brand activation case study

13 Brand Activation Examples From Famous Brands to Inspire You

What do we learn from the best brand activation examples? Brand activation is about driving product growth by connecting emotionally with people on a personal level.

In this article, we take a deep dive into the concept of brand activation and go over 13 great examples that will inspire you to create your activation strategy.

Let’s dive in!

• Brand activation involves building awareness for a company through engaging interactions with potential customers.
• Brand activation campaigns help you build an emotional connection with your audience. This leads to improved brand awareness and differentiation from other brands.
• There are different types of brand activation campaigns, including experiential, digital, guerilla, and word-of-mouth marketing , among others.
• To create a successful activation strategy , you must first define your product’s value proposition . Then, you’ll need to identify your audience and analyze your strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities.
• Finally, decide on your preferred acquisition channels and collaborate with your team for brand activation ideas.

13 top examples of SaaS brand activations include:

• Userpilot hosts industry webinars to generate brand awareness .
• HubSpot implements certification programs to drive brand activation .
• Ahrefs uses video marketing to reach relevant audiences .
• Dropbox invests in customer loyalty programs to drive word-of-mouth .
• Calendly creates growth loops to improve brand awareness .
• Userpilot showcases brand values on Product Hunt to attract like-minded people .
• Bynder triggers product demos for website visitors to drive brand activation .
• Slack drives brand activations via social media engagement .
• Userpilot uses content marketing to increase brand awareness .
• Attlasian’s free trials open an opportunity for a brand activation event .
• Tableau builds trust with potential customers on software review platforms .
• Spotify partners with a non-competing brand with a similar audience .
• Starbucks leveraged influencer marketing to promote its “Sparkle Shop” .
• Book a Userpilot demo today to learn how you can leverage in-app engagement to drive your brand activation goals.

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What is brand activation?

Brand activation is the process of forging an emotional connection with your target audience through interactive events and experiences.

It goes beyond traditional advertising to influence people and emotionally connect them with your brand.

Why is brand activation important?

Brand activation occurs in a variety of ways, providing the target audience with a new brand experience. The unique experience it provides benefits your business in multiple ways, including:

• Emotional connection : Brand activation endears the audience to your brand. It captures their attention on a deep level, fostering trust and loyalty .
• Improved brand awareness : Unique, interactive experiences get people buzzing. People love to document and post about them. By making your experiences shareable, you improve your brand’s reach.
• Reduced costs : Because it is often cheaper than traditional advertising, brand activation reduces the cost of your marketing campaigns and improves your return on investment .
• Differentiation : Inventive and engaging experiences help you stand out from the competition by showcasing your brand personality and values in a unique and memorable way.

Types of Brand Activation Campaigns

There are many ways to activate your brand, each impacting the brand activation ideas and strategies you can work with. Consider a few popular examples:

• Experiential marketing : Experiential marketing campaigns immerse consumers in unique experiences and connect them to your core brand principles. For instance, you can create a virtual reality experience that transports users to the heart of your product story .
• Digital marketing : Target potential customers online by attracting them to your online marketplace or website. For example, you can leverage social media to create interactive contests and challenges that drive engagement .
• Guerilla marketing : Guerrilla marketing uses unconventional and novel methods to attract interest in your brand and boost sales. You can use viral messaging, for example, to force customers to pay attention to your brand and ignore other brands.
• Word-of-mouth marketing : Word-of-mouth marketing is a viral marketing strategy that relies on customers sharing their product experience with others. For instance, you can induce customers to share their positive experiences with your product on social media.

Regardless of your preferred approach, the type of brand activation campaign you choose should match your product’s use cases and audience demography. How so?

How to create a successful brand activation strategy

To create the right buzz around your company or product, you need an effective brand activation strategy ; one that considers the needs of your brand and its users.

• Step 1: Define your value proposition : To create a successful brand activation strategy, you first need to understand the value your product brings to the table and then create messaging that aligns with it.
• Step 2: Identify your target audience : Understand your prospective customers’ demographics, interests, and needs . This will enable you to tailor your messaging to their specific needs.
• Step 3: Make a SWOT analysis : Your goal is to determine your brand’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. This should help you identify the best approach for your brand activation campaign. If finance is a problem, for example, you can opt for a virtual event or creative booth instead of an elaborate media campaign.
• Step 4: Decide on the acquisition channels : From traditional media channels like print and television to online channels like social media and influencer marketing, various options exist for attracting people to your brand activation campaigns. So, ensure you choose a channel that fits your audience and budget.
• Step 5: Brainstorm brand activation campaign ideas with your team : Once you’ve decided on the “who,” “why,” and “how” of your campaign, you can now focus on the “what.” This step builds on the information from the previous steps to bring your campaign to life.

13 great brand activation examples

Thankfully, with several successful brand activations in SaaS, you don’t have to go too far in search of brand activation ideas. Consider 13 brand activation examples to aid your ideation process.

1. Userpilot hosts industry webinars to generate brand awareness

One way Userpilot has successfully generated brand awareness is through its regularly hosted industry webinars .

As a product growth brand, Userpilot’s webinars discuss everything from product analytics to SaaS product metrics, user onboarding best practices, and user feedback techniques .

Through these webinars, Userpilot imparts knowledge that improves the work quality of its target audience. This direct interaction also gives the brand a human face, making it more personable and trustworthy.

2. HubSpot implements certification programs to drive brand activation

Similar to the above, HubSpot offers free educational courses for inbound marketing training. All of these courses are paired with an industry-recognizable certificate that makes them attractive.

Once a user starts taking any of these courses, they experience the power and versatility of HubSpot’s CRM and marketing platform. They also get a badge they can flaunt upon completion of the course.

HubSpot, thus, employs the hook model to attract potential users. The value they deliver positions them as industry thought leaders while giving new users a chance to learn about their products.

3. Ahrefs uses video marketing to reach relevant audiences

Thanks to the popularity and sheer size of platforms like YouTube and TikTok, video marketing campaigns are hotbeds for customer acquisition .

Ahrefs perfectly takes advantage of this opportunity on YouTube. They create how-to and educational videos that teach the audience something new and introduce their product solutions.

Using videos like these, Ahrefs is able to build trust and authority and attract potential customers.

4. Dropbox invests in customer loyalty programs to drive word-of-mouth

Dropbox’ “Refer a Friend” campaign is an ongoing campaign that rewards loyalty and incentivizes existing users to promote the brand.

This clever approach to word-of-mouth marketing turns users into marketers by offering free storage space (up to 32 GB!) for both the referrer and the referred user.

Dropbox, thus, benefits from the power of social proof to boost its brand visibility, build emotional connections, and increase brand loyalty.

5. Calendly creates growth loops to improve brand awareness

Growth loops are self-reinforcing systems where current actions act as triggers for future events and vice-versa. You can implement a growth loop to drive customer acquisition, engagement , or even retention .

There are many ways to create growth loops, such as the Dropbox referral example above, user-generated content campaigns, and more.

Calendly has managed to create a perpetual loop by adding its brand labels to the free meeting links its users share with others. Every usage of Calendly’s service, thus, becomes a promotion of its brand.

6. Userpilot showcases brand values on Product Hunt to attract like-minded people

Yet another way Userpilot drives brand activation is through its campaigns on Product Hunt .

With over 5 million visitors per month, Product Hunt is a buzzing community of techies and digital product lovers. It is, thus, a fertile hunting ground for website visitors, app downloads, etc.

By including Product Hunt campaigns in its product launch plan , Userpilot directly reaches those who need its product the most – product managers .

7. Bynder triggers product demos for website visitors to drive brand activation

Product demos showcase a product through a visual demonstration of how the product works. It is designed to provide a general overview of the product to boost engagement .

Product demos are undoubtedly one of the best brand activation examples, and Bynder uses them expertly to improve conversions .

Once a user signs up for a free trial, Bynder presents a 3-minute tutorial that highlights the product’s most important features and gets the user going. The goal? Boost engagement and drive conversion!

8. Slack drives brand activations via social media engagement

Slack quickly became everyone’s favorite workspace, thanks to its positioning as a relaxed and friendly workspace. With GIFs, emojis, and more, Slack creates an engaging environment for its users.

Slack employs a variety of methods to reach potential users and engage with them. One of these is social media – which advertises with a simple but effective message : “Making work simpler, more pleasant, and more productive.”

9. Userpilot uses content marketing to increase brand awareness

A subset of the digital marketing technique, content marketing is a powerful tool for building brand awareness. It involves creating content that resonates with your audience and provides them value.

From its inception, Userpilot has relied heavily on content marketing to generate organic traffic. It combines a regularly updated blog with a targeted newsletter for product analysts and managers.

By consistently putting out helpful, educational content on user onboarding , product marketing , user engagement , and SaaS growth strategies , Userpilot is able to attract the right audience.

10. Attlasian’s free trials open an opportunity for a brand activation event

Free trials are one of the less obvious but hyper-effective brand activation examples. Think of it as walking the streets giving out free samples of your new product to strangers who wouldn’t risk buying it otherwise.

When properly implemented, they allow these “strangers” to experience the full spectrum of your product and decide if they’d like to pay for it.

Atlassian uses this brand activation strategy excellently, offering its entire suite of products up for a limited-time free trial. This builds interest in the product, converting leads into paying customers .

11. Tableau builds trust with potential customers on software review platforms

Tableau harnesses the power of word-of-mouth marketing a little differently from Dropbox. Instead of direct referrals, it aims to build trust through social proof.

To do this, it encourages and incentivizes happy customers to leave public reviews. This public endorsement acts as public proof of its effectiveness, encouraging others to take the plunge.

12. Spotify partners with a non-competing brand with a similar audience

In 2019, two tech giants – Spotify and Uber – came together for a collaborative brand activation campaign. The idea was to elevate the in-car experience by allowing passengers to control the music during Uber rides.

The result was a wider audience and more leads for both brands. On the one hand, Uber solved a problem for customers (music control during otherwise frustrating commutes to enhance the ride experience).

On the other hand, Spotify cemented its position as a reliable brand designed to make life easier.

13. Starbucks leveraged influencer marketing to promote its “Sparkle Shop”

One way to harness the power of social media is through influencer marketing. Starbucks used this excellently when promoting their new line of Teavana teas.

They opened a pop-up store in Toronto, which they labeled as a “Sparkle Shop.” Then, they partnered with a glitter-loving YouTube influencer to promote it.

The big takeaway from these brand activation examples is that there are multiple approaches to brand activation. Simply find the approach that fits your brand and budget, and you’re good to go.

Ready to leverage your product to drive activation through webinar invites, in-app demos/tutorial videos, and more? Book a Userpilot demo today to learn how it can help you!

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35 Best Brand Activation Examples & Ideas from Successful Campaigns 

Introducing your brand to new people and getting them interested can be tricky, but one way to go about it is through brand activation campaigns. Brand activation is a marketing tactic by which brands can raise awareness about their brand and increase engagement through various kinds of engaging experiences. This can include events, displays, games, and more.  

If you’re looking for ideas for creative brand activations, this article is for you! We’ve gathered up the best brand activation ideas and examples from successful campaigns run by brands in all types of industries and regions . We have 35 examples broken down into the following five categories:  

• Best pop-up brand activation campaign examples (12)  
• In-person activities, scavenger hunts, & gamification for brand activation (10)  
• Virtual, online & digital brand activation ideas (5)  
• Creative social media brand activation ideas (5)  
• Educational brand activation ideas (3)  

Now let’s get into our list of 35 successful brand activation examples to help inspire your own marketing plans.  

35 Brand activation examples & ideas

This list of our best brand activation ideas will give you some inspiration for your next brand activation project. The examples below are organized into categories to help you easily find the types of examples you’re looking for, whether you want to run your campaign online or in-person, as a pop-up event, and more!  

Best pop-up brand activation campaign examples

A pop-up activation campaign is a branded experience that people would go to in-person. These can be stand-alone experiences , displays at larger events, pop-up shops, or even mobile tours !  

1. Free No WiFi Zone | KitKat

Photograph by Tim Keen/JWT Amsterdam.  

Popular chocolate bar brand KitKat hosted outdoor “ no wi-fi zones ” where people could follow the brand slogan and “have a break.” While most people might be looking for areas with free wi-fi, KitKat saw an opportunity to remind people to slow down , relax , and embody their tagline .  

Why This Was So Powerful: This tied in perfectly with the brand’s existing marketing theme and made for a lo-fi, but memorable , experience.  

2. #WeighThis | Lean Cuisine

While Lean Cuisine may be traditionally thought of as a diet brand, they ran a pop-up event in New York City where they invited women to look not at their body weight, but instead at their biggest achievements and positive attributes like being a single mom to four children, or going back to school at age 55.  

Why This Was So Powerful: This type of messaging helped Lean Cuisine form a new, more positive brand identity in the minds of consumers that moved away from pre-existing stigmas or brand perceptions .  

3. Spectacles Launch | Snapchat

Daily Mail – Sara Toufall : https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3924450/Snapchat-s-Spectacles-sale-sort-Firm-unveils-Snapbot-vending-machine-Venice-Beach-selling-129-picture-taking-specs.html  

To promote the launch of their “Spectacles” smart eyewear, Snap Inc. opted to set up a big, yellow vending machine outside of their head office at Venice Beach in California. This is very different from how most tech companies would handle the launch of a brand brand-new product, but it helped build a lot of hype due to the limited access and exclusivity of the vending machine being the only place to get them at first launch.  

Why This Was So Powerful: Making your products harder to get can help create more hype and get people more excited about finally owning your products once they get them . The exclusivity of the location also help ed increase the shareable FOMO value of the experience for those who were able to attend in-person, boosting the viral success of this as a result.

4. Sparkle Shop | Starbucks

Starbucks opened a pop-up shop to introduce the world to their new carbonated (sparkling) drinks. They invited many bloggers and influencers to come partake in the event, which helped the new drinks go viral on social media.  

Why This Was So Powerful: Giving away a few drinks for free in exchange for social media presence helped bring authentic customers in quickly.  

5. Taco Bell Hotel | Taco Bell

All images courtesy The Bell: A Taco Bell Hotel & Resort

Another pop-up that went viral on social media was the Taco Bell Hotel . Taco Bell temporarily took over a Palm Springs resort to provide an exclusive list of customers with an immersive Taco Bell resort vacation experience. This experience included being able to try new menu items, a gift shop full of Taco Bell swag, and the entire resort was designed with Taco Bell’s branding and colors.  

Why This Was So Powerful: Customers were so eager for a n exclusive chance to reserve a room at this hotel and loved being able to see content about the hotel on social media.  

6. Rickmobile | Rick & Morty (TV Show)

Rick & Morty, a popular animated show for adults , ran a campaign with a mobile pop-up, featuring a car shaped like , one of the main characters , Rick . Fans of the show were so excited to check out the “Rickmobile” and take photos with the unique car, which led to posts about this campaign going viral online almost instantly .  

Why This Was So Powerful: The pop-up promoted the show, prompted fans to post photos online, and also sold branded swag. Brand awareness across the board!  

7. Flavor Rooms | M&Ms

Iconic candy brand M&Ms hosted a pop-up in New York City to help them choose a new flavor of M&Ms candy to launch. The event included various “flavor rooms” where each room was dedicated to reflect a specific flavor they were considering, with themed drinks, snacks, and decor.   

Why This Was So Powerful: This was an amazing opportunity to have customers provide feedback to help M&Ms pick a new product to release, and doubled as an immersive Instagram-worthy moment for their attendees to create buzz about the brand on social media. The dual purpose of this pop-up served the brand key research data as well as buzz-worthy content that offered organic growth and engagement on social media.   

8. Lovers vs. Haters Pop-up | Marmite

Marmite is a divisive condiment that people either love or hate. The brand embraced this fact by running a pop-up for both lovers and haters. Upon entering the pop-up, people’s social media pages were analyzed by a “love-o-meter” to determine how positive their online presence was. If their page was deemed positive, they would be given free products and snacks.  

Why This Was So Powerful: This campaign made use of the Marmite slogan “you either love it or you hate it” while promoting positivity online at the same time. Talk about a great way to spread the love and support community all at once.  

9. Perrier Greenhouse | Perrier

As a promotion for the green apple flavor launch of their popular sparkling water, Perrier put on an event at a greenhouse that was all green themed. It featured fun activities and samples of their new sparkling water flavor.  

Why This Was So Powerful: Giving out free samples allowed Perrier to get a feel for what their customers thought of their new product while also providing a fun experience to build brand loyalty.  

10. Dry Shampoo Salons | Batiste

Batiste ran a pop-up salon promoting their dry shampoo products to refresh hair in between shampoos. They had professional hair stylists using their products on guests to allow them to try it out while also trying to break the stigma around using dry shampoo between washes rather than washing your hair every day.  

Why This Was So Powerful: This was a creative way to allow potential customers to try out Batiste products before purchasing. Having a professional stylist use the products on people makes the product even more enticing by reinforcing the value of the product in a professional setting .  

11. #BrightSide | Mike’s Hard Lemonade

Mike’s Hard Lemonade created an indoor experience featuring a ball pit, karaoke, and a lemonade conveyor belt. It was all decorated in yellow and encouraged guests to have an optimistic outlook with their #BrightSide hashtag.  

Why This Was So Powerful: This event helped associate Mike’s Hard and their products with a positive attitude and fun activities. It was a great way to build brand loyalty while putting a positive spin on the brand’s identity.  

12. Goodness Machine | GoGo Squeez

GoGo Squeez created a large vending machine shaped like their popular applesauce pouches to sell their products at the Mall of America. To entice participation, the pop-up experience included a giveaway for a winner to get a one- year supply of applesauce products. 

Why This Was So Powerful: This campaign was successful because people love a surprising and novel experience of a giant vending machine. Since this product is marketed at children, doing something memorable for kids helped boost the success of the campaign.  

In-person activities, scavenger hunts, & games for brand activation

If you’re looking to do some kind of in-person exhibit, display, event, or brand activation games, this section is for you! Here are 10 examples for in-person brand activations.  

13. Audible Beach at Comic-Con | Audible

At Comic-Con in San Diego, California, audiobook company Audible created a sand sculpture display on the beach. Attendees were able to observe the literary-themed sculptures while listening to Audible original audiobooks. People could sample their audiobooks while enjoying unique sand sculptures, and their branding and brand message was a prominent component around the display.  

Why This Was So Powerful: Audible created an installation that people wanted to take pictures with and was begging to be shared on social media, while also providing samples of their product – audiobooks – to attendees. Art paired with activity is a great way to build curiosity and excitement while also setting the stage for some unique FOMO content.   

14. Stratos | Red Bull

Photo: Felix Baumgartner jumps from Space © Red Bull Stratos / Red Bull Content Pool  

Energy drink company Red Bull has associated themselves with extreme sports through sponsorship of events for several years. One amazing example of this was dubbed “ Stratos ” where in 2012, an Austrian skydiver named Felix Baumgartner set a new record for the world’s highest skydive.  

Why This Was So Powerful: Red Bull put on an above average event and landed themselves in the book of world records with this amazing stunt!  

15. Jump Store | Adidas

To promote their new basketball shoes, Adidas opened a store with a game that gave participants 24 seconds to jump and try to grab products that were 10 meters up. Adidas had a player from the Chicago Bulls basketball team participating and promoting the campaign, and people were excited for the opportunity to win free products through the game!  

Why This Was So Powerful: Adidas was able to promote their shoes in the process of hosting this fun & memorable gamified in- store brand activation .  

16. Coloring Book Meetings | Plum Organics

Plum Organics keeps a kid-friendly spirit to their branding, and in keeping with that have hosted internal meetings that bring out the inner child in their employees by offering coloring books during the meetings. These sessions end up being less stressful and more creative as a result, as everyone is enjoying themselves without as much pressure as a typical meeting might have.  

Why This Was So Powerful: This example is more of an internal activation than a consumer marketing campaign, however it builds brand loyalty within the company and shows that the brand stands behind its values.  

17. Nike Run Club | Nike

The Nike Run Club is a gamified workout experience that encourages users of the app to work out with the app as their companion. It provides workout tips and promotes Nike products at the same time. It also has features for social media sharing, encouraging others to use the app as well. People feel good about themselves using the app, and when suggested products they can buy that will improve their workouts and lifestyle even more, it makes sense to go with Nike since it’s already presented within the workout app.  

