The dangers of experiential spam
Experiential marketing may be flavour of the month, but so is experiential spam, warns Alan Riva
Experiential Spam, which I can best explain as a disconnect between a brand and an audience created by a forced or unwanted interaction developed to interrupt, rather than enhance a customer’s day, is a very real problem.
And it’s been getting worse since the experiential wave hit Australia. Almost overnight an entire industry changed their descriptor (and little else) from Promotional Staffing to Experiential Agency. Many others just tagged the word onto their credentials without any real understanding of how to deliver results.
Think of the last time you were rushing to a meeting and someone approached you on a street corner in a branded cap and t-shirt, thrusting a sample into your hand with a barely audible and even less believable promise that this product is somehow going to change your day.
That all sounds a bit confusing but I agree with the sentiment, I dislike ‘unwanted interaction developed to interrupt, rather than enhance a customer’s day’. simply put as a consumer I want something that either
1. Add’s Value, so that I don’t mind a disruption (fair swap for my time)
OR
2. Removes some pain from my day / interaction / experience, and as such is a bonus (such as a free massage at an airport whilst waiting for a flight, rather then a dreary conversation about my credit card).
Does it work though? What percentage of people actually get signed up for credit cards at airports? They’ve been doing it for years, presumably there’s some kind of measurable result.
I fully agree with Alan’s comments. Having been Managing a Promotions Agency for 20 years, I have seen many clients fail in their approach from idea to implementation and wonder why the target audience have not been converted, or there has not been an increase of sales. Campaigns need to be created on a simpler basis and these ideas people need to be held more accountable.
Kim Gaston