A new survey by the Advertising Research Foundation shows in-person events can boost purchase intent as high as 52 percent.
The study found that "purchase intent" - a customer's stated interest in buying a product - rose from 11 percent to 52 percent among consumers who attended brand-sponsored events, including sports championships, walkathons and theme parks. Such purchase intent translated directly to sales about 50 percent of the time, the report states.
ARF studied 12 companies including Coca-Cola, Frito-Lay and State Farm that ran such events. Harris Interactive polled about 5,000 consumers online after the events' conclusion.
"We used two research firms and three different analyses and it all ended up at the same place: experiential marketing works," William Cook, ARF's senior vice president of research and standards, told Brandweek.
Success results included companies like State Farm that have no product to give away at such events. "It's an added opportunity to create awareness about your brand in relevant situations," said Mark Gibson, assistant vice president of advertising at State Farm.
On the B2B side, similar results were found. According to a survey of 2,000 attendees of trade shows in the spring or summer, 20 percent said they would have bought the brands that were exhibiting regardless of their attendance at the show. However, purchase intent rose to 54 percent when customers interacted with the 14 different brands studied. Cisco, Dell and Microsoft were among the brands measured across four different trade shows. Nearly half (46 percent) of attendees felt they had an "emotional connection" with the brand after interacting with it at a trade show. Only 15 percent said they would have made that claim regardless.
"The special value of events, sponsorships and trade shows has to be considered," Raymond Pettit, co-author and svp at MarketShare, told Brandweek. "There are many connection points you can build at an event whether it is emotional, aspirational or awareness building - it goes beyond just counting audience attendance."
Drew Livingston, owner of TrashTalkFCM, a non-traditional agency that also participated in the study, believes more research still needs to be done to understand the value of event marketing. "The goal is to level the playing field with traditional media."
Discussion Question: Do you think event marketing should become a bigger portion of consumer brand and retailer marketing efforts? What do you see as the keys to maximizing event marketing effectiveness?