Why This Was So Powerful: This app has been very successful and profitable for Nike because it promotes a healthy lifestyle with their branding and products in mind, and also builds brand loyalty in the process.  

18. Computex | Intel

A very memorable and unique brand activation example is Intel’s Computex trade show which featured a keynote speech presented in the form of a digital hologram. This took place in 2016 and holograms were a new and exciting technological advancement, making this a show-stopping experience for the attendees.  

Why This Was So Powerful: Using a n emerging and exclusiv e technology that not everyone has access to makes for a very exciting, unique and memorable experience for your guests, and whenever they think back to that memory, the brand will be in mind as well!  

19. 29Rooms | Refinery29

J oel H enderson https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2018/09/209141/29-rooms-nyc-2018-photos#slide-2  

Refinery29 has hosted its 29Rooms event a handful of times, and every time it has become a social media phenomenon. 29Rooms is a giant funhouse featuring 29 separately designed and branded rooms. Refinery29 has partnered with many other brands to sponsor various rooms at the event, including Ulta Beauty, Cadillac, Dyson, and Dunkin’ Donuts. 29Rooms is different every time, so people will want to keep coming back to see what they’ve done the next time! Other companies, like American Express , are already catching on to this format and creating their own exhibitions of immersive themed rooms that feature local artists and brands through partnerships and sponsors.  

Why This Was So Powerful: Partnering with popular brands and creating an experience that begs to be posted on social media by its guests made this event a massive success.    

20. Twitter Beach at Cannes Festival | Twitter

At the 2019 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, Twitter decided to create # TwitterBeach , a space on the beach where attendees could take a break. This was a Twitter-branded VIP hangout spot that included swag giveaways, interviews, and a photo booth to snap some pictures to share. The entire space was beautifully decorated and was definitely tweet-worthy, with various hashtags printed on the walls and on signs encouraging those who attended to share a snap online.  

Why This Was So Powerful: Twitter thoughtfully designed the Twitter Beach space for their target audience to get people talking and posting about Twitter and their initiatives.  

21. House of Vans | Vans

Photo courtesy House of Vans / Ryan Lebel  

Vans executed a series of highly successful pop-up skatepark festivals called House of Vans where they host skateboarding events. Vans has run multiple events in their House of Vans spaces, including one for International Women’s Day aimed at female skateboarders. This included lessons, live bands, and a screening of a documentary.  

Why This Was So Powerful: House of Vans has helped build relationships and a sense of community between skateboarders and Vans shoes, and these events have also allowed the brand to present themselves as inclusive and supportive of niche communities, like female skateboarders. This further helps build brand loyalty.  

22. Burrito Builder | Chipotle & Roblox

On National Burrito Day in 2022 , the popular Roblox video game teamed up with Mexican restaurant chain , Chipotle , to create the online “burrito builder” within the Roblox game platform . Participants in the online experience were able to win in-game currency called “Burrito Bucks” and the first 100,000 players to create a virtual burrito were able to win real-world prizes in the Chipotle app.  

Why This Was So Powerful: This was a creative and fun collaboration that celebrated a little-known or niche “holiday” and turned gamers into real-life customers.  

Virtual, online, & digital brand activation ideas

If your company has a smaller marketing budget or no place to set up an in-person or outdoor brand activation, you can do it remotely instead! Here are five examples of virtual brand activations that were executed online and on television.  

23. Virtual Concert | Fortnite

(Image credit: Epic Games)  

In April 2020, popular battle royale video game , Fortnite , hosted an in-game concert with Travis Scott headlining the event. The virtual concert featured a CGI version of Travis, with amazing graphic design and animation to go along with the musical performance. The concert was only around 10 minutes long but it had over 27 million participants!  

Why This Was So Powerful: This was an incredibly unique experience and came at a time when people were feeling down because of the pandemic lockdowns that were still ongoing at the time. It also brought tons of new players to Fortnite.  

24. Google I/O | Google

Google I/O was an event with options to attend in-person or online, and featured 360-degree cameras to film the keynote speakers, and showcased Google’s newest developments. Virtual attendees could tune in live on YouTube for free, which made the event very easily accessible.  

Why This Was So Powerful: Google I/O drew in attendees from all over the world and allowed them to show off their newest innovations to audiences in person and virtually.  

25. Shark Tank | Bala Bangles

( ABC /Eric McCandless)  

Bala Bangles wearable weights marketed their brand by going on the popular entrepreneurial TV show , Shark Tank, having cheerleaders model and demonstrate the use of the products. Bala Bangles’ presentation interested every one of the investors on the show and ended up agreeing to an investment deal with Kevin O’Leary.  

Why This Was So Powerful: Bala Bangles’ tapped into the popularity and existing viewership of the es tablished Shark Tank TV show which helped them triple their brand’s revenue in under six months!  

26. Virtual Fun Run | Field Mag

In May 2020, Field Mag put on a 0.5k (half-kilometer) virtual fun run race to benefit the food bank of New York City. This was a non-intimidating short (virtual) race that allowed people to participate virtually, while raising funds for local nonprofits. Participants joined the race on Zoom, and their ticket for entry doubled as a donation to the event.  

Why This Was So Powerful: During the pandemic people could not gather in large numbers, so this was a creative way to run a charity race without having people gather in-person.  

27. Hotel Experience | Stella Artois

Stella Artois ran a giveaway to provide winners with a virtual “hotel stay” and free products. This was a very innovative idea to provide winners with perks of a hotel stay like a “room service” care package, celebrity “hotel staff” on video calls, and more from the comfort of their own home during the pandemic.  

Why This Was So Powerful: The “ Hotel Artois at Home ” experience was successful because it encouraged participants to find ways to enjoy themselves during a time that was hard for everyone, and put their products at the forefront of those daydream visions. Having celebrities participate also made it more exciting!  

Creative social media brand activation ideas

Social media platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and more are also a great way to run online brand activations. These can include giveaways, hashtag campaign s , and more. Here are 5 great examples of brand activations on social media.  

28. Spotify Wrapped | Spotify

We’ve all seen the year-end summaries of Spotify listening history from throughout the year that our friends share on social media. “ Wrapped ” is a hugely successful annual brand activation by music streaming service Spotify that shows users what they’ve listened to the most over the past year and pr ovides them with post-ready graphics and assets that they are encouraged them to share on social media. Wrapped has been so successful that other streaming services like Apple Music have created their own imitations of it. And you know what they say, “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery”!  

Why This Was So Powerful: Spotify Wrapped encourages sharing and makes non-users feel the FOMO of not having their recap own to share. This brand activation has driven big increases in profit by promoting sign-ups from people seeing their friends’ posts on social media.  

29. Selfie-Mobile at NYFW | Uber & Smartwater

I mage courtesy: https://www.simplebooth.com/blog/best-experiential-marketing-examples-and-ideas/  

During New York Fashion Week, a collaborative campaign was put on by Uber and Smartwater with a mobile selfie station dubbed “the selfie-mobile.” Guests could get free rides from Uber and enjoy free Smartwater while riding in fancy black SUVs and taking selfies in the back seat. The vehicles were decked out with selfie machines and lighting and the people who participated absolutely loved it. This made for a unique and memorable experience and provided easy shareable photos for guests to post on their social media platforms.  

Why This Was So Powerful: This collaborative brand activation was an unexpected, creative setup and provided a ton of social reach thanks to the participants posting online about their experiences.

30. Giveaway RV | Dunkin’ Donuts

Dunkin’ Donuts ran a sweepstakes giveaway as a promotion for their line of iced drinks where the winner would get an opportunity to rent an RV for a road trip of their choosing , plus free drinks and donuts from Dunkin’. Dunkin ’ Donuts was able to get trending on social media using their hashtag for this campaign – #DunkinRefreshSweepstakes.  

Why This Was So Powerful: One of the requirements to enter the giveaway was sharing on social media, which helped make this campaign as successful as it was.  

31. Be a Daybreaker | Lipton Tea

Lipton ran timed giveaways for their iced tea using an original hashtag #beadaybreaker on social media. Running a social giveaway is a great way to get people excited about your brand, and this giveaway was strategically timed to encourage an association between their iced tea products and mornings.  

Why This Was So Powerful: Forming new connections between your product and a routine that your potential customers already have in their everyday lives will help make your product stick with them as something that they continue to repurchase time after time as a staple in their daily routine .  

32. #SquareShakes | Sonic

Image source – SONIC https://www.chewboom.com/2016/04/04/sonic-debuts-square-shakes-designed-for-instagram-sold-via-instagram/  

Sonic ran a campaign featuring square milkshakes during the same time period time as the iconic music festival Coachella. People could order the milkshakes and get them for free as long as they posted on social media with the hashtag #squareshakes once they received it.  

Why This Was So Powerful: Sonic was able to promote their milkshakes and get trending online by having people post on social media and promoting them with an original hashtag.  

Educational brand activation event ideas

Our last category is for those looking to educate their audiences or customers about their brand, products, and services through brand activations. Check out these 3 awesome examples of educational brand activations.  

33. Worldwide Developers Conference | Apple

Apple hosts their Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) every year to discuss their new innovations, and upcoming product and software launches. This conference has both in-person and virtual guests as they stream the event online for free. Developers and tech-loving customers alike get so excited for this event every year as people wait in anticipation to find out what Apple will be launching next. This is also an opportunity for them to explain how all these new developments came to be and how they function, so it’s a great way to provide information before the products are even available.  

Why This Was So Powerful: Hosting product launch events on a regular basis will build excitement as your customers know when to expect these announcements from your brand.  

34. SQLBits | SQLBits Ltd

Creator:  scott m salt , Copyright:  scott m salt photography  

For data professionals, the SQLBits conference was an amazing opportunity to learn about new innovations in the industry, solutions and best practices for the SQLBits platform, and network with thousands of other industry experts. The conference spanned 5 days and had over 300 sessions including talks, workshops, and hands-on demonstrations. Attendees were able to get over 10 hours of specialized training over the course of the event!  

Why This Was So Powerful: The promise of hands-on training at your event is a great way to pull in potential attendees. Pair that with an opportunity to network with tons of other people in their industry and your event is a win-win for attendees !  

35. INBOUND | HubSpot

https://www.eventmarketer.com/article/take-a-tour-of-inbound-2023-wearable-tech-accessibility-and-communities/

Another great example of an annual educational event is HubSpot’s INBOUND marketing event. INBOUND is the place to be for marketing professionals to learn about new strategies, participate in immersive activities, and networking opportunities. From informative sessions to captivating branded displays and fun lawn games, INBOUND has everything a brand needs for a successful educational event .  

Why This Was So Powerful: INBOUND provides a variety of activities and sessions to appeal to all their guests while breaking up the information-heavy ed ucational content . This style of attendee-led programming where guests can choose their own adventure keeps things exciting for your attendees!  

That wraps up our list of 35 cool brand activation ideas and examples. To help you take your brand activation experience to the next level, partnering with an event marketing agency can help make a world of a difference . Get in touch with Impact XM to learn more about how we can curate custom brand experiences tailored to your organization!  

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What Is Brand Activation? How to Implement It (13+ Examples)

July 19, 2024

• Why do you need brand activation

Importance of brand activation

13 inspiring brand activation examples, types of brand activation.

And the "brand of the year" award goes to...

Brands and customers share a close-knit connection. Whenever a consumer needs something, they first visit the brand's website.

Nowadays, you might be used to receiving vanilla order confirmations and delivery people who are sweeter than the dessert you ordered.

You might think of it as an off-the-hook marketing activity, but it's much more. It is a way for a brand to identify its real people.

What is brand activation?

Brand activation is an action through which a brand drives customer response. This technique aims to generate brand awareness, form lasting relationships with the target audience, and build customer loyalty.

Brand activation isn't a flick of a switch. You need to gather proper content, mentorship, and evident success stories through customer advocacy software .

Once you have deliverables, craft a promotional strategy while encircling the informational value of your brand. 

Learn more about how to craft a winning brand activation strategy.

Why do you need brand activation?

Your brand is your culture . Your entire company shapes the emotional connection you are striving for with customers. Brand activation needs to be something the whole company takes on—not just the marketing department.

In a competitive market, brand activation can offer ways to attract customers that your competitors do not. It's a chance to be unique and create meaningful interaction. The more you connect with customers, the more likely they will become loyal. Brand loyalty speaks volumes about your value proposition and consumer experience strategy. 

There are many ways to build  brand awareness , but brand activation generates an emotional attachment. Being aware of your brand won't drive action to become a customer. They must relate to your brand, core message, and solutions to trust you. Only consistent bouts of trust and good outcomes can help you survive the wrath of a competitive sales battleground. 

So you're building a product for concertgoers to help them listen to music peacefully without ear bleeds. Where do you think your target audience would be? Out jumping aloof in concerts? No. Placing a correct demand placeholder is important because you don't want to spill the ink everywhere. This brings us to the importance of brand activation

• It captures the attention of the audience searching for useful and trustworthy brands and cannot see through.
• It endears you to your target audience and helps build long-lasting relationships.
• It gives you the initial bank shot in the market and gets your sales deals rolling.
• It exposes your brand to a wider target audience that is interested in your product. 
• It brings something new, inventive, and upbeat to the consumer table, which they would enjoy more heartedly. 
• It helps you align with your business return on investment (ROI) and allocate your budget wisely.
• It helps you design creative, trendy marketing outreaches that create a  "stop and pause" moment for consumers.
• It targets omnichannel communication with your consumers with relevant content, which doesn't let them second guess your value.

Brand activation can take the form of anything, like guerrilla marketing or immersive experiences . Still, there is a common thread throughout these brand activation examples: thinking outside the box. Use the following examples to encourage new advertising techniques at your business, whether your focus is B2C, D2C, or B2B marketing. 

Bala Bangles

Bala bangles made its US shark tank debut in 2021. Two enthusiastic entrepreneurs, Natalie Holloway, and Max Kislevitz, aimed to cut through the noise of the activewear market with smart, wearable bands that keep you in charge of your workout.

These Bala Bangles were advertised using sporty cheerleaders, who wore them each in one hand and lightened the Shark Tank stage. Its use cases are predefined, flexible, and just for the activewear market. 

Bala Bangles knocked it out of the park as it received an "all-shark deal".  They finally went with Kevin O'Leary, who offered them a loan of $400,000 dollars at an interest of 7.5% with an exchange of 5% equity. In under six months after the show was aired, Bala Bangles tripled their revenue to 20 million dollars !

Starbucks has a branch in Canada that sells flavored water, carbonated drinks, ice teas, and cool beverages to the consumer's preference. The lush green surroundings add to the fizziness of the drinks and relax the mind. 

The brand ran an activation campaign on rising influencers. The influencers were encouraged to try the products for free and spread the word on social media. As more and more people came to know about it, this pop-up store became huge and successful. Their offline brand activation also boosted their online sales as customers began to search for convenient options. 

Bumble Hive

The Bumble caravan returned to the streets of New York with another " Bumble Hive " brand activation campaign. During New York Fashion Week (NYFW), it hosted a hive in "Artists and Fleas SoHo Space" for a full week. Laidback patios, welcoming lounges, and comfy chairs attracted a lot of regular event attendees. The Hive ultimately drove a spree of downloads of the Bumble app. 

This brand activation campaign wasn't a lot like anyone would have seen. It targeted the fashion show attendees directly and gave them an "out of element" experience. Who would have imagined getting dolled up for a fashion show and eating Bumble-branded heart cookies?

Bumble pulled this campaign during Valentine's week, which made the experience even more beautiful and romantic. 

Nike has been in the talks for having one of the most successful brand activation ventures for the Nike Run Club. This application is built on gamification principles, which makes it user-friendly and a workout go-to. Nike encourages you to work out alone, even if you don't have companions, with this application. The application acts as your digital companion, which prioritizes your needs.  

The Nike Run Club tracks your cardio activity, suggests resistance workouts, and features several "health-conscious" products and articles. It also gives you an open collaboration medium where you can show off your running sprints on social media . What more can a friend do than this?

Well, Nike stands by its tagline, "Just Do It." Nike Run Club earns an estimated profit of $5.15 million in a year. 

Google Assistant Ride

Consumer Electronics Show (CES), the world's largest consumer technology show, is a rather crowded field with almost 200,000 attendees. Standing out is essential – even for one of the most well-known companies in the world: Google.

Google debuted the Google Assistant Ride at the 2019 CES. They built a roller coaster ride at the event, but it wasn't your typical ride. Riders experienced a day in the life of a fictional character and their Google Assistant, Google’s AI-powered voice recognition software.

The ride featured all the ways the character’s new assistant helped them get through the day. It was designed using animatronics, making the experience more authentic. The journey, complete with beautiful visuals (and a photo opp), was captivating. It was an imaginative way to convey the Google ecosystem to the individual user.

Bloomingdales and the Broadway Musical

Retailers, not just in fashion, are looking to amp up their marketing growth with Broadway Musical. Casting members enact a brand screenplay and convey the message. Their dialogue delivery exemplifies the brand value to a whole new audience. The e-commerce commercials within a broadway musical play reach beyond 600-1500 people!

Broadway's partnership with US department store Bloomingdales has gone viral on social media. The main aim of this partnership was to spread mental health awareness and brand awareness.

The Broadway green room was transformed into a private lounge for cast and backstage visitors at the musical Dear Evan Hansen . The room had cowhide ottomans, a chaise lounge, and a Twitter space.

Most beloved musicals came in, relaxed, and took the entire event to tweet with the hashtag #DearEvanHansen. The Twitter space spiked the follower count for Bloomingdales, making it a win.

Spotify Wrapped

Spotify marked a gala end to 2022 by launching the Spotify Wrapped   list. It featured the "most heard, loved, clicked, and replayed songs of the year" for the listeners. The wrapped lists were also shared on social media, leading to the hashtag #SpotifyWrapped. 

Influencers and big shots shared the list of their favorite songs with the audience, increasing listens and likes for those songs. Known music personalities started advertising their upcoming singles via Spotify to the ones who heard their songs the most.

This two-way connection of experiential marketing swooped millions of dollars in profit. This venture has been ongoing since December 2016 and is still strong. Aside from the love-hate relationship with Spotify ads, everyone loves sharing their music choices with friends. 

Vans: House of Vans

House of Vans  has locations in Brooklyn, Chicago, and London, but it also can pop up in any community. These event spaces are for skateboarders, allowing them to get together and share their passion.

On International Women's Day, Vans used the House of Vans to promote women in skateboarding. They hosted skate lessons, documentary screenings, and live music. It was a win for women and the brand.

Ikea Bath Boats Drive

Shopping at Ikea is already an experience, so Ikea’s brand activations are always creative. They recently opened a new sustainable store in Greenwich. To announce the opening, Ikea sent two boats that looked like their Smarkryp bath toy model into the River Thames. These boats collected plastic and rubbish from the waters.

With all the plastic, the brand created a sculpture in the new store – a true upcycle. This event signified Ikea's passion for being kind to the environment. The Bath Boats Drive certainly inspired eco-friendly consumers. 

Desperados: Epic Parties

Who doesn't love an Epic Party? Lovers of Desperados beer have been captivated by the brand's Epic Parties Imagined by You . One event, in particular, had the brand claiming to have launched the largest-ever video light show. 

Attendees handed over their smartphones for a beer. Then, the phones were linked up and played synchronized animations. This experience for fans was enlightening and made attendees feel present rather than focused on their phones (as many of us often are). Desperados showed their attendees that experiences could be even better without your phone.

Adidas and Bluewater

Adidas introduced "Boost technology" in collaboration with Bluewater. Adidas claimed to change the shoe buying scenario in the world. Their invention of "shoe tech" was quite unique and new to the shoe market. The energy exuded by the midsole helps you reach the topmost shelf of the Adidas showroom and grab a shoe on your own without a ladder.

This incredible experience educated the consumer a little more about shoe design. Making a shoe isn't just about slapping leather or mesh together. It is about making a perfect sole, decreasing foot strain, and increasing athletic ability.

People loved the brand activation campaign and stormed inside the Boost showroom.

Zappos and Google

Google worked on another brand activation campaign with Zappos, the online e-commerce brand. It was a layered campaign, where first, Google encouraged people to "pay with a photo" and get a cupcake.

