and not simply chat with your booth personnel, that person has a higher chance of being a quality lead for you.

Quality of leads—this is not strictly a numbers game. You could get boatloads of names from an event. Even your amazing sales pipeline strategy may not be able to help you if the leads you gather aren’t your target audience. Several high quality leads will be far more beneficial down the road for you than 100 names that do nothing (except skew your analytics when you reach out to them).

Partnership opportunities—it’s not always about finding customers. You chose your specific event for a reason. There will be other companies that are synergistic to yours. You may find there is a company that is similar but not directly competitive to you. Together you can take advantage of each other’s strengths and offer each other something you don’t have. Many times that is much cheaper than developing it for yourself.

Longevity of relationships—also knows as the Lifetime Value of a Customer. Perhaps one deal generates a $10,000 deal but that doesn’t quite cover your show investment (Booth costs alone can be that high). If you deliver for that customer and they keep coming back, you are covering your acquisition cost and then some for years to come.

Brand extension—we are constantly talking and writing about how a brand’s perception can last long after the event. Having something beside a #hashtag that can be shared socially is key can reach a multiple factor of the number of people that came by your booth.

The majority of our clients work with us annually or multiple times throughout the year. We are happy when they come back. It’s a testament to the fact our solutions work and met the goals and solutions they were aiming to achieve.

Learn how Elation Digital Can Help you Reach your ROI goals!

Elation Digital develops a wide variety of interactive brand experiences and event experiential technologies to draw crowds for tradeshows, events and mobile marketing tours including photo & video activations, custom branded games, infotainment, social media, data capture, tracking and reporting. Their solutions are perfect for all budget levels from simple solutions to complete integrated campaigns.

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Posted in Advergames, Custom Branded Games, Data Capture, Events, Experiential, Interactive Brand Experiences, Lead Generation, mobile marketing tours, Multi-Touch, Strategy, Technology, Tradeshow Technology, Uncategorized Bookmark the permalink.

Why Experiential Marketing Works

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Experiential Marketing is on the rise and we’ve been busy, so it must be true. Marketers are dedicating larger budgets toward incorporating these initiatives into their marketing mix. According to Event Marketer’s Event Track 2014, it’s an increase of 5% and is expected to be higher throughout 2015. It also says that marketers saw an ROI of 5 to 1–that’s 7% higher than the previous year.

But what is it about experiential marketing that makes it so successful? According to Quartz, it’s “an alternative to hard-hitting selling tactics, experiential marketing is fuzzy and abstract—prioritizing delight, touch, wonder, play, and encounter.” This is a great description and these attributes touch upon emotions and emotions are what drive sales!

Experiential marketing can be incorporated into the marketing mix in many ways and with that comes flexibility to develop a successful program. With so many choices, marketers select the solution(s) that best fits their brand and (prospective) customer. As new technologies continue to emerge, the number of options grows: gamification, RFID, custom apps, beacons, wearable technology, infotainment, interactive and immersion experiences­—the list goes on.

Marketers are learning that active participation between the customer and these programs is increasing. It’s driving engagement and it’s deepening the emotional connection to the brand through these new and innovative experiential solutions.

Want more information on adding experiential solutions to your next marketing event? Learn more!

Elation Digital develops a wide variety of interactive brand experiences and event technologies to draw crowds for tradeshows, events and mobile marketing tours including photo & video activations, custom branded games, infotainment, social media, data capture, tracking and reporting. Their solutions are perfect for all budget levels from simple solutions to complete integrated campaigns.

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Evolution of Advergames to Digital Marketing Platforms

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advergaming

Advergames are simply games that have been branded at one level or another. Early on, brand marketers saw the potential of the video game market (in the old days 1995-2000) and started customizing game experiences with brand elements to connect with audiences.

One early brand experience created that I recall from this time period was from Nabisco and their Oreo brand. They created a race type game where you would float your Oreo “boat” through several obstacles down a river. It was simple, and fun and tied into the Oreo brand promise.

Fast forward to 2013; graphics have made a quantum leap, to hyper realistic 3D, augmented reality and mobile has opened new potentials, advances in physical controllers and sensors have created new brand experiences around physical digital blending our reality and virtual reality and providing the interfaces to bridge the experience, and social media platforms to play.

