What does an experiential marketing agency do all day? Is it different to a brand experience agency? And does anyone care anyway?
To answer the questions in reverse order...
(iii) Probably not, but they should.
(ii) Not really.
(i) Lots of stuff, but it's kind of hard to pin down.
Which brings me to why watching Gordon Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmares is a great way to understand what this space (and the agencies that play in it) should be all about. And why everyone should care...
In Kitchen Nightmares, Ramsey visits a restaurant that's in trouble. He begins by sampling its product, in terms of its food, service, environment, and overall experience. He then looks behind the scenes...at the staff, the leadership, the culture, the processes, the working environment. He talks to customers. He takes his time (with the help of his researchers and consultants) to diagnose the (most likely) complex and multi-faceted problems the restaurant faces. And he sets about doing whatever needs to be done.
He focuses on the food...both in terms of design (the menu) and execution (the cooking). He focuses on the service...both in terms of getting the basics right (hot food on the table on time) and going the extra mile (warmth and hospitality). He focuses on the people...are they talented, are they motivated, are they working well together, do they all know what they are trying to achieve, are they being led well? He focuses on the working environment...from cleanliness to functionality. He focuses on the dining environment...from functionlity and flow to desirability and contextual appeal. He looks at the pricing...is it right for the food and the overall experience or could the product be packaged or priced differently? He looks at the promotion of the business...is the restaurant getting the attention it deserves and is it driving talkability and recommnedation?
Ramsey, in other words, recognises that successful businesses are built by more than just good product (in this case good food) or good advertising. Both are valuable (although plenty of good advertising can come organically and for free these days). But there's so much more to creating a strong experience brand.
That, in a nutshell, is the basis of experiential marketing...looking at every experience a brand creates for every one of its stakeholders...analysing every relationship that has a material impact on the success of a business...understanding why those experiences and relationships matter and how they could be improved...and then actually doing it. Just like Gordon Ramsey. Well, sort of.
As a footnote...Seth Godin has just written an interesting post on creating products people love and making products that don't annoy people and the incompatibility between those two strategies. Which is both interesting and worth challenging, when you think about it.
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