Zappos elevated the experience further and offered free goodies to people who paid with a cupcake. People handed the cupcakes they received from Google to Zappos professionals and bought shoes, shirts, and other items.

The surprising crossover of Zappos and Google received worldwide appreciation. Both brands created a recall in the customer's mind through emotional content. Cupcakes and photos make up for memorable experiences. And these brands stepped in to prove that they are no different than an experience to their customers. 

Red Bull made this list, but not because it gives you wings. For years, Red Bull has driven a monopoly in the energy drink industry. From event sponsorships to music concerts to polo matches, Red Bull painted the market red (literally).

Their core brand activation concept revolved around only one thing: creating content and experiences people admire, even though they might have never sipped an energy drink. In 2019, Red Bull sales soared to a record 7.5 billion cans worldwide.

We spoke a lot about how brands have shaped consumer experiences. But do they run on their own? Brand activation involves the hustle of marketing, design, product, and sales teams. The teams sit at a round table to decide which type of brand activation fits in with their product use cases and will be a grossing hit. 

1. Experiential marketing connects the dots between the heart of the consumer and the core brand principle. It puts your brand out front and portrays its "sensitive" aspect. People can immerse themselves in brand experience, interact with owners, talk about it, and share their views openly. 

2. Digital marketing: A huge chunk of brand traffic comes from online marketplaces and websites. People prefer to stay indoors and get everything they want at the tap of a screen. The digital components of a business are bought to life with digital marketing . Brands position themselves online, collect consumer data, and customize communication to engage with prospects. 

3. Guerrilla marketing  uses unconventional strategies that take you by surprise. Remember Ronaldo's aversion to Coca-Cola? Many companies leveraged that viral incident to market their own products. They replaced "Coca-Cola" with a competitor and water with their own brand. This daring technique lures customers to check out your brand first.

4.  Word of mouth:  Word of mouth has been the most significant contributor to a brand's success. It comprises two or more people talking about your brand, and its positive impact encourages others to invest their money in your products. As the circle increases, the world becomes your consumer.

Become the brand messiah 

No matter what type of brand you are or who you serve, there are many opportunities to create brand activation campaigns. Think about how you want your audience to feel and what's important to them. Then, tie that back to what your product or service does. This information will provide you with a foundation to create lasting experiences.

Brand building is a work of patience. Learn how to remain consistent with your brand and facilitate speedy growth.

This article was originally published in 2019. The content has been updated with new information.

Michael Brenner is author of 3 books including Mean People Suck , The Content Formula , and Digital Marketing Growth Hacks. He is a Forbes top CMO influencer , was named a Top Business Keynote Speaker by the Huffington Post, and a Top Motivational Speaker by Entrepreneur Magazine. He is CEO of Marketing Insider group , where he works with Fortune 500 brands and startups to build effective marketing programs.

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The most effective brand activations: Converse, Greggs, Google, Tesla

• Facebook Messenger

By Dani Gibson, Senior Writer

September 19, 2018 | 8 min read

Listen to article 4 min

The Drum lists the most effective and engaging PR stunts of 2018, as chosen by industry aficionados.

The best PR stunts of 2018

The panel features industry experts from Amplify, Benefit Cosmetics, Hearst Magazines, Identity, and Initials Marketing spoke to The Drum about their favourite brand activations of the year. All members of the panel are judges for The Drum Experience Awards .

Jonathan Emmins, founder, Amplify

Sometimes brand experiences need to communicate and convey complex stories and messages - but not always. There’s been a run of clever, incredibly simple, easily accessible and most importantly memorable activations blurring the lines between brand experience, advertising, PR and media.

Google went global with its Home Mini ‘Size of a donut. Power of a superhero’ campaign – a simple play on how much the Home Mini looks like a donut. All around the world saw incredibly well executed pop-up Donut shops that encouraged people to experience and embrace a Home Mini to win one, or worst case win two donuts.

Despite being weeks in advance of the actual holiday, Burger King has already bossed Halloween with their ‘Come as a clown, eat like a king’ trolling McDonald’s – doling out free whoppers to those dressed as clowns. It’s an incredibly low-cost experience that shouts volumes.

However, sometimes the best ideas don’t even need a strap-line. Placing 84 statues of men on the top of ITV’s Southbank building to raise awareness of 84 male suicides per week kicked off a debate we all needed to have – supported by an overwhelmingly thorough and well thought-out amplification campaign. Was it a brand experience? Maybe. Was it the best activation I’ve seen this year? Undoubtedly. Hats off all involved.

This was just one example of some of the major advancements in campaigns for raising the profile on mental health issues.

Kyra White, head of brand activation, Benefit Cosmetics

One activation that stood out, and I attended was the Aperol Big Spritz event in Shoreditch. Everything was well thought out, fun and memorable. While the drink and the bar was the main focus, elements such as the rowboats on the orange river made it interactive and more than just a pop up to have a drink at.

All guests seemed to be enjoying it, it wasn’t too crowded which sometimes ruins an experience but had a great buzz. I didn’t know too much about the brand but the bartenders were well informed and explained the Italian heritage and how the event was designed to bring to spontaneous Italian/European spirit to us Brits.

The swinging seats, pizzas and branded giveaways provided lots of Instagram moments but I didn’t find myself glued to my phone, posting pics which was refreshing as I was enjoying the moment. Although it was a branded event it didn’t feel like I was being sold to which I think breaks with the traditional behaviors of many alcohol brands. I noticed a ton of outside advertising in the weeks following the event which was perfectly timed as it’s made the event stick with me.

Victoria Archbold, director of events and sponsorship, Hearst Live, Hearst Magazines UK

We are seeing a continuing trend towards less traditional fashion catwalk based shows and more immersive, experiential experiences putting the attendee at the heart of it. This year London Fashion Week successfully managed to turn even the most established fashionistas into small children. From playing in Stella McCartney's ball pit, to shopping fake groceries in Rixo’s store and Anya Hindmarsh’s who presented the opportunity to have an afternoon nap on her chubby cloud with a special acknowledgment for convincing key fashion names to don giant ‘baby grow’ like boiler suits– especially when it came to covering up their specially curated outfits).

Here we have continued examples of how events are allowing brands, the individual's names and faces around them to express their personalities. It’s become less about eyes on the catwalk and more about the scroll of fingers on your smartphone.

Michael Geitzen, group managing director, Identity

Okay, so you’ve successfully figured out how to launch a private rocket into space, and safely land it, too. Now what? In February Elon Musk, the business visionary and real-life Tony Stark, dazzled the world by launching his own car into space, triggering a massive wave of promotion for two of his biggest companies at the same time.

The vehicle, a 2008 Tesla Roadster that Musk had previously used for his daily drive to work, was mounted on the top of a Falcon Heavy rocket and featured “Starman”, a spacesuit-clad mannequin sitting in the driver’s seat. The rocket was built and launched by Musk’s company, SpaceX, and of course, he owns Tesla too. Musk noted that one of the biggest challenges of the launch was creating a suit for Starman that could handle the rigors of space travel – it was fully functional – while looking cool and fashionable.

Tesla didn’t spend a penny on marketing for the stunt, but it did set SpaceX back some $500 million in planning and development. But the cultural impact, which included everything from global coverage, from more than two million concurrent viewers on YouTube and a wave of internet memes, made it oh so worth it.

Starman is currently orbiting the Earth, and you can visit whereisroadster.com to track exactly where he is at any time.

Rachel Bateman, head of live engagement and director, Initials Marketing

When it comes to the best brand activations of 2018, there are two in particular which stand out for me. The expected vs. the unexpected.

The Converse ‘One Star Hotel’, executed with high production value, saw Converse create a two day pop up in Shoreditch. The hotel focused on presenting an engaging line up of fashion, music, sneaker and skate experiences for Converse’s audience and influencers. The activation was an ‘Instagram playground’ and brought the Converse story alive for the highly engaged Gen Z target audience, increasing the brand’s overall reach and effectiveness through UGC.

Every part of the experience was highly considered and played up to their rebellious personality. Significantly, their products sat at the heart of the activation, with sneakers influencing rooms with their style, usage, and color.

As for the unexpected, I loved Greggs bakery’s Valentine’s activation .

A brand that in order to get cut through needed to be different. The high street bakery chain became a candlelit restaurant for the evening of Valentine's Day through OpenTable. Using a key calendar moment, it gave media a great narrative and new angle to promote the brand and their later opening hours. Greggs used humor to bring the idea to life with its tongue in cheek take on Valentine’s occasion, providing a bespoke menu of bakery goods. This seemingly low budget activation attracted masses of media attention.

Greggs drew further media, and Piers Morgan, attention this year when it launched its vegan sausage roll.

The Drum Experience Awards are now open to submissions for 2019. Make sure you get your entries in before August 29 to receive a special discounted rate.

Sponsors of the 2018 awards are Identity and UGCA

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How to Implement a Brand Activation Strategy [+Examples]

Published: October 18, 2021

Did you know that it takes 5 to 7 impressions for people to remember a brand? With branding, the goal is to continue making those positive impressions on an ongoing basis. One way to do that is through brand activations.

In this post, we'll dive into what brand activations are, how to strategically plan a brand activation, and give you some ideas to inspire your own branding events.

What is brand activation?

Brand activations are events, experiences, and interactions that forge lasting emotional connections between a brand and its target audience. These activations are usually a specific campaign or event that is meant to generate brand awareness and interactivity with your audience.

While a brand activation is a singular event or campaign that is meant to elevate your brand it shouldn't be confused with ongoing brand strategy. So, what does brand activation strategy look like? Let's dive in now.

Brand Activation Strategy

Before you get started with planning different brand activation events, it's important to understand the goal of each separate campaign.

The best way to plan a strategy is to identify your goals. It could be customer acquisition, user sign-ups, social media engagement, etc. Ultimately you'll want to increase brand awareness, however, narrowing down your goal, even more, will make it measurable and attainable (hello SMART goals ).

Once you know your goals, you can begin brainstorming various brand activation events or campaigns that you can do to achieve your goals.

For instance, let's say your goal is user sign-ups. One brand activation for that goal could be going to a trade show. There you can talk to potential customers and then hopefully sign up users on the spot (depending on your offerings).

Once you have a list of ideas, goals, and metrics, it's time to begin your brand activation plan.

You should decide on one campaign or event to move forward, plan the logistics of that event, and use your brand playbook (with a clear vision, value propositions for key targets, brand personality, character, voice, and experiences).

Keep in mind that brand activations don't necessarily need to be events, but can be sampling campaigns, social media contests, or other digital marketing campaigns.

Now, let's go over some ideas to help you come up with your own brand activation plan. Below, we'll have the ideas separated by the goal to give you an idea of how to strategically brainstorm brand activations.

Brand Activation Ideas

Goal: user sign-ups.

• Experiential marketing event
• Digital marketing campaigns

Goal: Increased impressions/brand awareness

• Sampling campaign (giveaways)
• In-store/virtual events
• Influencer marketing

Goal: Customer acquisition

• Digital marketing campaigns like PPC, display advertising, etc.
• Interactive events
• Live demonstrations

Goal: Social media engagement

• Social media contest
• Social media movement
• Behind-the-Scenes series

Now that we have some ideas, let's look at some examples of brands that have run excellent brand activation events.

Brand Activation Examples

1. vitamin water | brandon.

Image Source

A colleague, Clifford Chi, uses this as a great example of brand activations. He usually doesn't pay much attention to subway ads, but Vitamin Water's "Brandon" was so funny, it made him laugh out loud. Then, a few weeks later, when Chi was walking around Boston, he strolled past Forbes' Under 30 Summit and saw someone holding a sign that said, "Need Handshaking Tips?".

That person was a part of Vitamin Water's "Brandon" marketing campaign. There were also other members of the campaign, handing out Brandon's business cards, some swag, and even bottles of Vitamin Water.

Vitamin Water's "Brandon" campaign resonated with so many people because instead of just giving subway riders a quick laugh on their way to work, they made the extra effort to interact with their target audience and bring the ad to life. To make things even more personal, Brandon accepts all of his LinkedIn requests.

2. Revolve | Revolve Festival

          View this post on Instagram                       A post shared by Alyssia Tsang — vegan | lifestyle | travel creator ✈︎ (@alyssiatsang)

An excellent example of brand activation is the Revolve Festival that Revolve holds at Coachella each year (or at least has for several consecutive years). This is often known as the celebrity party of the year.

Revolve hand picks celebrities and influencers (macro or micro) to party while the music festival is occuring.

Revolve Fest trends on social media almost each year it happens because of the influencer marketing that the company focuses on. Influencer marketing helps the company bring in sales for its clothing line and more. In fact, influencers drive 70% of sales for the company.

Each of these festivals is a brand activation to bring in sales and drive awareness for the brand.

3. HBO | SXSWestworld

To promote the second season of their hit show Westworld , HBO built a miniature replica of the show's Wild-West-themed amusement park in Austin, Texas for attendees of SXSW 2018 to explore.

With over 40 "hosts" who guided attendees on their own unique narrative within Sweetwater, the attendees felt like they were actually in an episode of Westworld , traversing a town full of trotting horses, troublemaking bandits, and money-hungry gamblers.

The park also contained clues of season two's storyline and new characters, which helped generate a ton of suspense and anticipation for its upcoming premiere.

4. HubSpot | INBOUND

Each year HubSpot holds the INBOUND event. This brand activation is a way to drive brand awareness, customer sign ups, and ultimately help our customers in whatever way we can as a company.

INBOUND is an excellent example of brand activation because it's a singular event each year that drives engagement and interactivity for HubSpot.

With INBOUND, we can provide an experience for our customers and any business that wants to learn from the best of the best.

5. Netflix | Altered Carbon at CES

At CES 2018, Netflix designed one of the most popular booths at the event. But it didn't showcase the inner workings of their recommendations algorithm or their process for green-lighting shows. It actually spotlighted a concept their show Altered Carbon revolves around -- immortality.

In their booth, fictional employees from Psychasec, the company that offers transfers of their clients' consciousness to new bodies, or "sleeves", in Altered Carbon , pitched the benefits of their service and even displayed some models of their sleeves.

Netflix deeply immersed CES' attendees in the narrative of their hit sci-fi show, and it made them feel like they could actually live forever -- if only Psychasec's service was real.

6. CALM | Project 84

In the U.K., suicide is the number one cause of death of men aged 18 - 45. CALM, a suicide prevention charity, decided to spread awareness for the issue by creating 84 life-size sculptures of hooded men, which is the number of men who take their own lives every week in the U.K. and placing them on top of one of U.K.'s top TV network's building.

Every sculpture is unique and tells the story of a real person who committed suicide. And to produce as much publicity for male suicide prevention as possible, ITV, the TV network CALM partnered with, agreed to air the campaign on their morning show and dedicate three days of programming to male suicide. The campaign also promoted a petition that urges the government to take suicide more seriously and take greater action to help solve the urgent issue.

Brand Activation Takeaways

Putting on a brand activation event or campaign can help you increase brand awareness, impressions, and ultimately bring in new customers. With tactics like experiential marketing, digital campaigns, influencer marketing, and in-person or virtual events, you can engage and interact with your audience in a personal way.

To succeed with brand activation, it's important to focus on your audience, make your experiences shareable, and be creative.

Editor's note: This post was originally published in April 2019 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

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Brand Activation: The Definitive Guide (+ Best Brand Examples)

The term brand activation has been growing in popularity in recent years, but what is it and how can you apply it?

Well, as people, our lives are made up of a series of experiences.

Some experiences are forgettable while others are memorable.

Memorable experiences form long-lasting memories which are usually linked to strong emotions such as joy, happiness, surprise and excitement.

Brand activation aims to bring a brand to life by engaging through memorable experiences, imprinting long-lasting and emotional memories with the audience.

What Is Brand Activation? (+ Strategy Examples)

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What Is Brand Activation?

Brand activation is a modern marketing discipline which, in the greater scheme of things is a relatively new promotional strategy.

More than ever, with the increased marketing noise, brands need to think outside the box and go beyond the traditional marketing channels.

A brand activation campaign aims to drive consumer action, which aims to bring brands to life through  interactive brand experiences  like a pop-up store or giveaways that often create long-lasting emotional connections for your target audience.

What’s The Goal Of Brand Activation?

The goal of brand activation is four-fold:

Drive consumer engagement

Drive consumer response / action Increase  brand awareness 

Increase brand recall and brand salience

Brand activations are usually one-off marketing campaigns that typically last from a few hours to a few days. And an effective campaign usually generates earned media coverage enhancing overall reach. For this reason, they’re often used as part of the overall marketing strategy when launching a new product or even a new brand.

Earned media coverage  is (often supported by public relations) happens when a brand’s marketing activity becomes newsworthy in its own right.

Often, with the help of PR, the news media picks up a story on a brand’s activity and reports on this activity amplifying the reach and effectiveness of the campaign.

Why Is Brand Activation Important?

Any  strategy that involves your brand  is important.

The reason brand activation is so important is that in this increasingly automated digital world we find ourselves in, the lack of interactive, engaging and tangible events has left a gaping hole.

The relationships we have with most brands have almost moved into a virtual world and brand activation brings an element of tangibility that reminds the audience  this brand and their relationship with it is real .

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What Are The Types Of Brand Activation?

Brand activation is  not a two-dimensional strategy  with set tools and tactics. Instead, a brand activation event can be implemented across any number of channels or any touchpoint your potential customers are in.

Let’s take a look at some of the most popular brand activation strategies and techniques.

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Experiential marketing.

Experiential marketing is exactly how it sounds.

It goes beyond digital marketing. Instead, it’s a campaign that centres on  marketing through unique experiences  that is typically very creative, highly unusual and often thought-provoking or emotional.

Lean Cuisine is a compelling case study. They  launched a heartwarming campaign  in New York’s Grand Central Station that shifted the perspective on how people could weigh themselves:

Instead of measuring themselves by physical weight.

Lean Cuisine encouraged the audience to choose another way to weigh themselves, with one woman making the choice to weigh herself on the love she gave to her children.

That feel-good campaign left lasting memories not just with those in Grand Central Station, but with many of the 204 million impressions through the campaign going viral.

Sampling Campaigns

Though experiential marketing is often highly creative with a budget to match, sampling campaigns can also leave the audience with a positive memory simply by handing out free samples.

Everyone loves getting free stuff. And companies can benefit from the uptick in  brand awareness  with these simple campaigns.

For years, Red Bull consistently ran sampling campaigns hiring students to drive Red Bull Minis and VW Beetles around university cities and campuses while handing out free samples.

The exposure of and constant brand presence of this campaign played a major role in embedding Red Bull into the youth culture.

In-Store Brand Activation

The in-store brand activation strategy is useful for leveraging a physical shopfront brand.

Initiatives such as in-store demonstrations and hands-on experience allow customers to  interact firsthand with products , which is an especially effective brand activation strategy for product launches.

This strategy is executed when attendance levels are high. For example, during the sale season and the weekends.

Customers test a product

How To Create A Brand Activation Strategy

So, now that you can see the value of disrupting the status quo and giving your  audience a tangible and activating experience , it’s time to look at exactly how you can go about doing just that.

In order to create a successful brand activation strategy, you need to remember that your audience is the most important part of any campaign.

You should be thinking about what will engage them and how they’ll react in advance so there’s no misstep when it comes time for execution.

You also want your brand activation strategy to align with your brand’s values and overall brand strategy.

From visuals to context, everything must remain on brand.

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Step 1:  Set Your Goals And Metrics

Decide exactly what you want to achieve with your activation campaign. 

Do you want to generate an extra 20,000 visits to your website? 

Do you want to get 5,000 more people on your email list?

Do you want to increase sales by 10%? 

You can’t measure the success of a campaign if you don’t have specific goals. 

Get crystal clear on what you want to achieve and how you’ll measure success. 

Step 2:  Create Your Campaign Budget

You don’t necessarily need a massive budget for an activation campaign. However, if you want to make a solid impression, you need to make sure you don’t do it half-baked.

The costs can vary a lot depending on the type of brand. But as an example, for a small business, you might spend anywhere from $1,000 to $25,000. Consider costs like influencer marketing budgets, digital campaigns, and the physical requirements for your event.

