Because of its high perceived value, a travel incentive can cost less than money or merchandise. Travel rewards are more glamorous to promote than cash rebates or other sales promotions. Cash is easy come, easy go.  It’s spent on mundane necessities.  Travel is memorable. Competitors can quickly match rebates and other promotion methods.  However, travel incentives are custom-designed exclusively for your company. Travel incentives represent a chance for hard-working individuals… Read More »10 Reasons Why Money Isn’t Everything But Travel Incentives Comes Real Close

As competition increases and brands vie to stay relevant, the strategic dilemma brands are often faced with is one that transcends just the marketing industry: should I take a risk or should I go with a “safer” bet? However, as the old adage goes, “nothing ventured, nothing gained.” While sometimes a safer bet seems like the most rational approach, some instances dictate taking risks —risks that, in turn, reap rewards… Read More »How Target Took Big Risks and Reaped Even Bigger Rewards

So, what are the marketing lessons can we take away from this successful story of natural experiential engagement? SEPARATE BUT NOT DISCONNECTED. The Yao tribesmen and the greater honeyguide birds are two completely different species – about as dissimilar and disconnected as you can imagine. This is in parallel to how brands and their target stakeholders are also thought of as being different “animals.” The birds in this case are… Read More »Experience Marketing What We Can Learn From Birds & Bees

But marketers have historically shied away from integrating experiential campaigns with their marketing strategy. Why? Because until recently, demonstrating impact was difficult to impossible. Within the past few years, technological innovation has helped marketers bridge the gap from qualitative effects to quantitative results. Today, online surveys, social media, and apps enable marketers to show more than customers’ having fun; they let marketers show results. Measuring Your Experiential Campaign Experiential marketing… Read More »Four Ways to Measure Your Experiential Marketing Campaign

Many businesses still don’t think they can afford an incentive program. But when you look more closely at the many benefits of creative travel rewards tied to employee performance, it’s clear that most businesses can’t afford not to have an incentive travel program in place. 1.    Inspire your employees Hopefully your employees find enjoyment in their work. Maybe they even find fulfillment. Even so, a creative incentive travel program always… Read More »7 Reasons Your Business Needs an Incentive Travel Program

How about ROI? Maybe we need to throw out ROI – for a moment at least and rethink the rationale for exhibiting. What if the rationale is to make your exhibit a gathering space for your company fans – kind of a  branded town square. Provide education and other value-added services that build your relationship with your customers. Sometimes warm and fuzzy beats ROI – in the long term anyway.… Read More »Learning from Retail – Is it a Store or an Ad or an Exhibit?

1. Enroll all stakeholders early in your planning process. Develop your strategy in collaboration with all stakeholders right from the start and before you get into design and activation mode. In events, ideas seem to pop up all along the way towards execution. There’s no hope of staying on target without full agreement to the strategy because otherwise, there’s no way to evaluate the ideas that arise. Consequently, decisions will… Read More »8 Event & Meeting Rules From Marketing Pro David Rich

Show Them a Good Time Yes, the holidays are filled with all sorts of warm and fuzzy feelings, but it’s also an extremely stressful time. For many, the time and financial investment associated with the season make life a bit more difficult. Therein lies the opportunity for brands to bring a little cheer. Take Baileys, for example. The Diageo-owned Irish liqueur is hosting “The Baileys Treat Stop” in the West… Read More »3 Ways Marketers Can Take Advantage of the Holidays

As marketers, we would love to believe that everyone is as passionate about our brand as we are. After all, we live and breathe it every single day. It’s easy to get tunnel vision. That’s why a study like Meaningful Brands is important. This immense report by Havas Group studies 1500 global brands, 300,000 people in 33 countries across 15 different industry sectors. It offers some great perspective, into how… Read More »Is Your Brand Meaningful

It’s not just fashion brands that can stand to benefit from a pop-up shop, though. Despite challenging market conditions that have forced many a layoff and plummeting sales numbers, some companies in the CPG category have used their creativity to reap the rewards. How have they done it? They’ve kept in mind these three goals: Generating Excitement: If you want a pop-up shop to create buzz for your brand, you… Read More »How CPG Brands Can Benefit from the Pop-Up Shop