Getting the 15% bump

This is a series of posts based on the Art of Marketing conference. This one is based on Max Lenderman's session.

Experiential marketing and advertising usually gives a 15% bump in sales and is second only to online marketing. We yearn to be with people.

Experiential marketing is where potential consumers are immersed in an experience related to the product or message. In India, telecom companies hire Bollywood-type actors to act out a 30 minute drama to educate the growing middle class on how to use mobile phones and sees 43% of people who watch the show buy a mobile phone.

The North American equivalent is event based marketing.

The US Army travels to festivals, air shows, and car drag races and sets up a tent to allow people to virtually experience what it is like to be in the army. They have a virtual reality game where anyone can get in a Hummer or a Jeep with a mounted machine gun and shoot down the bad guys. If they have a good score, they ask them if they want to shoot bad guys for the army.

As a result, the US Army hit its target goal for recruiting 3 years in a row and it was so successful that they opened a brick and mortar store inside a mall to recruit people into the army using the virtual reality game.

When thinking about communicating a message to students on campus, what kind of experience can we offer that immerses them in a life changing message?