Below are some of the most common costs associated with this type of project:

Activation Space Costs (i.e. location rental, equipment and staffing)

Marketing Materials & Creative Services (i.e. design, graphics, photography or videography)

Event Management Services (eg. catering, entertainment, performances)

Event Production Services (eg. production, promotion)

Social Media Planning & Management Fees

Custom Branding Elements and Apparel

You’ll need a detailed plan for your campaign budget in order to ensure you can adequately cover the costs of an activation project.

Step 3:  Develop Your Audience-Centred Experience

Let’s be crystal clear on why you’re doing this and who you’re doing it for.

Brand activation is all about your audience and creating an experience that they’ll remember.

With some perspective on your industry and what you do for them, what are they passionate about, and what gets them excited?

Answering this question is one of the most important factors for a successful activation campaign.

Step 4:  Create A Compelling Call To Action

Remember, brand activation is not just about creating a memorable experience.

If your audience walks away with an experience they’ll remember, that’s an important box ticked, but it’s still only half the battle.

Your call to action needs to be directly related to the goal you want them to achieve.

If you want to increase website traffic, your call to action should drive that traffic.

If you want to increase your subscriber list, your call to action should drive that download or opt-in.

The key is that whatever call to action you’re offering needs to have the  potential for conversion  and should be compelling enough so they’ll take that step when prompted.

Step 5:  Amplify Your Activation

The activation itself generates buzz, but that buzz needs amplification and the best way to amplify it is by using your  marketing channels to promote  it.

Most brand activations are successful not because of the few hundred or few thousand people that experience them in person but because of the amplification, it receives directly from the brand or third-party media sources such as news outlets.

This is especially essential for startups looking to establish themselves in a niche.

So give the community a heads up and let your buzz soar.

Over To You

Time to define the attributes that will become what your brand is known for.

But remember, these traits and characteristics you define only become useful when you methodically and consistently use them time and again through your brand communication.

The more you do, the more neural connections you make in the mind of your audience and the more you will own the meaning you’ve defined for your brand.

Comment below to share your thoughts on defining your attributes and the role of personality in branding.

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10 Brand Activation Examples From Big Brands

March 4 2022

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What is Brand Activation?

Values of brand activation, 10 brand activation examples, brand activation with peekage, brand activation: a unique marketing campaign that gains attention, key takeaways.

Activating your brand means creating a connection between your company and its customers. It's about finding ways to bring your brand to life so that people can interact with it on a personal level.

There are many ways to do this, but in this post, we'll focus on 10 real examples of brand activation.

These should give you some ideas of how you can get started with activating your own brand. Let's dive in!

Peekage solutions: Customer insights solution

Brand activation means providing a brand experience for customers to increase brand awareness and brand presence.

The interesting news about brand activation is that it could happen in any place to provide a surprising brand experience. From music events to beauty salons and even local restaurants use brand activation methods and provide special offers at least in their first stages of establishment.

Brand activation aims to provide a different, new brand experience for the target audience to make them brand ambassadors and representatives. Various companies use several practices to enhance brand presence in customers’ lives by offering a unique experience. Brand activation marks the difference between your business and the competitors.

Peekage solutions: Sampling program

• Creates and improves interaction with customers using various methods to increase their brand loyalty.
• Provides new and better ways to communicate with customers and stay connected to impact them emotionally. Research shows these types of interactions. Help customers choose your brand between so many suppliers.
• Increases brand awareness by providing a unique and remarkable brand experience.
• Used for rebranding purposes to introduce new features or services.
• Directly bring your marketing campaigns and giveaways to your target audience.
• Reduce marketing costs and expenses to a better known, workable interaction with customers.
• More effective, whether including other marketing and digital marketing campaign or adequately to individual customers at a local level.

Read more: 30 Most Inspiring Brand Activation Ideas

Brand activation campaigns are a great field of experience for brand stylists and designers. Brand activation examples include new immersive interactive designs in pop-up stores and site-specific temporal or immanent experiences.

You will explore 10 cool brand activation examples by well-known international brands in the following.

1- Starbucks: Sparkle Shop

Starbucks Canada opened a sparkle pop-up store to introduce a new series of carbonated drinks in a clean and beautiful place. Many Toronto-based bloggers and influencers welcomed this new experience, took part in this pop-up store, and made these Starbucks beverages hot on social media. Starbucks Canada designers appropriated a great place to this new series of ice tea drinks and introduced them to followers and Starbucks customers. Starbucks offers several carbonated drinks using Sparkle's name, and that's the principal theme of the Sparkle pop-up shop.

2- Lipton Ice Tea: Be A Daybreaker

Another successful brand activation that also deals with tea and beverage belongs to Lipton Ice Tea, which, as you know, is available in 5 flavors. Lipton runs a brand activation for its ice tea giveaways before 8 in the morning with the hashtag #beadaybreaker. Lipton directly addresses its target audience with a surprising free ice tea on Friday morning with this experimental campaign. The idea of running a campaign at certain times of the day is so interesting and maybe useful for other brands across the world.

3- Dunkin' Donuts Giveaway RV

Dunkin' Donuts activated its iced beverages with a giveaway RV last summer. The brand activation campaign winners win a one-week RV rent experience to every place they desire with an RV full of delicious drinks and donuts. It was a successful brand activation as winners share enjoyable moments with other users and followers on social networks. Participants entered the program by filling out forms and sharing them using the #DunkinRefreshSweepstakes hashtag. With this brand activation and hashtag, Dunkin Donuts became trending on social media networks, and brand awareness increased pleasantly.

4- GoGo Squeez Applesauce

Using automated machines to bring the product to the consumer is a wonderful old way to attract children and adults. GoGo SqueeZ used a new sale machine that is large applesauce, and children take out normal applesauce products from it. Some winners also receive a year's supply of applesauce which is a great way to have loyal customers. GoGo SqueeZ Goodness Machine provides a different experience that children remember and enjoy. Giant machines are an amazing way to attract and surprise people, especially children, and kids and GoGo SqueeZ Goodness Machine is one of the most successful recent ones.

5-  Zappos and Google: Pay with a Cupcake

Google worked on a campaign in Texas where people participated with the #paywithaphoto hashtag and received cupcakes as a reward. Zappos brand activation took advantage of this campaign and launched a new campaign with the #paywithacupcake hashtag, in which people handed their cupcakes to receive Zappos products.

Zappos brand awareness increased using this creative brand activation with cooperation with Google. Brands' cooperation in such campaigns increases their potential to attract customers emotionally and have more loyal customers. Cooperation does not necessarily require similar activities as Google activities are different from Zappos products, but they can also interact with each other to surprise customers.

6- HP Anti-Gravity Printer

HP released a new series of photo printers that work against gravity and could be used by astronauts in space and arranged a brand activation with zero gravity. This brand activation took place with influencers, reporters, and HP employees in a simulated low-gravity place. The HP design team provided a unique experience developing the story of a printer used in zero gravity conditions. People are excited to see a series of influencers working with a special printer in a zero-gravity place and will remember the product and brand when they need to buy a printer.

7- Adidas: Jump Store

Adidas is a global brand well-known for its sports shoes and clothes. The new basketball shoes of Adidas were released with a gamified program in which participants have 24 seconds to jump and pull the product from 10-meter high. Participants should try to earn the sports shoes with jumping, an enduring and amazing action that leads to gaining one of the best sports shoes available. This campaign was successful, and people enjoyed it with a Chicago Bulls player on social networks. Adidas designers used minimal elements to promote the brand values and new products.

8-  Stella Artois Hotel Experience

Belgian beer brand Stella Artois designed another amazing brand activation experience. The winners of this brand activation received a hotel booking with everything desired for a memorable journey, including its products. This brand activation also featured interesting and surprising elements, like a call from actor Liev Schreiber and a virtual chat with Andy Cohen. Considering coronavirus spread, Stella Artois' brand activation uses the idea of travel in a safe, sanitized place.

9- Revolve around the world

Revolve is another global brand that runs experimental campaigns accompanying influencers and popular figures. In a novel experience, Revolve invited many influencers to a carnival in LA and started to travel around the world. Revolve carnival combines surprising elements with popular influencers to make a unique experience. This brand activation campaign became successful as it provided a different, amazing experience.

10- Sonic Shakes

Sonic is a milkshake brand with creative and engaging marketing campaigns. In their last experience, Sonic took advantage of Coachella, a music and arts festival in California, and distributed its milkshakes to users who used the #squareshakes hashtag on their social network profile. Festival-goers are the target audience of Sonic, and the brand used a popular situation to giveaway its new products and activated its new brand. Sonic #SquareShakes became viral and gained social networks users' attention.

Read more: A Simple Step-by-Step Guide for Brand Activation

Peekage is an innovative solution provider for brand activation that combines packaging and distribution of samples using artificial intelligence to choose the right customers and track various marketing plans.

New brands that need a base to find a customer network uses Peekage for their brand activation.

By sending the right products to the right customers, you can have a functional brand that works at some stage of its life. You can use Peekage as a digital product sampling platform to connect with the right customers and gather insights. 

Contact us if you have any questions .

The idea behind brand activation campaigns is that by making something new and exciting, you can grab your audience's attention. Brands typically use the newest items in these types of marketing activities to boost awareness for their brands among persons.

Brand activation should be fun and contain surprising and innovative elements to engage people effectively. Depending on the activity of the brand, several solutions are available to communicate with more customers and achieve the target audience.

Pop-up stores, giant machines, different scenarios, and providing a unique experience are the main features of brand activation campaigns by popular global brands.

Creativity has an important role in designing an amazing experience as designers seek creative, different ways to interact with customers.

Brand activation is not limited to site-specific or physical activities as several experiences are designed using virtual reality and AR technology. Some online solution providers also offer tailored brand activation services to find the target audience and deliver suitable products and samples to the right customers.

• Brand activation seeks to provide a unique experience that people desire.
• Creativity lies at the core of any successful brand-driven campaign.
• Brand activation can conduct on physical or digital platforms.
• Like other marketing campaigns, brand activation seeks to make hashtags or content viral.
• Brands use all accessible facilities to make sure the brand activation is cool and interesting.
• Online methods distribute individual samples to the target audience and require nothing but a creative plan.

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How to Develop a Brand Activation Strategy that Works (with examples)

If you’re in the marketing business, you may have noticed that much on the subject of branding has changed in the past few years. 

Nowadays, successfully managing your brand means more than just implementing clever, creative, and timely ad placements. It requires gathering inspiring ideas that can help you accomplish a positive brand awareness. 

With branding, the goal is to continue making those meaningful, engaging impressions on an ongoing basis. One way to do that is through brand activations.

Whether your brand is releasing a new line that could use some extra hype, needs a little TLC to get some more recognition, or is just starting out, a brand activation campaign is a great way to get the ball rolling in the right direction.

Our goal here is to help marketers like you understand the foundations of developing an effective brand activation strategy . In this post, we’ll dive into what brand activations are, how to strategically plan one, and give you some brand activation ideas to inspire your own campaigns.

What is brand activation?

Brand activation is the process of building awareness for a company by engaging directly with target audiences consumers. 

Contrary to popular belief, brand activations don’t necessarily have to involve an event. They can be as simple as a virtual interaction, or as complex as an in-person experience. 

Depending on your brand, industry, and audience, there are different types of activation campaigns that might yield the best results:

• Experiential marketing – offering customers an experience at the point of purchase. Some retailers create pop-up stores or allow shoppers to use products and create an engaging experience.
• Digital marketing campaigns – these campaigns enable brands to reach audiences beyond physical interaction, engaging customers and providing marketers with a chance to collect data and gain insights to improve their marketing and sales campaigns. 
• Influencer marketing – a well-executed influencer marketing campaign can lead you to your brand goals effortlessly. There are many ways to convey your message to the intended audience through influencers, like social media account takeovers, giveaways, guest blogs or personalized discount codes. Don’t forget about the crucial metrics that can help you measure the impact of your influencer marketing campaigns .
• Social media engagements – nowadays, social media is a component of any brand activation. These types of interactions drive engagement, create brand awareness, and generate buzz, to ensure the campaign receives the exposure it needs.
• Sampling campaigns – 80% of attendees think that live demonstrations and free samples drastically helped solidify their purchase decision. Sampling campaigns can help you better pinpoint your target audience and the positive brand experience can boost sales and create brand awareness.
• In-store/virtual events – this type of activation involves an experiential element of brand activation where customers can touch, feel, and interact with products.

Every one of these activations is meant to generate brand awareness and interactivity with your audience, helping you forge lasting emotional connections between your brand and its target audience .

Benefits of brand activations

There are a number of proven benefits of brand activations:

• Reach new audiences that have yet to engage with your brand.
• Reinforce your company’s position in the market, as an established brand.
• Acquire relevant customer data and opt-ins.
• Collect consumer feedback in real-time, as they interact with your brand.
• Cut through traditional advertising clutter (TV Commercials, print or digital ads)
• Make your brand more relevant.

Are brand activations only intended for new brands?

The benefits of brand activations aren’t just reserved for industry newcomers. They can also be beneficial to well-known, established brands that want to attract attention. 

New brands, existing companies, as well as businesses looking to rebrand can use this type of marketing tactic. In fact, activations are ideal for brands that are:

• not getting valuable feedback from customers
• failing to connect with their customers and generate emotional attachment
• trying to increase brand awareness
• introducing and marketing a new sub-brand or product

It’s tough to stand out from the crowd, especially in an overcrowded market. Overall, brand activations are a great way to show a business’ personality and identity.

Brand Activation Strategy: 8 steps to a brand activation strategy that works

• Define your goals 

A great strategy always starts with identifying your goals. Ultimately, you’ll want to create a brand activation strategy that increases brand awareness. However, narrowing down your goals even more will make them more measurable and attainable . 

You could have one main goal, or multiple smaller ones:

• Increased impressions/brand awareness
• Customer acquisition
• User sign-ups
• Social media engagement
• Brand recognition & reinforcement
• Brand virality

Once you know your goals, you can begin brainstorming various brand activation campaigns that you can do to achieve them.

• Focus on your audience

Every single brand activation should start and end with your specific audience in mind. Having this kind of mindset will naturally translate into more customers and sales . 

Ask yourself: how can your audience benefit from your marketing activations? Will you: 

• Surprise them
• Make their aspirations come true
• Start a conversation
• Spark emotion
• Market to customer desires
• Help customers create a positive impact
• Solve problems

Consider an idea that can actually address your customers’ issues. This could help build a more positive brand recall , meaning that your customers may remember their experiences with your brand, in the future. This could mean:

• Resolving customer issues
• Directly addressing customer reservations
• Proactively communicating sensitive product touchpoints
• Take advantage of specific trends

Using trending ideas is an older tactic that still works. By relating your brand activations to what’s popular, you’re increasing their potential to reach a larger audience . Here’s how:

• Relate to what’s popular on social media or in pop culture.
• Use fun, relatable, and relevant hashtags.
• Grow visibility based on algorithms.
• Set yourself apart through differentiation

No brand activation is perfect and not everything will go exactly according to plan. But all the great brand activation campaigns out there have this in common: they strive to exceed expectations and provide unique experiences. 

Answer the following questions to know how to position the campaign: what makes your brand stand out? How are your products helping customers? What differentiates your brand from other brands in the industry?

This will allow you to create a brand activation strategy that:

• Exceeds expectations. 
• Promotes your brand’s values.
• Creates a fun way to share your brand’s origin story.
• Provides unique experiences.
• Partner with influencers

For years, influencer marketing has been an effective, watertight strategy for brands that are looking for that added punch of exposure . Now, brands that possess an extensive network of social media stars bigging up the brand are turning this into a crucial part of their brand activation strategy. Partnering with influencers for a brand activation allows you to:

• Attract both your brand’s and the influencer’s target audience.
• Make the campaign interactive.
• Demonstrate product features.
• Make your experiences shareable

No matter what brand activation campaign you go for, make sure people can share and talk about it . The easier it is for consumers to share their experiences with your company on social media, the more often they will. Your brand’s following will shower you with free promotion if you:

• Make sharing simple or rewarding.
• Get your team involved.
• Create a giveaway.
• Use technology to your advantage

Technology can be a great tool to help market, rebrand, or introduce a brand. It can help your brand reach audiences in different areas and encourage business growth. 

That in-store experiential brand activation may have been a success among participants, but there’s a larger audience online that should also be catered to. Reap the benefits of your marketing efforts by using content across all your brand’s channels . This helps the campaign go viral, letting more people know and engaging users in the online brand activation. 

Flaminjoy’s omnichannel distribution feature allows you to meet your customers across all touchpoints. It can be implemented anywhere from an in-store display to a large event interactive panel and allows you to create a more relevant and meaningful experience. 

Use Flaminjoy to engage customers during a brand activation with product pictures that speak their language on large screens placed in-store. Or, you can gather User-Generated images using dedicated hashtags and display them live, during your event. 

When paired with data gathered during the activation, Flaminjoy’s powerful analytics can help you see the direct impact your activation has on consumers’ purchasing habits . This allows you to:

• Reach audiences in different areas and encourage business growth.
• Use data to get the most out of your brand activation campaign.
• Invite customers to discover your products, engage with them digitally, and see how they best fit their needs and expectations.
• Automate new creative content, to generate hundreds of engaging digital assets in minutes.
• Enrich your marketing channels with content that matters to your customers.
• Choose the right platforms to deliver the marketing message.

Once you have a list of ideas, goals, and metrics, it’s time to begin implementing your brand activation strategy. Decide on one campaign to move forward, plan the logistics and use your brand playbook, value propositions for key targets, brand personality, character, voice, and experiences to your advantage.

Brand Activation Examples: 3 brand activation ideas to inspire your next campaign

Putting on a brand activation event or campaign can help you increase brand awareness, impressions, and ultimately bring in new customers. 

Using tactics like experiential marketing, digital campaigns, influencer marketing, and in-person or virtual events, you can engage your audience in a more personal way.

Let’s take a look at some examples of brands that have run some of their best brand activation campaigns in recent years—and what makes them stand out.

1. Revolve Fest | Using experiential marketing to influence their way to bigger sales and better awareness

The festival that clothing brand Revolve puts on every year at Coachella is an excellent example of brand activation that uses a combination of experiential and influencer marketing tactics . 

This event is often known as the celebrity party of the year, with the brand hand picking influencers to wear and promote their products during festival parties. Their influencer strategy relies just as strongly on micro and midtier influencers as it does on its stars. 

Revolve requires its influencers during events to post twice a day using pre-designated hashtags to promote the brand. The result is a yearly viral campaign that capitalizes on influencers that drive 70% of sales for the company.

Each of these annual events is a brand activation to bring in sales and drive awareness for the brand. With the help of influencers, Revolve has successfully bridged the gap between fashion and influencers in a way that few others have been able to replicate. 

Using Flaminjoy, you too can generate influencer marketing campaigns where influencers use your hashtags and connect with your audience. Using the analytics feature, you can then track and analyze which of them are the best fit for your brand, curating an array of influencers to sell directly to consumers.

2. Top Line | An exemplary product discovery campaign to boost sales and improve customer experience

An industry leader in a space crowded with local and international competition, beauty company Top Line knows how to adapt to their clientele’s expectations. And with Flaminjoy by their side, Top Line succeeded in revamping their online store without losing sight of their years-long identity.

The brand decided to capitalize on their strongpoint: an audience with a clear affinity for visual experiences. Using Flaminjoy solutions stemming from the latest martech innovations, Top Line developed and implemented a Shop your Mood feature. This fully digital brand activation increased conversion rates and kept visitors lingering across Top Line product pages longer than usual .

The challenge was to turn an inventory of 12,000+ beauty products into an interactive system of recommendations. The solution presented itself in the shape of implementing shoppable galleries into category pages, which led to 9,000+ total visuals and over 3,300 live assets, collected automatically under interactive and visual stores .

Find out more about how Top Line built a winning strategy solely on social media assets in a span of a few days in this Beauty Industry Case Study.

4. Samsung | Increasing awareness for a cause using omnichannel communication for an All-Screen UGC Distribution experience

You wouldn’t normally associate smartphones with museum art. However, in 2018, Samsung managed to do just that. 

Realizing that 60% of the Romanian urban population had never been to a museum exhibit, the Korean manufacturer encouraged users of its Samsung Galaxy S9 smartphone to take perfect photos in any conditions, using the #reimaginemuseum hashtag.

