The Reopening of the Experiential Marketing Industry According to All Terrain Collective
How many times have you heard the annoying but purposeful question: “Are we there yet”?
Now more than ever we are hearing this question asked in so many ways as we begin to arrive at the grand re-opening of the world. The journey has been long and at times very uncomfortable as we approach the end of the road for stay at home orders.
As countries around the world start to roll out plans for re-opening we at All Terrain Collective have prepared a road map that will provide some scenery into the journey ahead for live experiences and brand to consumer engagement.
June-July:
Stay the course for online events while planning for late summer experiences.
We have been working with our clients to pivot live experiences that were planned for Spring 2020 to on-line experiences. Every program we will produce in 2020 (and beyond) will have a heavier digital and online experience connected to the live experience.
We are working with auto, fashion and CPG clients on breakthrough digital experiences that will be both gated and totally public facing. These experiences will drive more eyeballs, engagement and sales just by the fact that we can reach a larger audience through pre produced and live stream content. Which will be connected to an appealing invitation and a strong call to action.
August Through Year End
Production of Pop-Up experiences and Brand Tours that are able to maintain social distancing and sanitation protocol will begin to roll out.As cities start to open up, so will smaller live experiences. We are planning Pop Up Retail and Pop Up Experiences across the country that will be managed through time ticked access that allow for highly regulated numbers of people to be in a space at one time.
Spaces we build out will be cleaned and wiped down between every turn of groups. As of now staff will be wearing branded masks and if necessary we will take temperatures prior to entry. Mobile Tours will start springing up in retail parking lots and permitted areas in certain cities.
According to Chief Marketer, “…these campaigns can be structured as mobile tours led by traveling Managers who are fully trained on current health and safety guidelines to ensure compliance at every activation, with branded tour vehicles maximizing visibility within and between each target market”.
These tours will be focused on products that are pre-packaged and require no preparation. If there is a product demo opportunity it will most likely be done by a Brand Ambassador not allowing consumers to touch or use a product. Closed samples should be allowed.
Events and Experiences
While most large crowd focused events have been canceled in 2020 we believe that interactive experiences like Xtreme Xperience (https://www.thextremexperience.com) which is a ticketed Supercar driving experience that consumers can enjoy on racetracks across North America will start to tour almost immediately.
Co-author of this article Adam Stevenson is a partner in Xtreme Xperience and shares the company’s reopening protocol. “As Xtreme Xperience prepares to get back on track, new social distancing policies along with heightened sanitization has been implemented to ensure the health and safety of our customers and employees.
“Customers will continue to make individual reservations and a maximum of 10 guests will be allowed in any classroom, pit or spectating location. All equipment and vehicles will be disinfected before and after each driving experience, each customer will be given a brand new head sock which covers their mouth and nose, all employees will be required to wear PPE and be temperature checked at the beginning of each day and awareness and directional signage will be placed throughout to encourage distancing and frequent personal hygiene.”
As All Terrain, other agencies in the experiential industry and consumer brands plan to bring much needed experiences back into consumers’ lives, we do so by being hyper committed to the health of consumers and employees.
Installing and executing consumer confidence is what will provide a road map to successfully answering the question “Are we there yet”.