Experiential Marketing Ahoy!

Marketing breeds from Man and his thoughts, it seriously has got nothing to do with myths and protocols. The stratagem to win over the other man is in the man who conceives it. No book can tell you what a man will like; it’s for you to go to him and experience.

Going by the same thought, man has invented newer schools of Marketing and proposed new models and methods to sell his products to the other man. One such or the latest I have heard is Experiential Marketing. We had a Seminar, part of the Rostrum Seminar Series, on the 9^th of September, 2006 at our department and we got an industry insight into Experiential Marketing, with bigwigs from Reckitt Benckiser, Nokia, CSC, Maruti Udyog Ltd, IBM, Technopak gracing the occasion and sharing their gyaan with us.

The event was chaired by our professsors Dr. Rajat.K.Baisya, Mr. Harish Chaudhary, Prof. RK Banwet, Prof Ranjan Chaudhary. In the presentations during the event, we got an insight into what Experiential Marketing is all about.

The seminar sure consolidated my ideas that the philosophy of Experiential Marketing is borrowed from nowhere else but life. If we look into our lives, we realize that experiential marketing has not started with the genesis of the term, but genesis of the world.

When I browsed the net for more ideas on Experiential Marketing, I stumbled upon this interesting blog.

When we look at things from the perspective of Experiential Marketing, it is not the process of making the customer experience the product, it is about the brand and its bonding with the customer. It is about establishing a chemistry with the customer. Keeping the customer in touch with the product and developments in the company is not Experiential Marketing. Let the customer have a complete experience of the brand and relate to the company and then decide for or against the brand.

Barista followed Experiential Marketing from long ago, and then when you look at life, it is abound with examples of Experiential Marketing. Mom made you taste the food with the aroma emanating out of the kitchen and establish a chemistry with the food being cooked. We spoke to people many times before we grew on to be best friends, we meet, each other, share interests, realize that the other person is interesting and then propose love. And the biggest example is the Hindu marriage custom, where both the families meet, and then decide if they can gel well together for life. Now, this doesn’t mean the whole experience, but you at least get a hang of what you are going to get :P

If there ever is a signing off note for Marketing, I would say that it draws entirely from life. Observe people, know the customs, know your product and make it a brand, that is Marketing for you, let the road taken be Experiential or whatever!

To sell is the motto and Marketing is the way!