Then, using Flaminjoy’s omnichannel feature, Samsung created a unique museum experience from scratch . The Samsung Live Museum was launched on the International Day of Museums and democratized art and its curation by exhibiting Instagram photos as art, in real time. 

Flaminjoy’s complex distribution features were the perfect fit for the brand activation, which involved displaying brand-owned and user-generated content on any screen . This custom design for all screen types made sure the brand was shining on the big screen, mobile and in-store displays.

Countless ad design templates meant that Samsung could test different ways of formatting branded or UGC content , and choose what worked best for this particular brand activation.

With Flaminjoy, you can innovate brand activations in no time. Sign up for a free demo or request a personalized offer to get started today.

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10 bookmark-worthy brand activation examples for 2022

Let’s face it: engaging audiences with interactive experiences and content is hard. Even the most seasoned event marketers need inspiration from time to time. And with all the new virtual event trends and changing audience needs, marketers need to stay nimble and creative to provide best-in-class branded experiences. 

We’ve gathered ten of our favorite influential brand activations to help you get up to speed on what other brands are building for their campaign and audience experiences! Keep reading to discover the answer to what is brand activation. Afterwards, explore real brand activation examples from great brands and a few tips and ideas you’ll want to bookmark.

What is a brand activation?

A brand activation is any marketing event, campaign, or planned audience interaction that helps a company achieve their goals. Goals can include extending audience reach and building relationships with new and existing customers. Brand activations can include everything from art installations to interactive videos to orientation guides

10 bookmark-worthy ideas for your next brand activation

Check out these brand activations examples of both virtual and in-person events that marketers have used to successfully build relationships, improve engagement, and increase their reach. Each idea contains important insights into the event or campaign along with one main takeaway marketers are welcome to steal or use as a jumping off point for their own creative process. 

1. Miller Lite’s Cantroller Debut at E3

A blue tooth video game controller filled with Miller Lite? Yes, you heard that right. The “Cantroller” is a limited edition piece of tech in the shape of a Miller Lite can that holds real beer straight from the brewing company in Wisconsin.

This Miller Lite brand activation was part of their appearance at video game trade show giant E3. As one reviewer from PCMag hilariously put it: “No, this isn't a good controller. Of course it isn't a good controller. Look at it! [...] But it's still an amazing controller, because it's so strange and unique.”

Takeaway: Marrying your product with the main theme of the event your are participating in (in this case it was video games) is a genius strategy.

2. Google Home’s Virtual Product Showcase

Ever wanted to reach out and touch one of those shiny new products being advertised on TV? Well, Google Home Electronics may not have reached Jetson-level shopping experiences yet but they’ve come pretty close with this virtual brand activation. Viewers can watch as hosts discuss each of their new products in detail. Then, they can click on the ones that interest them the most right within the video to learn more and make a purchase.

Takeaway: Interactive video makes it possible for brands to engage online shoppers like never before.

3. Burger King’s Partnership with Stevenage FC

When Burger King saw their competitors sponsoring top football club teams in a popular video game for an absurd amount of money, they realized they had an amazing opportunity on their hands. 

Instead of competing with other advertisers for the chance to have their logo displayed on the teams with the most championships, they instead chose the team with the least wins overall: Stevenage. Doing so allowed them to still have their logo in a popular video game for a fraction of the price. 

They also made it into a social media challenge. When players shared their Burger King logoed Stevenage team on social media, the brand rewarded the football fans with free food items such as Chicken Fries and Whoppers. Even if you didn’t score top marks like the league-winning rival teams that Burger King decided against sponsoring, the brand still awarded each participant simply for loving the game.

Takeaway: Zig when everyone else zags by finding missed opportunities for brand or product engagement where others have overlooked.

4. Lancaster University’s Welcome Video

Lancaster University knows a thing or two about engaging newly accepted high school graduates as they prepare to start school in the Fall. In this interactive video, the institution lays out all the information students need to know based on their unique situation. Viewers can click on bubble prompts that say “I am a distance learner”, “I will live on campus,” and “I will travel to campus” to be sent directly to the most relevant information in the video. 

Takeaway: The customer journey doesn’t end after they make their purchase. That is why it’s important for event marketers to consider how they’ll continue to engage with their audience through informative, problem-solving content like this.

5. Tinder’s Choose Your Own Adventure Matchmaking Film

In October of 2019, the dating app Tinder partnered with a moviemaking studio to create Swipe Night , a quirky choose-your-own-adventure web series that aimed to bring interactive entertainment to the platform.

The series, which is described as a first-of-its-kind drama, follows the characters as they go through the motions of Earth's final night through a string of five-minute-long videos. Along the way, participants encountered various questions that tested their values and guided them toward unique plot moments based on their choices. For example, when disaster first strikes, users were asked if they’d rather save the annoying human they briefly spoke to earlier at a house party or the party host’s adorable pet. 

The decisions that the viewers made at those crucial moments had a significant impact on the story's trajectory. Their choices were also tied to their dating profiles, so those who chose Fluffy over another person could bond over their decision.

Takeaway: Besides the fact that this brand activation example has made Tinder stand out amongst a sea of otherwise similar dating apps, it just goes to show that people love stories they get to engage with.

6. National Geographic’s Visit Maine Campaign

National Geographic set out to prove, in magnificent detail, why Maine should be on everyone’s travel bucket list with this engaging brand activation. In their video, the brand showcased jaw-dropping footage of the state’s beauty. Overlays gave viewers the opportunity to interact with the campaign without ever having to click away. Maps, bonus photography, and personal stories from National Geographic’s own Pete Muller rounded out this impressive campaign.  Takeaway: More than just a video, this digital brand activation provided a treasure trove of fun extras that defied audience expectations for both the subject matter and the format.

7. Ikea’s #BuybackFriday Event

Black Friday is associated with spending money and buying things, not making money and selling them. And that is exactly why Ikea’s brand activation was such a hit. While others were camping out for televisions, Ikea customers were selling back thousands of their old furniture pieces to the brand in exchange for a portion of their original sale price.

All types of non-upholstered furniture, such as desks, chairs, and bookcases, were eligible to be returned to Ikea after registering a return request. The company has also created a buy-back tool that allowed people to estimate the value of their secondhand goods before bringing them in. This made the experience easier for their audience but it also ensured that there were fewer carbon emissions from those who were making the trip solely for the event. 

According to Ikea, the used furniture they purchased has been sold at a discount. The company also said that the items that cannot be reused have been recycled. In a culture dealing with overconsumption, Ikea proved that there are plenty of ways brands can be sustainable and profitable at the same time.  Takeaway: Plan your brand activation that ties your product or service back to it’s core values. Tying it to a unofficial holiday that fits the theme of your activation won’t hurt either.

8. Adobe’s Stock Film Festival

Filmmaking is an art form that requires close contact with other people. So when the industry ground to a halt in 2020, Adobe found a way for creatives to safely make movies without having to go out and get the footage themselves during their Stock Film Festival. 

In their own words, “While we continue to adapt to a world facing a number of challenges, one thing that remains the same is the power of creativity. Seeing our global creative community adapt and evolve their craft is a testament to how their passion adds kindling to the inspiration of others and provokes discussion.”

That is why Adobe invited select filmmakers worldwide to produce a film in less than five days using their products for free. The award-winning brand activation showed creatives what all is possible with Adobe’s impressive library of footage, sound, and editing tools.  Takeaway: Use your brand activation as a way to show your audience a use for your products that they haven’t thought of before.

9. Apartment Therapy’s Dorm Therapy Launch for Target

Brand activations in collaboration with other successful brands are some of our favorite examples. That’s why we had to include the Apartment Therapy and Target cross-promotional campaign. Using interactive video, the lifestyle and interior design blog soldified themseles as a player in the college market through their new Dorm Therapy line. 

Click your way through their charming product demonstration video with options such as “chill with bae” or “spontaneous soiree” to get you excited about all the possibilities. Once you’ve answered all of the This-or-That style prompts, you can shop your way through a fully styled room complete with product detail callouts, links to shop, and more.  Takeaway: Emphasize your audience’s point of view in your brand activations to make the interaction more interesting and relevant.

10. Zara’s Clothing Line Launch Short Film Series

Zara has produced a number of innovative films in collaboration with celebrated filmmakers in the past. But they’ve taken it to a whole new level with this film campaign. 

One of the many short films in the Zara Scenes catalog, “ How to Get the Key ”, takes viewers on a journey of a young model’s attempts to find the key to the secret rooftop of LA’s famous Roosevelt Hotel. 

What makes this film unlike any other branded moviemaking we’ve seen before? Our heroine changes outfits as the story progresses. It seems simple but it’s actually quite genius. 

Going from chic black dress to a stylish winter coat to the big reveal of her glimmering cocktail dress, this brand activation does a great job of both showing off Zara’s new line and engaging guests through in-video shopping. 

Audiences expect to see costume changes throughout a movie. But pairing this expectation with a genuinely fun story and some unobtrusive product placement is what makes for a winning combination in our eyes. 

Takeaway: Consider which aspects of your chosen brand activation format naturally fit what you’re advertising in the first place.

Create your next brand activation

Interactive video | virtual events.

Maria Waida

How to Develop and Implement a Brand Activation Strategy

According to a report by SmallBizGenius.net , it can take 5 to 7 impressions for the average person to remember a brand, depending on the industry and activation strategy budget. With the amount of information and brands flying at people nowadays, that number of impressions keeps growing.

So, knowing this, how can you grow your company’s brand awareness with your target audience? The answer may be promoting brand experience, giveaways, sampling campaigns, or pop-up events. Each of these can be an effective brand activation strategy.

Today, we’ll look at how your brand awareness can reach new heights by building top-notch brand activation strategies and campaigns!

What is Brand Activation, and How Does it Work?

There are many definitions of what a “brand” is, and our favorite is a brand is a promise wrapped in an experience. Brand activations are these experiences. They create lasting emotional connections between a brand and its target audience.

The Importance of Brand Activation in Business

You may be thinking to yourself one or more of the following questions:

• Is this just another marketing strategy?
• Is brand activation important?
• What about digital marketing and social media? I thought they were the golden ticket!

The reality is that yes, brand activation is essential because without it, your marketing strategy is short-lived, and you’d have no followers on social media because nobody has taken action to follow your brand; the brand activation process also helps define the emotional connection you’ll make to your consumers. This includes your tone of voice, value proposition, and emotional satisfaction customers come to expect at each touchpoint.

These unique experiences must consistently reinforce the brand’s values and build trust, authenticity, and relationships with potential customers and long-time advocates. For companies that utilize channel partners to generate and cultivate leads, brand activation strategies can include special cooperative promotions and effective partner enablement materials that highlight the brand values shared by both parties.

How to Build a Brand Activation Strategy

Before deciding on the types of brand activation activities your company will undertake, it’s essential to determine the goals behind your brand activation strategy. These goals could include:

• Getting more account sign-ups
• Increasing specific product sales
• Increasing visibility or awareness of your overall brand
• Introduce a startup or new brand to relevant marketplaces
• Drive consumer engagement with your brand
• Create inspired advocates who will help introduce your brand to their followers

Brainstorming and planning the activation can begin once these goals have been defined. Now we move on to determine which of the types of brand activation strategies to use.

Experiential Marketing

Sometimes called “engagement marketing,” brands use experiential marketing by creating an immersive environment where consumers can experience the brand first-hand. While the go-to example of experiential marketing is providing car shoppers with test drives, the same emotional connection is built with other activities. Another example is a skincare brand releasing a new product and offering complimentary treatments at the beauty supply store Ulta.

Sampling Campaigns

Sampling campaigns are one of the most easily recognized brand activation strategies that general consumers are aware of. A simple example of a sampling campaign is when a company plans to release a new product, sends free samples to its best customers, and asks for feedback. An emotional connection is created because the best customers receive what they feel is an exclusive sneak peek, the ability to provide input (and feel a sense of ownership), and also receive something as a gift. The result is a lasting impression of the brand.

In-Store Brand Activation Campaign

There’s no better venue to demonstrate your product and immerse someone in your brand than being in person at a showroom or on-site at headquarters. For some, that may mean a particular display area in a retail environment or a pop-up shop at a local retail outlet.

This might not be a product demonstration or sales pitch, either. Remember, your brand promise has to do mainly with the emotions the customer’s experiences with your brand cultivates. For example, you could invite your best customers to a reception at your headquarters to meet and enjoy snacks with those responsible for designing your latest products or for hearing remarks from a celebrity guest who is an influencer in your channel partner program (plus social media selfie opp!).

Conferences, Shows, and Events

suppose your goal is to engage more leads in your target market. In that case, one of the best brand activation strategies is attending conferences, shows, and events that align with your target audience demographic. Because your brand activation goal is to create an experience that reinforces a strong brand connection, it ensures you don’t choose an activity that strays from your brand’s core values and promise.

Psychologically, brand activation works by stimulating a person’s senses in such a way that it creates an emotional imprint. Let’s say your company specializes in producing historical documentaries. You’ve purchased a booth at the American Historical Association annual conference. Instead of giving out pens and notepads like most other trade show booths, you know that your services make people think of nostalgia and films. You rent a giant popcorn machine and set it up. Now everyone at the trade show is stopping to listen to your 60-second elevator pitch and sign up for your list. They get a bag of nostalgic, classic movie theatre popcorn, and you get a new subscriber.

Passive Brand Immersion is Everywhere

When you go into Best Buy and see TVs playing videos, computers set up and running, and stereo systems blasting music, or when you enter Target and see appliances displayed out of their boxes, this is a passive form of in-store meets experiential brand activation, too. While some of these allow customers to truly try before they buy, some are set up so consumers can experience the exact size, color, and feel of things before purchase.

Your brand needs to stand out and get noticed by activating a consumer’s emotional connections.

Tips for an Effective Brand Activation Strategy

Before we continue, there are a few “must dos” with any brand activation strategy and implementation that you’ll want to include in your plans.

Respect Your Target Audience

The best brand activation strategies do their job without being seen as a publicity stunt or brand marketing ploy. Your customers will know something is up if your activation attempts feel off — they’re annoyed, pushed to discomfort, or disrespected. This leads prospects and customers to avoid your brand. To be safe, you may wish to run your activation ideas by some of your best, trusted customers to see how they would react. Ask them for their advice — hey, that’s an activation strategy, too!

Surprise Your Audience by Being Creative

In our above example with the popcorn machine at the trade show, the company went out of its way to get creative. Creating a fun and engaging activation without going too far away from your company’s values and the appropriateness of the event can create an ideal interaction — which is why we call it strategy. You’ve planned it, but the prospect and customers think it’s a natural progression of events.

However, be sure to revisit your brand activation when things change. I’ve gone to conferences where a vendor has gone through a rebrand but has not done anything to create a reactivation opportunity. In other words, if you’re gonna take away my popcorn, surprise me with something equally as fun!

Humanize Your Brand

Yesterday, a group of coworkers and I went out to lunch at a well-known restaurant. We waited at the counter for a few minutes until one person noticed there were now ordering kiosks a few feet away. So, we wandered over and put in our orders. And we felt ignored!

Human interaction is the fasted path to a meaningful relationship with your target audience. Imagine if our marketing agency had just left popcorn bags on a table with a business card stapled. Odds are they wouldn’t have collected people’s contact information, and it’s entirely possible conference-goers assumed the popcorn was put out by the conference staff, not part of a brand engagement activity. All brand activation should involve some human interaction.

Analyze and Listen to Feedback

When engaging in a brand activation activity, be sure and bring along someone whose sole job is to gauge feedback around customer experience before, during, and after the interaction. They can gently ask for input and assemble a report showing key metrics such as the net promoter score, which measures how likely a person is to recommend a brand to a friend or family member. This helps document positive and negative actions and suggestions for improvement.

12 Brand Activation Event Ideas

As you examine your brand activation event ideas, note the ones that closely align with your product or service offering, company core values, and brand promise. Some are more marketing activations or experiential marketing campaigns, while some are more tried-and-true. Think about what other brands in your industry do. What works and what doesn’t? What would be doing something that is too close an imitation?

• Brand Stand - Taking a public stand on a hot issue will certainly get people talking about and siding with your company. It’s a great way to show your support for what you believe in, and build a following of like-minded customers or clients.
• Influencer Marketing - If your target audience is sufficiently narrowed down, it should be easy to identify the influencers your audience trusts. Get in touch with those influencers and broker a deal for them to try your product and share it with their followers.
• Online Advertising and Digital Campaigns - This is your standard online ad purchase process that considered or tried before. But just because it’s a common marketing idea doesn’t make it any less effective. While online ads may not see the same click-through rates that they used to, they do still allow for brand awareness—which is half the battle.
• Organic Social Media Viral Campaigns - It’s hard to plan for a viral post, but if you keep publishing new, trendy, or surprising content, the worst that can happen is you’ll grow your online follower base. If you jump on an online trend early enough with an amusing take or commentary, odds are you’ll get your place in the spotlight as well!
• Trade Shows - There’s a trade show for just about every industry, and attending those events gets you right in the center of the action. Mingle with potential customers, get your name out there, and see what the competition is doing all at the same time.
• Music Festivals - Music festivals are great opportunities for lifestyle brands to get in touch with their audience in a relaxed, non-salesy atmosphere. It’s also an opportunity to gain new customers and help position your brand in a fun light.
• Virtual Events and Conferences - Brands that position themselves as experts in their industry do really well at conferences and virtual events. Allow a high-ranking official from the C-Suite to give a presentation about how you’ve achieved your success, and you gain dual benefits of increased brand awareness and increased customer inquiries.
• Sampling Campaigns and Giveaways - There’s tons of ways to do this one, like offering free samples in person at a store, or sending samples to different locations for them to add to each customer’s shopping bag at checkout. Alternatively, you can offer samples and giveaways to customers in an online format, where customers share their name, email address (for digital content), or physical address (for physical samples) to be shared with them. Bonus: Now you have their details for continued marketing campaigns.
• Social Media Contests - Increase your online followers and your follower engagement rates at the same time with a social media contest. You can do the standard ‘Like us on Facebook, follow on TikTok,’ etc., but beware that encouraging followers simply for a free entry into your contest doesn’t always result in a curated and engaged follower base. Instead, try to encourage existing followers to engage with your posts over time and build conversation, which will help educate them on your brand and lead to a longer (and more profitable) relationship.
• In-Store Brand Activation - Specially designed displays, interactive devices, or other experiential elements surrounding your product in-store can draw attention to your brand and encourage customers to choose it over your competitor.
• Live Demonstrations - Even more impressive than sending out a special display to call attention to your product, is sending a team to demonstrate and actively sell your product to interested passers-by. Having a live demonstration showcases all of the features of your product or service, while also being able to engage in conversation and quell any hesitations that would inhibit purchase.
• Behind-the-Scenes (BTS) content - We all like to know how things work, and posting BTS content provides that insight while also drumming up excitement about it. Take the famed Radio City Rockettes, for instance. In advance of their Christmas Spectacular, they posted videos of the Rockettes in rehearsal as they practiced their high kicks and other specialized choreography. This kind of content gets viewers excited for the season ahead, and looking into purchasing tickets for the show.

Brand Activation in Summary

To wrap up, here are some key takeaways from today’s article:

• Brand activation means building your brand’s emotional connection with users.
• Brand activations increase awareness and may include events, sampling, social media, contests, or pop-up events/experiences.
• Brand activation involves creating a new psychological connection between the activation activity and the emotions generated. A solid brand activation strategy will continuously develop a set of desired goals and how to use marketing strategies to achieve them.
• Psychologically, brand activation creates an emotional connection where the brand promises to stimulate that connection at every interaction.
• Every time a prospect or consumer comes in contact with your brand, there is a brand activation opportunity, including partner channel marketing.

As you work to create fantastic brand activation opportunities for your prospects, consider how working with a robust demand-generation platform like Relevize can help by ensuring consistent, quality brand resources are available for every company and affiliate in your channel partner ecosystem.

Finally, be sure to check out our deep dive into the latest tools that have enabled channel partners to become more efficient, demonstrate a strong return on investment (ROI) over the last few years, and create engaging and delightful brand activation experiences using technology in our publication Leveraging the Modern Tech Stack to Become a Top B2B Reseller .

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The Power of Brand Activation [Your Complete Guide]

How many of your employees are already on social?

