People buy people. It’s one of those trite expressions we love in marketing but, certainly in the case of experiential, it’s 100% true. Experiential marketing is totally dependent on people – namely brand ambassadors – and campaigns and agencies live or die on the strength of them. I’m sure we’ve all experienced good and bad with brand ambassadors but, I don’t know about you, the bad ones seem to stick out. Here are a couple of recent ones lodged in my mind:
1. Walking through Waterloo station the other week and a well known mobile company had a stand with brand ambassadors trying to engage with the public. I was interested to know which agency had put it together so asked a few simple questions. Unfortunately the staff member could barely speak English. Now I've got nothing against people that don't speak English, many of my best friends are Mexicans, but should they be representing one of the UK’s biggest brands if they can’t speak to the UK public!? I still don’t know which agency did it but suffice to say my perception of the brand was somewhat lessened.
2. Westfield on the weekend, a gaggle of young brand ambassadors, dripping in hair gel, were working for one of the big energy providers on a stand. While walking past trying not to make eye contact, one cheeky fellow thought he'd grab my attention and regale me with the benefits of his product by calling me ‘fella’; something along the lines of 'alright fella' was his opening gambit. I’m not sure how he was briefed but presumably East Enders was a big part of it.
Now clearly being from an agency that specialises in experiential marketing and brand ambassador led campaigns, I’m not here to say that what we do is flawed. I’m here to say, well type really, that when we use people to represent a brand, standards have to be of the absolute very highest. Brand ambassadors should always be cast to suit the target audience, well briefed and tested and regularly mystery shopped. And when buying the best brand ambassadors and the agency they work for, don’t expect to pay peanuts because we all know what they’ll get you.
Thanks for listening,
Dan Hall
Marketing Manager
iD Experiential
www.iDExperiential.co.uk