CAMPAIGNS

Seeing the Future of In-Person Marketing Through a Beer Can Crystal Ball

Last Wednesday, Natural Light made a rare pandemic-era foray into in-person experiential marketing. I went to check out the event, in which the beer pong brand of choice unveiled "the world's most expensive piece of art" in NYC's Grand Central Station.

• Made up of 2,600 real college diplomas from graduates across the country, the value of “Da Vinci of Debt” is derived from the average total cost of a four-year college education—$180,000. 
• If you do the math, the exhibition is valued at $468 million. 

The future of marketing exhibitions is virtual—kind of

On January 13, face covered with a brand new N95 mask, I met Anheuser-Busch InBev VP of Value Portfolio Daniel Blake at the Da Vinci itself. Here’s what you can learn about the near future of in-person experiential marketing from our conversation. 

On pandemic timelines: Just as NYC restaurants are adapting to Covid-19 restrictions through outdoor dining structures, experiential marketing is finding similar workarounds. 

• “We had actually planned to launch this exhibit back in May or June of last year, but obviously with everything going on, we held off,” Blake said. “We felt now is the right time to do it because we have all the protocols in place to do it in a safe way.” 

On the pandemic driving virtual exhibitions: In this awkward time between the pandemic’s reign and the vaccine rollout, Blake thinks in-person marketing exhibitions are best used to drive interest in digital experiences surrounding them.

• The exhibit tapped both classics (a photo/video gallery on the A-B website) and rising stars (a Snapchat AR lens) for its digital components.

Virtual exhibits need high engagement

Speaking of fuel for virtual marketing exhibitions, there are more ways to drive engagement than just walking past an art piece in Grand Central. For instance, Natural Light used a play on user-generated content (UGC) to assist Da Vinci of Debt’s engagement metrics. 

• “We rented each diploma for a hundred dollars from people from all over the country,” Blake said.
• Knowing Natty Light actually sourced the diplomas from real grads gave the exhibit a more UGC feel—if your diploma’s actually in this thing, you’re more likely to share via social and word of mouth.

Why it matters: Sourcing user-generated diplomas (UGD?) not only drives interest among participants and their networks, but could also sit well with the average viewer. 

• A 2020 Stackla survey cited by HubSpot in June found that consumers find UGC 9.8 times more impactful than influencer content, and 79% of people say UGC “highly impacts their purchasing decisions.” 

My takeaway: As the pandemic rolls on in the US, expect in-person marketing exhibitions to trickle back into the conversation slowly and carefully. While we’re all still doing our best to physically distance and follow CDC protocols, the virtual components those exhibitions or events launch feel more important. 

SPONSORED BY IMPACT

This Is Hot

Paid search, you used to be the primary revenue driver for many companies. But guess what? You’re not the hottest channel on the business plan anymore. 

That distinction now belongs to partnerships. If you’re wondering why, Impact has put together an e-book called What’s The Channel Hotter Than Search?

It’s got all the details that reveal why partnerships are becoming a bigger engine for customer acquisition and revenue every day. 

You’ll also learn:

• Why standbys like sales, marketing, and now paid search are not key to growth anymore
• The wide array of partnership types available and how to choose what’s right for your business
• How to establish, manage, and optimize partnerships for maximum revenue

Get Impact’s e-book on the hotter than hot partnerships channel here.

FRENCH PRESS

More Marketing Tips to Make You Fancy

Instagram: Buffer spoke with Emma Ward, marketing manager for the New England smoothie bar The Juicery, about her two-pronged approach to finding the best times for The Juicery to post.

Strategy: If you’re like me, you love a good competitor analysis sesh—find out how to get the most out of your rival’s advertising strategy here. 

Copywriting: Read about the case for using abstract language in your ad copy—controversial, no? 

Books: Check out the 19 best marketing books for your 2021 reading list. 

Influencers: If it’s your first time reaching out to influencers for your brand, or if you’d just like to feel less awkward about it in general, look no further than this template.  

More influencers: Morning Brew’s Business Casual podcast host Kinsey Grant sat down with Cassey Ho—the “genius behind the Blogilates empire,” to chat about how fitness influencers basically paved the way for the Peloton lifestyle we know today. Listen here.

Jobs: LinkedIn recently put out a list of the 15 most in-demand jobs for 2021—see which marketing gigs made the cut.

Lives: At this point, I think we can all agree that Facebook Lives < Instagram Lives. But that doesn’t mean you should give up on ye olde FB…here’s how to make your Facebook Live videos more interesting.

SPONSORED BY ITERABLE

Save the date so you can save the day. Mark your calendar for the virtual marketing conference of the year—Activate Live on April 7—and become a customer experience superhero. You’ll learn how brands establish long-lasting, individualized relationships with their customers at scale—from big shot brands themselves. Think visionaries like Airbnb, Asana, Zillow, and Warby Parker, who’ve attended in years past. Reimagine the customer experience at Activate Live. Register for free, right here.

AD ANTIQUES

Vintage Ad Browser

I’m just a girl, standing in front of a 1945 cigarette ad, asking the designers behind it what that world was like.

PASS THE MIC

ICYMI, the team at Cannes Lions wrote an op-ed for Marketing Brew on the trends that emerged in 2020 which it expects will endure in 2021. 

Read it here . 

ICYMI

Catch up on a few Marketing Brew stories you might have missed.

• A major Super Bowl LV ad inventory update
• Facebook hired an Obama White House advisor and an R/GA alum in new leadership positions
• To embrace Dry January or not to...do that? That is the question