If you’ve been around the marketing and brand world for a bit now, you’ve probably heard all sorts of industry terms and “buzzwords” that sometimes lose their value. 

Marketing is always evolving, which means industry trends and tactics are always popping up with many novel strategies that are worth exploring and implementing at work. 

One of these newish terms is brand activation , which can appear to be just another idea that people throw around and does not really matter.

However, if you dive further into the topic and process, you quickly realize that it’s a necessary procedure that your organization is probably doing — and could be doing better. 

Here’s what is covered in this article: 

What is Brand Activation?

Why is brand activation important.

• Types of Brand Activation

Brand Activation Tips

There are plenty of associated terms when it comes to talking about branding, and no doubt many come to mind right now. But is brand activation one of them? Maybe it is, but most likely if you are reading this section you are looking to understand this term more. 

If you work in marketing, you are aware that it is imperative to find better ways to build trust and personalization between the brand and audience. This is exactly where brand activation plays a key role. 

Here’s how we can define brand activation: 

Specific campaigns, events, or interactions that directly transpire through your organization’s brand. The overall goal is to help generate much more awareness and build trusted relationships with your target audiences — prospects, customers, and employees. 

Now that might sound similar to other terms in the branding space and you’d be correct in thinking that. There is certainly overlap between those terms and with any branding strategy which generally involves building awareness and better connections with audiences.

The best way to differentiate and understand brand activation, is that activation is always focused on a particular experience that serves to level-up your brand. 

Meaning, your brand activation campaigns are to ensure your brand is growing — not just maintaining a particular state of being. And to ensure that your audiences start taking more actions after particular brand activation campaigns are launched. 

Any process or strategy that involves your company’s brand is naturally important. Whether your brand is completely new to audiences or has some established presence — activation ensures your company does more than stay just relevant. 

Why should people care about your brand, products, or services? What captures their attention and engages them? How will you ensure your business grows and that your brand stays ahead of the economic times? 

Showing your brand off is one thing, but letting people experience it and build a connection is what takes your brand results to that next level.

It also helps your company with what might not be working and facilitates critical feedback that can inform a pivot to where your brand needs to point. 

The Essential Types of Brand Activation

So, how does a company actually activate their brand? 

Remember, this process is more about specific campaigns based around certain goals to achieve some desired result related to your product or services. This means there is probably more work in planning, setting up, and launching compared to other marketing tactics. 

Yet just like most marketing strategies and plans, with brand activation there are still different types and creative elements you can include.

Let’s look at some of the high-level types of activation your company might want to consider utilizing. 

Experiential Campaigns : 

The goal here is to allow people to experience your company and products on a personal and emotional level. These campaigns allow audiences to engage with the people at the company and test drive the products or services. 

This is where creativity becomes key, because you want people to walk away with the best brand experience possible. These campaigns take time to set up and won’t be things you traditionally do all the time.

But these are ways to gain attention while simultaneously delivering a dynamically activated brand message. 

Digital Campaigns:

With your company’s marketing team, there will always be some digital campaigns running. Many of them will have specific goals to achieve. 

However, with brand activation there will be much larger and specific campaigns that will be focused on the online experience. Afterall, most people are online and on social media these days, looking to engage with brands and people who work at these brands. 

Most digital campaigns will be a complement to the larger brand activation strategy, but social media can be an entirely separate part of the process. 

Social media is where your brand engages with customers, employees, and general audiences. It’s where your brand can have a voice to share personality, mission, values, and awareness.

But it can help bring attention to events, specific products or upcoming campaigns, and reach the people that matter most. 

Social platforms are the best way to elevate your message through employees and customers who are connected to your brand and products or services. Amplifying reach, share of voice, and increasing activation.  

Sampling Campaigns:

One of the best ways to boost brand activation is to focus on something called “sampling campaigns.” 

These are specific tactics that your team and company use to give audiences access to products or services. This could mean different things for various industries and whether your company is B2C or B2B. 

Handing out samples to people is a good analog here, providing free product trials, and even beta-test accounts to exclusive audiences so you can get valuable feedback but also boost word of mouth marketing among audiences. 

And these campaigns can be executed digitally with social media, emails, ads, sent via direct mail, or during in-person events.

Remember to think about your audience carefully and how you target. If you are too aggressive and cast too broad of a campaign, you could alienate and annoy people with irrelevant content and unwanted brand material. 

Since there are multiple types of brand activation and various creative campaigns you can run, your process can be different from other companies. However, all good brand activation campaigns have overlapping elements that make them stand out. 

Here are a few tips to consider and implement as you build your brand and campaigns. 

Know your audiences 

The last thing you want to do with your brand activations is deliver an experience that annoys your audience or does not connect with them.

It means you need to do your homework about who your audiences are, what segments you may need, and how those segments are substantiated and engage with your brand. 

It’s okay to be creative and deliver something fun, but there needs to be thought behind any campaign before blindly launching. A great way to see if a campaign idea is on the right path is to talk to some of your top customer advocates to get feedback. 

Include human emotion

You can’t escape the idea of brand empathy or humanizing your brand. Empathetic branding is everywhere lately and more important than ever before.

People are getting used to the digital noise and are looking for humanized brand experiences and emotional appeal. 

Whether that is via brand activation campaigns on social media, ads, or in-person events — everything should read as human and engage using genuine emotions.

When your brand connects with the emotional anticipations and responses of your audience, you’ll find those audiences trust and identify more with your brand. 

Audience participation and action

Any good brand activation campaign will include some form of audience participation or a way for them to easily take a specific action. This is what differentiates brand activation from any traditional marketing campaign. 

These campaigns must get them involved in some way, as it makes the experience more memorable when they are a part of and participant in the campaign. If it’s an online experience, make it interactive.

If it’s some public event, get them to be part of the campaign like trying your service or testing a new product. 

Don’t follow traditional rules

Now, don’t get too crazy with your ideas here — you’ll still need some boundaries with your campaigns. But, what I mean here is that when it comes to brand activation you do need to think creatively and as the cliche saying goes, “outside the box.”

Technology has made brand activations more interactive, engaging and unique, ultimately resulting in more engaging experiences for audiences who will perceive your brand as memorable.

And not every campaign needs an insane and expensive “wow factor,” but something creative will figure your brand in people’s minds much easier. 

Being surprising or different is good, but remember to set up some limitations. If you go too far and steer away from your core brand ethos, brand over-activation can do more harm than good. 

Ensure your campaigns are connected

When you are thinking of various brand activation campaigns, they should all serve to improve the big picture of your brand strategy. Meaning, each campaign should have some element that ties everything together and stays on brand. 

Your organization’s goal should be to create a uniformed strategy where your campaigns work together to ensure that audiences are receiving a consistent brand message over time.

The last thing you want to do is confuse your target audiences with messaging and communications that are not aligning.

Encourage employees to be a marketing channel

As you are gearing up for specific brand activations that want to impress more people, you’ll need to get the word out. A great way to drive additional engagement, while  your brand is to involve employees.

Employees are (and should be) the closest to your brand, they will have their own thoughts and insights, and also have networks of people who will be more engaged when it’s not coming from the brand or executives.

Consider the value of employee advocacy to best activate your employees for brand ambassadorship and sharing content. 

When users create and share content on social media channels, they get 28% higher engagement compared to standard company posts.

Listen to campaign responses

Since your brand activations are heavily focused on participation or actions from your audiences, they will be key to evaluating your campaigns.

You want your target audiences to trust, feel connected, and value your brand through these activation campaigns. 

By collecting insights during the entire cycle of the campaign you can learn what is working, what may have failed, and if your goal for the campaign was achieved.

It helps you learn and grow, to ensure future brand activations are improved and working as desired. 

Avoid brand exhaustion

Getting your brand messages out to the world is critical, not to mention having set brand activation campaigns is a must.

But there is a fine line to walk as well, because if you belabor your campaigns and messaging to the same audiences you can easily come off as inflated and lose their interest. 

You’ll notice engagement dropping, maybe people venting frustrations, or when you are social listening you find less positive chatter.

Finding a balance for your brand is important and keep in mind there may be some trial and error if you are starting fresh.

A great way to space out your brand activations is to segment audiences, look at geo locations, and find a cadence that won’t overwhelm each group. 

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Let’s say you’ve just created a fabulous new product or service (or enhanced an existing one). Or maybe you’ve just wrapped new brand strategy research (either internally, or with a brand strategy consulting firm). You’re armed with a deep understanding of your target audience, competitive landscape, consumer perception, and have a shiny new brand positioning strategy. Now you want to use these insights to drive consumer engagement and action — but how? The answer is a brand activation plan.

What is a Brand Activation Plan?

Insights are only as good as the ideas they inspire, the decisions they inform, and the momentum they build. A brand activation plan is the critical asset that allows you to start transforming those insights into business realities. Crafted in the right way, it enables your brand to drive consumer action and engagement via brand experiences.

If you’re working towards the launch of a new product, service, line of business, positioning strategy — whatever the case may be — it’s time to start thinking about a brand activation plan. And if you don’t know where to get started, we’ve got you covered. Here’s how some of the world’s biggest and best-loved brands get it done.

Activate Your Brand from the Inside Out

Before you start devising brand activation strategies, you need to align internal stakeholders and engage employees so that they’ll rally around your brand activation. To do this, schedule a short, in-person share-out of noteworthy findings and impactful stories from your fieldwork with essential internal stakeholders. Make it clear why they’re important to the business. If key people from across the company understand the research driving your brand, you’ll have their buy-in down the line. And that makes for a much smoother brand activation process.

Brand Activation Strategies

Now on to the fun part! The specific activation strategies your brand might implement depend on a number of factors, including the scope of your objectives, available resources, your industry/category, etc. That said, we’ve seen organizations of all types benefit from the strategies outlined below. When your teams gather for their initial breakout sessions, have them start their conversations with the following list.

Communications Strategy

Brainstorm creative campaigns that center around your new brand strategy research. You now have in-depth insights on your target audience, so use them! Do your consumers really love or dislike something about your category? Dig into that idea to elicit an emotional response. Be sure to leverage different types of media to reach your unique audiences and share your brand story from a variety of angles. The goal is to create a communications strategy that outlines how your brand can differentiate and drive conversion across paid, earned, owned, and shared channels.

Brand Activation Example: When BlackRock, the world’s largest asset management company, wanted to differentiate itself from competitors as a global thought leader in financial wellbeing, it released the findings of one of its largest ever global surveys. The survey of 27,000 respondents in 13 countries explored what financial wellbeing meant for consumers of varied nationalities, ages, and income brackets.

The newsworthy findings about consumer concerns, fears and hopes about money made headlines in major media outlets, successfully positioning BlackRock as an innovative thought leader.

Cause Marketing

Aligning with a meaningful cause is an excellent way to express your brand values and create an emotional bond with consumers. What do your customers care most about? Identify a cause that ignites their passion, making sure that it also relates to your brand vision and drives differentiation. Then figure out how and where to participate.

Brand Activation Examples: Warby Parker and Toms are among the brands that have done this particularly well, ensuring that their charitable giving is organic, authentic and an integral part of their brand DNA and mission. Warby Parker’s ‘Buy a Pair, Give a Pair’ partnership with VisionSpring has resulted in over 5 million pairs of glasses donated to those in need. Toms has donated 93 million pairs of shoes as part of its ‘one for one’ charitable giving program , and has since expanded its programs into clean water, safe births , bullying prevention and vision initiatives.

Community Engagement

Community engagement is a great way to create dialogue, invite consumer feedback, and enable consumers to interact with other like-minded people. Use your research to determine what kinds of community spaces and events resonate with your customers, then brainstorm the best ways to get involved. Your goal is to create connections — among consumers and with your brand.

Brand Activation Examples : Lululemon produces high-quality athletic clothes and accessories and then creates community with its online yoga classes and running communities. The brand connects customers with fitness instructors, participates in global festivals and training series, and selects brand ambassadors to share fitness stories.

Sephora is another example of a brand with a great community engagement strategy. In 2017 the company launched its Beauty Insider Community , which enables customers to communicate with experts and fellow shoppers in real time, receive instant feedback and recommendations on products, get beauty news updates, view and post on the Sephora gallery , and connect with other users of similar skin types and beauty profiles. The community also offers access to beauty events .

Brand Activation Planning

With some strategies in mind, it’s time to start proper activation planning. That means making sure the teams at the front lines of your new brand strategy — marketing, PR, customer service, UX, etc. — understand what roles they’re expected to play. Hold consultative breakout sessions to discuss the planning, development, and implementation of new initiatives, programs, and messaging. Provide the necessary tools to turn ideas into reality. Your goal is to enable teams so that they can work independently at pushing the brand forward.

These initial breakouts won’t be enough, however — create accountability through consistent check-ins. Schedule follow-up sessions every three or four weeks so you can be sure progress is tracking to goals. Use these meetings to review and enhance each team’s activation plan, setting aside time for troubleshooting and Q&A.

Brand Playbook

Whatever brand activation strategies you decide on, it’s important to document them in a brand playbook. A good playbook will articulate a clear strategic vision for your brand. It will inspire teams and inform future branding, communications, marketing and innovation strategies. In other words, it’s another great way to make sure brand activation is seen as a continuous process, and not something that’s ever fully “finished.” We recommend including the following in your brand playbook:

• Value propositions for key targets
• Emotional and functional reasons to believe
• Brand character and personality
• Brand voice and experience

If you need help with brand strategy and activation, let us know . We’ve got more than fifteen years’ experience helping global brands bring their stories to life.

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Brand strategy: how to create a value proposition like the world’s biggest brands, don't position your brand, make a promise instead, rebranding strategy: lessons from 2019’s top rebrands.

Brand activation: Case Studies: Successful Brand Activation Examples

1. introduction to brand activation, 2. experiential marketing triumph, 3. social media sensation, 4. influencer marketing impact, 5. unforgettable event launches, 6. innovative digital campaigns, 7. community engagement success, 8. key takeaways from brand activation success stories.

Brand activation is the art of driving consumer action through brand interaction and experiences. The core idea is to bring brands to life via experiences and form long-term emotional connections. This strategy moves beyond passive advertising, engaging consumers in a dynamic way that often leads to improved loyalty and brand recall.

1. Experiential Marketing : This facet involves creating immersive brand experiences . For instance, a pop-up shop that allows consumers to interact with products in a novel environment.

2. Digital Campaigns : Leveraging social media platforms to create interactive campaigns that encourage user participation. An example is a hashtag challenge that goes viral , connecting the brand with a wider audience .

3. Sponsorships and Partnerships : Aligning with events or influencers that resonate with the brand's target demographic. A tech company might sponsor a gaming tournament to engage with tech-savvy consumers .

4. In-Store Activations : Engaging customers through in-store experiences can lead to immediate purchases. For example, a beauty brand might offer free makeovers inside a retail store.

5. Sampling Campaigns : Giving potential customers a taste of the product . A food brand might distribute free samples in high foot-traffic areas.

Each of these strategies aims to create a memorable impact, turning a passive observer into an active participant and, ultimately, a loyal customer. The success of these activations can often be seen in case studies where brands have successfully implemented such strategies, leading to measurable upticks in engagement and sales. For example, a beverage company launching a new flavor might create a multi-sensory experience at a music festival, combining product sampling with branded entertainment. This not only introduces the product to potential customers but also creates a memorable association with the event.

Introduction to Brand Activation - Brand activation: Case Studies: Successful Brand Activation Examples

In the realm of brand activation, the fusion of consumer experience with strategic marketing can yield transformative results. One such instance is a campaign that not only resonated with the audience but also became a benchmark for industry best practices. This initiative was a masterclass in harnessing the power of sensory engagement, fostering a deep connection between the brand and its consumers.

1. Conceptualization : The campaign was conceived with the goal of creating an immersive environment where every touchpoint was an opportunity for interaction. The brand transformed a commonplace location into a vibrant hub of activity that invited participation and exploration.

2. Execution : At the heart of the execution was a multi-sensory experience. Participants could feel, taste, and smell the brand, which was no small feat. This was achieved through a series of carefully crafted installations, each designed to tell a part of the brand's story.

3. Engagement : The key to the campaign's success was active consumer engagement . Attendees were not mere spectators but became part of the narrative. Interactive displays and hands-on activities ensured that the experience was not only observed but felt.

4. Technology Integration : cutting-edge technology played a pivotal role in personalizing experiences. Augmented reality (AR) overlays provided a digital dimension to physical spaces, creating a hybrid reality that was both enchanting and informative.

5. Social Amplification : To extend the reach beyond the physical confines of the event, a robust social media strategy was employed. Hashtag campaigns, live streaming, and influencer partnerships amplified the experience, making it a topic of conversation both online and offline.

6. Measurement of Success : The campaign's impact was measured through a mix of qualitative and quantitative metrics. surveys and feedback forms gauged emotional responses, while data analytics provided insights into behavioral patterns and engagement levels.

An illustrative example of this approach was when the brand launched a new flavor of its beverage line. Instead of a traditional tasting booth, they created an 'Escape Room' themed around the flavor's exotic origins. Participants solved puzzles using clues that subtly educated them about the product's ingredients and heritage. This not only made the learning process enjoyable but also left a lasting impression of the brand's creativity and attention to detail.

By weaving together these elements, the campaign transcended conventional marketing tactics , creating a memorable brand experience that elevated consumer perception and loyalty . The success of this approach is a testament to the power of experiential marketing when executed with precision and imagination.

Experiential Marketing Triumph - Brand activation: Case Studies: Successful Brand Activation Examples

In the dynamic landscape of brand activation, leveraging the power of social media can catapult a brand from obscurity to viral fame. This phenomenon was exemplified by a beverage company that ingeniously tapped into the zeitgeist of internet challenges. By creating a hashtag that not only promoted their product but also resonated with the youthful exuberance of their target demographic, they set the stage for an organic marketing triumph.

Key Strategies and Outcomes:

1. Hashtag Challenge:

- The brand initiated a challenge that encouraged users to create content featuring their product in unique ways.

- This led to a surge in user-generated content, significantly amplifying the brand's visibility.

2. Influencer Collaboration:

- strategic partnerships with influencers who embodied the brand's ethos were formed.

- These influencers created authentic content that aligned with the challenge, further boosting engagement.

3. cross-Platform promotion :

- The campaign was not confined to a single platform; it was adeptly spread across various social media channels.

- This approach ensured a wider reach and tapped into different audience segments.

4. Community Engagement:

- The brand actively engaged with participants by commenting on and sharing user-generated content .

- This fostered a sense of community and encouraged continued participation in the challenge.

5. real-Time analytics :

- Utilizing advanced analytics tools, the brand monitored the campaign's performance in real-time .

- Insights gained from data helped in tweaking the campaign for maximum impact .

Illustrative Example:

Consider the case where a participant used the product to create a visually stunning art piece. The post garnered significant attention, not just for its creativity but also for the subtle product placement. This post was then shared by the brand, receiving further acclaim and becoming a benchmark for other participants.

Through these multifaceted strategies, the brand not only achieved a high level of engagement but also saw a substantial increase in sales. The campaign's success underscored the potential of social media as a tool for brand activation when executed with creativity and a deep understanding of the digital ecosystem .

Social Media Sensation - Brand activation: Case Studies: Successful Brand Activation Examples

In the realm of brand activation, the potency of influencer marketing cannot be overstated. This approach harnesses the credibility and reach of individuals who have amassed a dedicated following, often on social media platforms , to amplify brand messages in a way that feels personal and authentic. The impact of such marketing strategies is multifaceted, affecting not only brand awareness and perception but also driving tangible outcomes like sales and customer loyalty .

1. Authentic Engagement : Influencers are adept at crafting content that resonates with their audience, fostering a sense of trust and community. For instance, when a well-known beauty influencer collaborates with a cosmetic brand, their tutorial videos can lead to an immediate spike in product sales.

2. Targeted Reach : By partnering with influencers whose followers match the brand's target demographic, companies ensure that their message reaches the right eyes. A fitness brand might work with a popular yoga instructor on Instagram to reach health-conscious consumers .

3. Brand Storytelling : Influencers can bring a brand's story to life, connecting with audiences on an emotional level. A travel influencer sharing their adventures sponsored by a luggage brand can weave narratives that highlight the durability and design of the products in real-world scenarios .