From our perspective as creative technologists, all the advances in technology has provided new canvases for creative and marketing directors to create new deeper positive brand engagements and even brand marketing platforms.

There is still a place for simple enjoyable advergames for events or mobile, where the goal is still simple to create a positive brand experience. However these interactive games can now leverage technology to extend and amplify this experience to a deeper level. Marketer’s can utilize the virtual digital marketing toolbox to design a platform that include games, experiences, user generated content, social media, mobile devices to create a virtual brand world of experiences, games, events, videos, live content, microsites and much more to add depth and relevance to the engagement of brand and audience.

Nike+ is a great example of Nike building a marketing platform utilizing all of the benefits of technology. Nike+ provides digital tools for their customers to achieve their fitness goals by providing customized senors to track and monitor activity, accounts to set goals and track progress, a social community to share and encourage each other, gamification elements of badges and achievements to bring rewards and recognition to meeting goals and encouraging performance improvements.

Nike+ combines the best of marketing and digital interactive. Marketing’s goal is to ultimately drive revenues by uncovering consumers needs and desires and solving them through products that are in alignment with a brand’s promise. Nike is about helping people reach their fitness and life goals. “Just Do It” is their well known brand tagline. Nike+ fulfills Nike’s brand promise and also has created huge new opportunities to sell products that work together, tied together by technology. As a first mover in this space, Nike has created an advantage with hundreds of thousands of fitness minded consumers using their products on their platform. The ultimate loyalty program providing useful, relevant services, information and products.

This type of marketing platform can be adapted to many industries, products and brands and provide early mover advantages. Advergames and brand experiences are only a part of what’s possible.

Elation Digital is a leader supporting brands with creative technology based engagement solutions. Please contact Elation to learn more or to discuss potential projects. Screen Shot 2013-07-07 at 11.23.07 AM

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Pharmaceutical Experiential Marketing – Engagement Strategies

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One of the issues facing pharmaceutical companies recently is the amount of rules and regulations that the FDA and industry regulatory committees have enacted. Giving aways pens and promotional gear depending on the circumstances can run afoul of these rules.

One of our favorite, strong response generators for our experiential marketing campaigns has been the use of simple combinations of data capture in return for the opportunity to win a prize. People are more than willing to share their email address and even answer a survey question in return for the opportunity to participate in a prize give away and/or contest. We’ve created more variations of these contests tying into brand messaging with super results.

So how do you generate similar result generating marketing activations for pharma companies when the rules have become so restrictive in this area?

This issue came up this week in a brainstorming session for an agency partner and here’s a few thoughts from our perspective on to create compelling experiential engagement strategies for pharmaceutical brands:

1. Brand Purpose -It’s always good to go back to the basics and define what is the purpose of the brand.

Marketers tend to focus on the pushing the brand as the most important thing to promote. However, it’s been shown time and time again that focusing on the purpose of the brand can be more important in generating an authentic connection with an audience. For example, a brand’s promise to help empower patients to face their disease and challenges, can help generate a conversation about what’s important and can help the patient. This is different than promoting the brand’s products.

2. Engaging Audiences -Starting conversations is an art. Just like striking up a conversation at a social gathering. It doesn’t have to be over the top, it can be a subtle, simple and fun. Our years of experience in digital interactive continues to come back to simple attractions as an ice-breaker to a conversation. Simple branded games, photo activations or interactive motion and touch experiences catches audience’s attentions and gets people involved. Customizing an experience to blend brand experience with brand promise will also help reinforce brand positioning in the minds of the participants. Subtle, authentic and relevant.

3. Emerging Technology -With the ability to blend new technology with brand messaging, marketer’s have many more tools available to them, than in the past. These tools continue to show great promise for experiential marketing. New technology continues to provide cool ways to deliver complicated messaging, and information to targeted audiences. For conferences and tradeshows, content can be tailored to be as deep as the participant wants and the information can be packaged in the ways that best tell the story of the product or brand. Blending video, pictures, 3D animations and augmented reality are all now possible using touch screens and mobile apps. Audiences want information that’s relevant, accessible and interesting.

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