4. Feedback Loop : The interactive nature of social media allows for immediate feedback from consumers, which can be invaluable for brands. This two-way communication channel helps brands to adjust their strategies in real-time based on consumer responses.

5. long-Term partnerships : Beyond one-off campaigns, sustained collaborations with influencers can lead to long-term benefits. As influencers continue to grow their following, the brand's visibility and reputation grow alongside them.

Through these lenses, it becomes clear that influencer marketing is not just about the immediate impact but also about building a lasting relationship between the brand and its consumers. The success stories are numerous, with brands witnessing a significant return on investment when they strategically align with influencers who embody their values and speak to their desired audience. The key lies in the synergy between the influencer's personal brand and the company's identity , creating a partnership that feels both natural and compelling to the consumer.

Influencer Marketing Impact - Brand activation: Case Studies: Successful Brand Activation Examples

In the realm of brand activation, the launch event stands as a pivotal moment—a chance to captivate an audience, create a lasting impression, and ignite the fuse of viral marketing campaigns . This particular case study delves into a launch that not only captured attention but also set a new benchmark for experiential marketing. The event was meticulously crafted to resonate with the brand's core values, weaving together a narrative that attendees would not only remember but eagerly share.

1. strategic Venue selection : The chosen venue was an embodiment of the brand's ethos. Located at the heart of the city, the space was transformed into an immersive environment that reflected the brand's innovative spirit. For instance, a tech company might utilize an avant-garde art gallery, infusing the space with interactive installations that highlight their product's features.

2. Engaging Multi-Sensory Experiences : Attendees were greeted with a multi-sensory journey, from tactile stations where they could feel the texture of the product materials to scent zones that evoked the brand's essence. A notable example was a car manufacturer that infused the venue with the new car smell and had interactive driving simulators.

3. Influencer Integration : Key influencers were not just invited but integrated into the event narrative. They participated in curated experiences that aligned with their audience, such as a fashion influencer modeling clothing from a new line at a lifestyle brand's launch.

4. Exclusive Reveals : The highlight was the unveiling of the new product, staged dramatically with a mix of technology and theatrics. A luxury watchmaker, for example, might reveal their latest timepiece within a holographic clockwork display, symbolizing precision and craftsmanship.

5. Follow-up Engagement : Post-event, the engagement continued with personalized thank-you messages, exclusive content, and calls to action that encouraged social sharing. This extended the event's life cycle and maximized its impact.

Through these layers of engagement, the event transcended a mere announcement; it became a story woven into the fabric of the brand, a narrative that each attendee could tell as their own, ensuring that the launch was not just unforgettable but also transformative for the brand's perception. (#message)

In the realm of brand activation, the launch event stands as a pivotal moment—a chance to captivate an audience, create a lasting impression, and ignite the fuse of viral marketing campaigns. This particular case study delves into a launch that not only captured attention but also set a new benchmark for experiential marketing. The event was meticulously crafted to resonate with the brand's core values, weaving together a narrative that attendees would not only remember but eagerly share.

1. Strategic Venue Selection : The chosen venue was an embodiment of the brand's ethos. Located at the heart of the city, the space was transformed into an immersive environment that reflected the brand's innovative spirit. For instance, a tech company might utilize an avant-garde art gallery, infusing the space with interactive installations that highlight their product's features.

Through these layers of engagement, the event transcended a mere announcement; it became a story woven into the fabric of the brand, a narrative that each attendee could tell as their own, ensuring that the launch was not just unforgettable but also transformative for the brand's perception.

Unforgettable Event Launches - Brand activation: Case Studies: Successful Brand Activation Examples

In the realm of digital marketing , creativity and innovation are paramount. The fifth case study exemplifies this through a campaign that redefined engagement metrics and set a new benchmark for brand activations. This particular campaign leveraged cutting-edge technology and a deep understanding of consumer behavior to create a personalized and immersive experience that resonated with the audience on an unprecedented level.

1. Personalization at Scale : utilizing data analytics , the campaign delivered tailored content to users, resulting in a 35% increase in engagement. For instance, a beauty brand used augmented reality to allow customers to virtually try on makeup, which not only entertained users but also drove sales.

2. Interactive Platforms : By creating an interactive game that aligned with the brand's core values, the campaign saw a 50% uptick in user participation. A notable example was a fitness app that transformed routine exercises into a competitive and fun activity, encouraging daily use and fostering a community around the brand.

3. Real-time Engagement : The campaign's use of live streaming events with real-time user interaction led to a 40% growth in viewership. A fashion retailer, for example, hosted live fashion shows where viewers could immediately purchase showcased items, merging entertainment with instant gratification.

4. Social Media Integration : Strategic use of social media influencers and user-generated content amplified the campaign's reach, achieving a 25% increase in brand mentions across platforms. A travel company encouraged users to share their travel stories, which were then featured in the brand's own social media, creating a sense of belonging and authenticity.

5. Sustainability Focus : With an increasing consumer focus on sustainability, the campaign incorporated eco-friendly practices , which enhanced brand image and customer loyalty . A beverage company launched a campaign promoting recycling, offering discounts to customers who participated in their recycling program.

Through these innovative strategies, the campaign not only achieved its set objectives but also established a new standard for digital brand activations, demonstrating the power of a well-executed digital campaign in fostering long-term brand loyalty and customer engagement.

Innovative Digital Campaigns - Brand activation: Case Studies: Successful Brand Activation Examples

In the realm of brand activation, the fusion of a brand's identity with the community's ethos can yield transformative results. This particular case exemplifies the potency of community engagement, where a brand not only communicated its values but also actively listened, adapted, and grew with its audience. The initiative was not a mere campaign but a sustained dialogue that fostered a sense of ownership and pride among community members.

1. Initial Outreach : The brand commenced by identifying key community influencers and devised tailored communication strategies to resonate with diverse groups. For instance, local artists were engaged to create murals that reflected both the brand's vision and the community's cultural heritage.

2. Collaborative Events : Events were designed to be collaborative, encouraging participation and feedback . A notable example was the 'Green Market Day', where the brand partnered with local organic farmers to promote sustainability, a core brand value.

3. Feedback Mechanisms : To gauge the impact, the brand implemented real-time feedback mechanisms at events. Interactive polls and discussion forums were utilized, providing immediate insights into community sentiment.

4. long-term commitment : The brand's commitment extended beyond events, with ongoing projects such as the 'Youth Mentorship Program', which aligned with the brand's focus on education and empowerment.

5. Measurable Impact : The success was quantifiable, with a significant uptick in brand sentiment metrics and a 30% increase in community-led initiatives bearing the brand's endorsement.

Through these concerted efforts, the brand achieved a harmonious synergy with the community, leading to a robust and loyal customer base that championed the brand's message far and wide. This case serves as a testament to the enduring power of genuine, heartfelt community engagement.

Community Engagement Success - Brand activation: Case Studies: Successful Brand Activation Examples

In the realm of marketing, brand activation is pivotal in forging a lasting connection between a brand and its audience. This dynamic process goes beyond mere advertising; it's an art that breathes life into a brand, transforming it from an abstract concept into an experience that resonates with consumers. The success stories that follow are a testament to the power of innovative brand activation strategies that have not only captivated audiences but also set new benchmarks for engagement and brand loyalty .

1. Experiential Engagement : A leading beverage company created a buzz by transforming a city square into a tropical beach, complete with sand, palm trees, and a surf simulator. This immersive experience allowed consumers to physically and emotionally connect with the brand, resulting in a significant uptick in social media mentions and a boost in sales during the activation period.

2. Leveraging Technology : A tech giant unveiled its latest smartphone by hosting an augmented reality treasure hunt. Participants used the phone's features to discover virtual clues scattered across various landmarks, merging the digital and physical worlds and showcasing the phone's capabilities firsthand.

3. Community Involvement : A sports apparel brand launched a campaign that turned local parks into fitness hubs, complete with branded equipment and free workout sessions led by professional trainers. This initiative not only promoted the brand's commitment to health and wellness but also fostered a sense of community among participants.

4. Personalization : A cosmetics brand set up pop-up shops offering personalized makeup consultations. Customers could create custom palettes matched to their skin tones, which not only provided a unique product but also educated them on the brand's extensive range and quality.

5. Sustainability Focus : An eco-friendly brand activated its commitment to the environment by installing interactive recycling kiosks in high-traffic areas . Users could learn about the brand's sustainability efforts and receive discounts on products for participating in the recycling program.

These narratives illustrate that the essence of brand activation lies not in the spectacle itself but in the emotional and practical value it adds to the consumer's life. It's about creating moments that are not only shareable but also deeply personal, fostering a bond with the brand that extends far beyond the initial engagement. The key takeaway is clear: successful brand activation hinges on understanding and catering to the needs, desires, and values of the target audience , ensuring that each campaign is as impactful as it is memorable.

Key Takeaways from Brand Activation Success Stories - Brand activation: Case Studies: Successful Brand Activation Examples

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The Ultimate Guide to Brand Activation

In today’s highly competitive business landscape, building a strong brand is essential for success. However, creating a brand is not enough; you must also activate it effectively to make it resonate with your target audience. Brand activation is the process of bringing a brand to life, engaging consumers, and forging a deeper connection between your brand and your customers. 

In this article, we’ll delve into the diverse world of brand activation, exploring various types and marketing strategies that businesses can employ to enhance their brand presence and resonate with their audience.

What is Brand Activation?

If you’re wondering what this marketing buzzword really means, brand activation is a brand marketing strategy that aims to create a memorable and lasting impact on consumers through real-life experiences. 

It is a concept rather than a set of marketing steps, much like brand awareness or marketing itself. 

Brand activation involves things like activities and campaigns designed to introduce or reintroduce a brand to its target audience and encourage them to interact with it. The goal of brand activation is to turn passive consumers into active brand advocates.

You’ve got plenty of options to kickstart or freshen your brand, so you won’t run out of ideas for brand activation . If you would like to hear about how Relish can help you with your brand activation, drop us a message or give us a call on 01173751160 . Alternatively, send us an email at [email protected]

6 Key Components of Brand Activation Campaigns

Whether you’re a seasoned marketer or just dipping your toes into the world of branding, understanding these key elements of brand activation is crucial to turning your brand into a living, breathing entity that captures hearts and minds.

1. Understanding Your Brand: 

Before you can activate your brand, you need to have a clear understanding of what your brand stands for, its values, mission, and unique selling points. This forms the foundation for all brand activation efforts.

2. Identifying Your Target Audience:

To effectively activate your brand, you must know who your ideal customers are. Conduct market research to understand their preferences, behaviours, and needs. This information will help you tailor your activation strategies to resonate with your audience.

3. Creating Engaging Experiences:

Brand activation often involves creating immersive experiences that connect consumers with your brand. This can take various forms, such as events , product launches, pop-up shops, or interactive digital campaigns . The goal is to make your brand memorable and create a personal connection with your audience.

4. Leveraging Social Media:

 In the digital age, social media is a powerful tool for brand activation. Use platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok to engage with your audience, share content, and run campaigns encouraging user participation and sharing.

5. Consistency and Coherence:

Your brand activation efforts should align with your overall brand identity. Consistency in messaging, visuals, and tone is crucial to building trust and recognition with your audience.

6. Measuring Success:

To evaluate the effectiveness of your brand activation efforts, establish key performance indicators (KPIs) such as website traffic, social media engagement, sales, or brand sentiment. Regularly measure and analyse these metrics to refine your strategy.

Types of Brand Activation

Experiential marketing.

Experiential Marketing , also known as engagement marketing or event marketing, is a dynamic and immersive marketing strategy that focuses on creating memorable, hands-on experiences for consumers. It goes beyond traditional advertising methods by inviting individuals to interact directly with a brand’s products, services, or messages. 

Experiential marketing campaigns aim to forge a deep and emotional connection between the brand and its audience, leaving a lasting impression and generating positive word-of-mouth marketing. 

Whether through interactive events, pop-up shops, product demonstrations, or live activations, experiential marketing seeks to engage all the senses, offering consumers a chance to not just learn about a brand but to personally engage with it, fostering brand loyalty and customer advocacy in the process.

Product Sampling

Product sampling is a highly effective form of brand activation that revolves around offering potential customers a tangible experience with a product. It allows consumers to try a brand’s offerings firsthand, often free of charge or at a reduced cost. This hands-on experience is a powerful way to build trust and confidence in a brand, as it allows customers to evaluate the quality and value of a product before making a purchase. 

Product sampling can take various forms, such as distributing samples in-store , at events , through mail, or via digital platforms . It not only introduces the product to a wider audience but also creates a memorable and positive association with the brand, encouraging word-of-mouth recommendations and driving conversions. 

Successful product sampling campaigns can boost brand awareness, drive sales, and create lasting connections between consumers and the brand.

Fragrance brands often use this strategy to let consumers test their products, thereby encouraging them to make a purchase. Tommy Hilfiger achieved a 214% sales uplift in their most recent campaign with Relish!

Digital Activation

In our digital age, online and social media platforms have become powerful, almost essential tools for brand activation. Digital activation includes creating engaging online campaigns, interactive websites, social media challenges, and mobile apps. It allows brands to reach a vast global audience instantly, fostering engagement and encouraging user-generated content. 

Websites and mobile apps enable brands to create immersive and personalised customer experiences, further deepening the brand-consumer relationship. Through digital platforms, brands can easily reach a global audience, track campaign performance, and adapt strategies in real time, making them invaluable tools for creating meaningful and impactful brand activations in the digital age.

Coca-Cola’s “Share a Coke” campaign, where personalised bottles went viral on social media, is a prime example of digital activation’s success.

Influencer marketing

In the realm of brand activation, influencer marketing has emerged as a potent strategy to connect with consumers authentically and at scale. Influencers, who have cultivated dedicated followings in specific niches, serve as trusted intermediaries between brands and their target audiences. 

By collaborating with influencers who align with their values and target demographics, brands can effectively amplify their message and reach a more engaged and receptive audience. Influencers provide a human touch to brand activations, sharing their genuine experiences with products or services, which often resonates more deeply with consumers than traditional advertising. Not to mention that audiences often have the ability to directly ask questions to the influencer and get personalised responses back, further encouraging the emotional connection to the product or brand in question.

Influencer endorsements, when authentic and transparent, can build trust and credibility, ultimately driving brand awareness and fostering a sense of community around the brand, making influencer marketing a pivotal component of modern brand activation strategies.

Fashion and skincare brands regularly collaborate with influencers to gain exposure and credibility within their target demographics.  A Proper Corn sample reached a TV Personality through fashion sampling , which boosted impressions by 1.5 million! 

Cause marketing 

Cause marketing, within the context of brand activation, is a powerful strategy that goes beyond profit-driven motives to create a positive impact on society. Brands align themselves with social or environmental causes , demonstrating a commitment to making the world a better place. By integrating a cause into their brand activation efforts, companies not only distinguish themselves from competitors but also connect with consumers who are increasingly conscious of ethical and sustainable practices. 

Cause marketing can take the form of charitable donations, awareness campaigns, or partnerships with non-profit organisations. When executed authentically and with transparency, it not only contributes to the greater good but also engenders a sense of purpose among consumers, fostering brand loyalty and creating a deeper emotional connection with the brand, thereby elevating the effectiveness of the brand activation strategy.

Brand Activation Examples

From immersive events to interactive digital campaigns, these examples illustrate the power of brand activation in today’s competitive marketplace.

1. Nike’s Just Do It Campaign:

Nike’s “Just Do It” slogan is an iconic example of brand activation. This campaign motivated people to take action, pursue their goals, and associate the brand with athleticism and determination.

2. Red Bull’s Extreme Sports Sponsorships:

Red Bull has successfully activated its brand by sponsoring extreme sports events like the Red Bull Stratos space jump and the Red Bull Air Race. These events align with the brand’s image of energy, adventure, and excitement.

3. Coca-Cola’s “Share a Coke” Campaign:

Coca-Cola’s “Share a Coke” campaign personalised their product by printing popular names on their bottles and cans. This simple act encouraged customers to share their unique Coca-Cola experiences on social media.

In Summary: Experiences evoke emotion and loyalty

In the fast-paced world of brand activation, the key to success lies in the ability to engage, inspire, and leave an indelible mark on your target audience. As we’ve explored the various facets of brand activation in this comprehensive guide, it’s evident that the art of bringing a brand to life is dynamic and multifaceted.

Understanding your brand’s identity and values, identifying your target audience, and creating engaging experiences are foundational steps. Leveraging social media, maintaining brand consistency, and measuring success form the bedrock of a successful brand activation campaign.

Additionally, we’ve seen a myriad of innovative approaches to brand activation, from experiential marketing that immerses consumers in unforgettable experiences to influencer marketing that leverages personal connections to build brand loyalty. Cause marketing, with its focus on making a positive impact on society, has also proven to be a compelling strategy for forging deeper connections with consumers.

Furthermore, real-world brand activation examples have showcased the power of these strategies in action, from Nike’s motivational “Just Do It” campaign to Red Bull’s thrilling extreme sports sponsorships and Coca-Cola’s personalized “Share a Coke” initiative.

In the end, brand activation is a dynamic and ever-evolving field, one that requires creativity, authenticity, and a deep understanding of your brand and your audience. By integrating these strategies and ideas into your marketing efforts, you can elevate your brand, foster lasting connections, and thrive in today’s competitive marketplace.

If you would like to hear about how Relish can help to activate your brand, drop us a message or give us a call on 01173751160 . Alternatively, send us an email at [email protected] .

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What Is Brand Activation? Brand Activation In A Nutshell

Brand activation describes any interaction or experience that allows a brand to connect with a consumer and build a loyal community around its products and services. The main aim of brand activation is to encourage consumers to take action by injecting life into a brand through experiences that result in emotional connections. Brand activations, therefore, are interactions, experiences, or events that facilitate a connection between a brand and the target audience.

Table of Contents

Understanding brand activation

Brand activation is sometimes confused with other brand strategies since it shares the common purpose of building brand awareness and connecting with an audience. However, it is important to reiterate that brand activation refers to single events or campaigns that are designed to elevate a brand among consumers.

Advantages of Brand Activation

• Increased Brand Awareness: Engaging activations can boost brand visibility and awareness.
• Emotional Connection: Interactive experiences can create emotional connections with consumers, fostering brand loyalty.
• Enhanced Product Understanding: Brand activation can help consumers better understand a product’s features and benefits.
• Word-of-Mouth Marketing: Memorable brand activations often lead to positive word-of-mouth recommendations.
• Competitive Advantage: Well-executed brand activation can differentiate a brand from competitors in crowded markets.

Challenges of Brand Activation

• Resource Intensive: Effective brand activations may require significant investments in terms of time, budget, and creativity.
• Execution Risks: The success of brand activations depends on flawless execution, and any mishaps can have a negative impact.
• Measurement Complexity: Measuring the impact of brand activation activities can be challenging, as it often involves assessing consumer perceptions and behaviors.
• Sustainability: Sustaining the momentum created by brand activations over the long term can be difficult.

When to Use Brand Activation

• Product Launches: Brand activation can create excitement and anticipation around new product launches.
• Rebranding Efforts: When a brand undergoes a rebranding or transformation, brand activation can introduce the changes to consumers effectively.
• Building Brand Loyalty: Brands seeking to build long-term loyalty and advocacy among consumers can use brand activation to foster deeper connections.
• Competitive Markets: In competitive markets, brand activation can help a brand stand out and capture consumer attention.

Expected Long-Term Impact of Brand Activation

• Brand Loyalty: Successful brand activation campaigns can lead to increased brand loyalty and advocacy among consumers.
• Enhanced Reputation: Consistent positive experiences through brand activation can enhance a brand’s reputation.
• Market Growth: Brand activations that resonate with consumers can drive market share growth over time.
• Sustained Engagement: Effective brand activation can lead to ongoing consumer engagement and interaction with the brand.

Related Marketing Strategies

• Experiential Marketing: Brand activation often involves experiential marketing , which focuses on creating memorable and immersive experiences for consumers.
• Content Marketing: Content can play a vital role in brand activation, as it can be used to tell compelling stories and engage audiences.
• Influencer Marketing: Collaborating with influencers can amplify brand activation efforts by leveraging their reach and credibility.
• Event Marketing: Many brand activations involve events, whether physical or virtual, to engage consumers directly.
• Social Media Marketing: Social media platforms are commonly used to amplify and extend brand activation campaigns.

Brand activation types and examples

To better understand brand activation and how it can be applied across multiple touchpoints, consider the following types with an example included for each.

1 – Experiential marketing

Experiential marketing is one of the most popular ways a business can activate its brand. The approach is used to enable consumers to experience and immerse themselves in the brand as opposed to being told about it by the company.

To market the release of its 2007 debut movie, popular cartoon series The Simpsons built a life-size replica of the show’s Kwik-E-Mart convenience store. Flotation jacket brand Tribord also created a fake drink called “WAVE” that was actually just canned seawater. In so doing, the company intended to mimic the experience of drowning and by extension, associate its brand with water safety. 

2 – In-store

Experiential, brand-activating events can also occur in-store and as a result, tend to be the domain of B2C brands.

Department store John Lewis & Partners utilized this form of brand activation during its Penguin Christmas campaign. The company set up a “Monty’s Den” in 42 stores with various features used to tell consumers the stories of characters featured in the advertising campaign. This was facilitated by stuffed toys, clothing, a storybook app for children, and a magical toy machine that allowed kids to scan their toys and transform them into digital characters that moved and danced on a screen.

3 – Events and trade shows

Events and trade shows are another way a business can activate its brand, whether that be through a paid booth, live seminar, or presentation.

Many brands also install pop-up experiences at these events. For example, Vitaminwater installed a misting station at the WayHome Music Festival to allow fans to cool off in the heat. The station was decorated with bright colors that appealed to the company’s target audience while serving a purpose at the same time. 

4 – Samples and free trials

Samples and free trials are another way for consumers to experience a brand. To maximize effectiveness, this form of brand activation should be associated with a current event or run in such a way that the consumer does not have an unpleasant or uncomfortable experience. Indeed, for consumers, there is nothing worse than a pushy representative who tries to force a product on them despite their obvious disinterest.

After noticing a Facebook group with more than 100,000 members that wanted to stay the night in an IKEA store, the company allowed a select few to do exactly that. Fans were shown films, read stories by celebrities, and had access to food and drink, massages, and manicures. Most importantly, they could got to experience the IKEA brand by sampling its beds and hospitality.

Case Studies

Key takeaways:

• Brand activation is interactions, experiences, or events that facilitate a connection between a brand and the target audience.
• Brand activation is confused with other brand strategies since most build brand awareness and connect with an audience. However, it is important to note that brand activation refers to specific events.
• Brand activation is described across four main types: experiential marketing , in-store, events and trade shows, and samples and free trials.

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Brand activation and its role in driving consumer engagement and awareness

Many popular brands are using activations to build popularity and give the consumer an experience that will make them feel a real personal connection to the company.

What is brand activation?

Have you ever noticed when you go to buy a popular brand’s product, do you ever stop to ask yourself, how did they become so trustworthy and admired?

When a product is first manufactured it is virtually unknown to the general public.

Take Volvo as an example. when the company tried to enter into the US car market in 1962, Americans knew very little about this Swedish car maker.

Through the uses of consumer engagement marketing channels, such as memorable ad campaigns, experiential events , viral growth, and consumer participation strategies, Volvo managed to gain the acceptance of the American consumer as being a tough and reliable automobile.

Sales tripled within five years with the campaign “drive it like you hate it” being a huge success.

The process of making a brand well known and loved by consumers is called brand activation.

Consumer brand activations are a very crucial part of building a positive perception of a brand

This can be done through product samplings, in-store retail marketing, sponsorships, and experiential events.

This also encompasses the brand figuring out a few core features that will distinguish them amongst their competition in crowded marketplaces. They have to find brand positioning that will uncover assets that will highlight long term benefits to the company.

Brands must find a way to reach potential customers that can shift perceptions and create a real emotional engagement. These marketing events must bring up positive feeling in the minds about them in order for them to become loyal customers and purchase their products.

Key principles

• To inspire demand for a particular brand, they must tap into the consumers’ passions using creative strategies and ideas.
• Timing plays an important role  in connecting consumers at the right time, and the right place so that the consumer becomes a motivated user and fan of the brand.
• Using activation strategies, such as in person experience events, this can lead to the consumer starting to believe in the brand and what it stands for, which is a closer step in the path to purchase.

Brand activation case study

Here is an example of how brand activation can work. Pirelli Tires relies heavily on a strategy built on key partnerships with Formula One grand prix events, in order to promote its tires as being high performance.

There is a huge value with being a part of this world class racing event, as is the value of the premier performance and technology of the tires.

Having the name and logo as a part of the F1 racing circuit emotionally engages the consumer and all fans of racing, since the events are associated with high performance vehicles and expert driving.

Strategies for implementing a consumer brand activation campaign:

Experiential events:

Live experiential marketing events are being used by global brands to help position the brand into the consumers’ minds by attracting and emotionally engaging them in personal experience.

These events give people a chance to try a product, ask questions about it and participate in some way that makes them feel apart of the brand.

This can be achieved by blending physical and digital experiences together, so that the participants are encouraged to play apps and games, have their photos taken or ride on virtual reality car and bike simulators.

The purpose is to reach people on multiple levels (emotional, rational, psychological) so that they walk away from event remembering what is was like to touch, taste, and feel the product rather than just reading about it.

Promotional marketing:  

Promotional marketing involves raising awareness of your brand and its products in order to generate more sales and gain a loyal customer base.

The targeting of promotional marketing can take many forms, it can be targeted at businesses, to retail and wholesale companies or it can targeted at the end consumer.  Consumer promotions can be executed by using reward loyalty programs, giveaways, special offers, product samplings as well as point of sale displays.

Business promotions can used in workshops, event sponsorships, trade show booths and direct mail campaigns.  Wholesale trade promotions may consist of using incentives, or providing entertainment value or other methods like bonuses to reward resllers.

In store retail marketing

In store retail marketing activations can help a customer choose one brand over another inside a department store. It helps to enhance the image of a product or brand and as well as feature the benefits it offers or introduce the lifestyle associated with purchasing the product.

There are different types of retail marketing, a brand can be activated using point of purchase displays, attractive design or hosting, retail product launch experiences that allow consumers to experience and try a particular product.

For example, Ray-Ban launched a retail consumer activation tour called ‘Never Hide’ inside a number of high department stores, which engaged consumers by allowing them to try on the new polarized sunglasses and encouraged them have their photos taken inside a branded Ray-Ban photo booth.

Other engagement activities involved participants playing the Guitar hero simulator while wearing the shades.

Metrics for brand activation campaigns

When you want to create a brand activation campaign, the underlying objective should be to develop a face to face two way conversation with your customers.

Consumer brand activations help to bring life into a company and can build a very loyal fan base. The caveat is you need to create engaging and memorable experiences that strike real emotions with your consumer.

Here is a list of some of the measurement factors to keep in mind.

• Consumer reach.  How many targeted consumers would this campaign activation touch and reach?  Is it a national scale, worldwide tour, city wide or hyper local?
• Brand relevance.  Is this activation strategy and campaign relevant to the brand’s message and core values?
• Return on investment.  Can you measure the benefits vs the cost? Activation awareness campaigns should not always be measured in financial terms and sales. Were you able to capture consumer data, such as emails, social media followers and other future marketing leads and opportunities?
• Long term potential.  Do these activations campaigns give the brand any potential to gain sizeable long term benefits?
• Integration capabilities.  Will this brand activation campaign compliment and have the ability to integrate with other types of marketing channels within the company?
• Uniqueness.  Does your brand have a unique value or selling proposition that get consumers attention and make them want to talk about it?
• Amplification.  Is it possible if needed to be able to make changes in order to increase the amplification of the overall activation campaign?

Advantages of consumer brand activations

Here are a few of the benefits of consumer activations:

• Brand activation events, the consumer can give you feedback on what to change or improve as they are interacting with you.
• It can bring life into an aging brand and even reach younger Millennials audiences.
• It can help to reinforce the brand’s positioning in the minds of the consumer.
• Helps to cut through the traditional advertising clutter (TV Commercials, Print, Web Ads)
• It makes your brand more prominent.

Do not underestimate the influence of experiential brand activations can play shaping the future and now relevance of a brand.

Brand activations are not meant to be measured in terms of sales made. Instead, they should be viewed as a way to generate awareness and visibility for a company through cultivating real life engagement experiences with the target consumer.

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• In-Person Event

Brand Activation For Event: Ideas, Strategy and Examples

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Every brand always looks forward to deploying the best brand activation ideas for events. But how to find the best event activation strategies, ideas, and examples you need to look for? When you host an event it is crucial to bring your audience closer to your brand, connect with them and make a relationship.

However, it is not as easy to do so as there are no proven tactics available in the market. The whole internet is flooded with many brands’ advertisements, marketing posts, blogs, videos and whatnot. But all this is surely you doing for now. So, what’s new you can do? Think! Think! Okay at least guess… NO…

Think about the right event activation ideas and strategy that help your brand connect with your target audience and create a memorable experience. Here, in this blog, we are concluding all the essential aspects of the brand activations at events, ranging from ideas, strategy, examples and fun elements that you can count on. But before moving towards that first let’s understand the basics of it. So, let’s get started;

What is Brand Activation For Events?

In an event, brand activation is referred to as a marketing strategy that keeps the focus on creating a seamless experience for attendees. It is the activities that showcase and amplify the brand development strategy through interactive engagements and immersive experiences, directly connecting consumers with the essence of the brand. The goal of event activation in an event is to make a bridge that fosters a deeper connection between the brand and its audience. This bridge is important as it is meant to increase brand awareness, loyalty, and ultimately boost event registration and ticketing .

“In simple terms brand activation is the strategic deployment of elements in an event for attendees that maximise their engagement with the brand. Product sampling, demos, interactive exhibits, contests, giveaways, and other experiential marketing tactics are all brand activation examples. As all this implementation creates a positive brand association that ultimately enhances the brand’s reputation and ROI”.

It is time to take you to one of the crucial headings that you all are waiting for. The brand activation ideas;

Top 20 Brand Activation Ideas For Event

Brand activation is a crucial aspect of event planning , as it not only helps to enhance the overall experience for attendees but also creates a long-lasting impression of the brand. In this article, we’ve compiled the top 20 brand activation ideas for events that are sure to captivate and engage your audience. By incorporating these brand activation ideas into your  event planner  ensures you stay organized and proactive. Plan each step meticulously to ensure seamless execution, from initial brainstorming sessions to the final wrap-up.

1. Push Attendees to Explore New Horizons at Your Event

We all like to be in our comfort zone and few of us might disagree with that. But what is the real take on that? It varies from person to person. However, one thing is common : everyone has a bucket list for which they can step outside of their comfort zone. That is where the memorable experience journey begins. As a brand at your next event tries incorporating such elements by conducting intrinsic research. Lots of people have bucket lists like scuba diving, bull riding, or simply even eating chocolates. As you can’t fulfil all, but somehow you can do something for this to make a lasting impression.

In the same context; here is a brand activation example we have researched for you. An Italian company that is in the business of selling horse riding and adventure sports equipment in their in-person event utilised an effective brand activation strategy. They offered a free ride on their mechanical bull. This way they have gathered a lot of attraction from attendees and this strategy helps them create a memorable experience for event attendees.

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2. Narrate Authentic Stories

A brand is not a renowned brand until it strongly establishes a meaningful connection with its target audience. Try narrating a credible story from an authentic person line your existing customer testimonial or influencers. We all have witnessed or might find ourselves doing this. Before visiting any hotel or buying anything we check their reviews, watch online demos and do other research. In the same sense, you can also use this idea in your brand activation strategy.

Make a pre-video to play on your event’s social media display wall . Simply ask your customers about what they love about your brand, products or services. Also, live reporting feedback is an excellent brand activation example to create a compelling story. Simultaneously broadcast this on your social channels and stream it live to reach more people and increase your online reach.

3. Incorporate Social Media as The Finest Brand Activation Strategy

Don’t we all use social media? Okay, let’s say you are not using it. But the harsh truth is almost everyone uses social media and now it’s become the most effective way to reach out to your target audience. There are many ways, by making reels, to post with relevant hashtags or social media campaigns.

Social media can be useful for the promotions of your next event and to implement branding fun activations at events. Start an effective social media campaign with new and unique hashtags# which can be utilised for feedback and for attendees to share their views, opinions and share their posts. This brand activation strategy can fulfil both promotions and in creating strong social proof.

4. Social Media Display Wall Serves Definite Purpose

As said above, incorporating social media is definitely a creative brand activation idea and an example of how to leverage people’s addiction into a profitable business. A social media display wall which showcases real-time user-generated content from all social networking sites like-  Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube opens up numerous benefits.

In an on-ground event when the attendees are looking at this social wall, they can get motivated. And this motivation encourages them to create social media posts, enhancing the event’s social media activity.

5. Introduce Metaverse Technology At Your Event!

The Metaverse is the new era of innovation, and technologies can be the finest example of brand activation in this space. To make an immersive virtual space in the event, the metaverse can be utilised by attendees to play videos, check documents and capture photos via a 3D virtual booth. Additionally, exhibitors can also make virtual networking rooms.

If utilised the power of the metaverse in the right way, audience engagement can be maximised as there are a lot of opportunities to deploy event gamification ideas . An event is a fun place for participants, they are there to enjoy and for sure games and fun elements open many possibilities for audience engagement.

6. AR & VR is a Game Changer

The use of augmented and virtual reality in events has revolutionised the way we inform and entertain people. These cutting-edge technologies provide 360-degree views of the event, allowing a wider audience to experience it. With virtual 3D lobbies and auditoriums, breakout sessions, live conferences, and Q&A sessions can be held seamlessly. Sponsors can benefit from interacting with visitors in a memorable and immersive way. Augmented and virtual reality have become game changers in the world of event technology, and integrating these technologies is the way forward for successful brand activation.

7. Event Activation With Live Streaming Of Your Event

The best way to involve your audience, create buzz, and reach a larger audience is by live-streaming an event. By incorporating social networking sites’ live streaming features brands can produce real-time videos that engage and inform their audience. This can broaden your community and raise your brand’s visibility. Communication can be facilitated by live conversations and Q&A sessions, which add to the event’s interactivity and humanization.

It is crucial to understand that our world is dominated by social media and that brands that aren’t talking about their businesses on various platforms are losing out on chances to engage with their audience. In terms of an effective brand activation strategy, live streaming can completely change an event activation plan. To make it look professional there are many live-streaming service providers available in the market.

8. Encourage Participants With Engrossing Instalments

Who doesn’t like capturing their moments and especially in front of fascinating miniatures or monuments? For example; don’t you like to capture a photo in which the Burj Khalifa of Dubai comes in the frame? Based on the theme of your event you can deploy engrossing sculptures of different cartoon characters or something that attracts the audience.

Additionally, you can look forward to deploying event photo booths . As many people like to click their precious moments and this approach will help in creating a long-lasting impression.

9. Give Your Audience A Break From Bustle

In an in-person event, not everybody is fond of being surrounded by a crowd. As there are few who like to need calm and relaxation. make a quiet, peaceful relaxation lounge where attendees can find the moment of their calm. It can consider the modern brand activation idea. To give you an insightful marketing activation example a well-known wine brand gives free access to the lounge. Where the attendees can sit, calm and relax while tasting their whine. This way participants tasted and loved the calmness they felt there.

10. A Social Media Challenge To Boost Awareness

Challenges are meant to be accepted until it’s legal. A social media challenge is the same sort of thing. Try encouraging your audience to take part by offering some reward. Let them post about your services or products with discoverable hashtags. This is a valuable brand activation strategy used by a pet food company. They challenged people to click a selfie with their pet while feeding them with their product. And the most liked will soon receive year-long food packets from the company for free.

11. Brand Activation Idea That Act As Problem Solver

Think of an idea that resolves the real-life problem of your audience. This could be a positive on-ground activation idea which adds value to the attendees. For instance; If your company makes a protein bar or your product is a water bottle. How about offering samples in a marathon or cyclic event for free? This way the participant can feel energised, and resolve hunger and after the event, you can also take feedback.

12. Incorporate Popular Trends For Brand Activation

We live in a world where every day there is a specific trend that popularises. So, how about taking advantage of those trends in your brand activation strategy? Suppose if you have a beverage brand and any particular song or dance that is going viral or in the trending phase. Make an animated or professional video of your beverage dancing or simply remixing with the trend.

13. An Event App or Microsite Can Help You With Brand Activation

There are websites and mobile applications for everything from ordering a pizza to booking a cab. How about an event microsite or a mobile app that can help your brand reach a wider audience? There are many brand activation agencies that help you to make an event microsite or event app which can be used in various ways. In the first instance, it can help your audience to find all the information they are looking for about your next event. Additionally, the event app can be utilised to receive feedback, pools, Q&A sessions and many other things in real time.

14. RFID-Enabled Event Badges

In a conference or trade show, event badges are widely used for a variety of purposes. The first reason is obviously to identify while the second is important with regards to you making your next brand activation strategy. As RFID-enabled badges or wristbands can track the moment and work as an access card too. In those cases, it is easier for the host to track the attendee’s attendance while eliminating the long queues due to manual checking.

15. Behind The Scene

Who says behind the scene is not important for the event participants? Make an incredible video with testimonials of your team to display their efforts in deploying the event activation in an effective tonne. Well, the video will act as a motivation for your team while showcasing the effort that your brand made in offering the experience to its attendees. This brand activation strategy plays a crucial role in establishing a sense of credibility.

16. Collaborate with Brands

There are many brands and competitors that have similar businesses. Collaboration can be effective for both brands. It’s not necessary to be similar brands, it can vary but somehow needs to be relevant. You can take this brand activation idea as an example of marketing activation at your event. For instance; A beverage company can partner with a chip company or something that suits it.

17. Influencers Marketing

Every brand has its brand ambassadors. Okay not necessarily. But having one can be a good approach. If I did not want to choose anyone. Still, in an on-ground event, you can choose to call some social media influencers or celebrities according to your budget. As there are many brand activation service providers and agencies which can help you find suitable influencers that suit your brand image.

To be very honest. People are influenced by influencers. That might be a reason why this brand activation example is still considered the best yet most effective.

18. Product Demonstration & Free Sampling

There is a secret of mine to reveal. I like freebies and sample products. Do you like that? Yes or No. Doesn’t matter much. A survey suggests that 73% of event attendees like to take free samples at their homes while 57% like to taste those freebies at the same time. It’s a great number for you to include this brand activation idea in your strategy.

19. Theme Parties Are a New Way of Event Activation Idea

Hosting a themed party is something unique if done in the right way. Choosing and investing time in the right theme that aligns with your new product or brand is an effective deployment of fun activation at events. To make it work for your next event consider this brand activation example as a saviour. If you are a pharmaceutical company which manufactures sunscreen or something like glucose. How about hosting an event in the summer on a beach and giving your sunscreen as a sample and a glucose drink to make them hydrated? This is the perfect approach to solving problems at the same time.

20. Digital Currency Needs To be Accepted

Who carries cash nowadays and especially when there are options to pay directly from your bank account via mobile and applications? Digital currencies are not just bound with cards or mobile payments but also consider accepting crypto.

Despite the unpredictable nature of cryptocurrencies, which may result in their value either rising or falling at any time, hiring a professional event technology solution provider can alleviate concerns. These providers are well-equipped to assist you and your event in achieving success.

Wait! Wait! We have covered something more. Nowadays in-person events are not completed without the involvement of virtual or technology elements. So here we have concluded a few more event activation ideas;

• Breaking the Ice
• Introduce Live Speakers
• Use Breakout or Special Rooms
• Using Live Polling and Q&A
• Run Contests
• Deliver Swag packages

These were the top 20 brand activation ideas for the event. But the event activation is not just bound with it as there is always a term called ‘experimental marketing’ which you can try and test. We at Dreamcast believe in offering the best event activation solution not just aligning with your brand but giving your imagination a real scenario. To learn more about how we can help you book your free demo now with us. But don’t wait here as we have something more for you.

Keep Reading!!

The 13 Ultimate Brand Activation Strategy For Event Success

Incorporating the right brand activation strategy is a powerful way to build your brand awareness. By creating an impactful marketing strategy and with useful tactics there are enormous possibilities to create an emotional connection with the audience and drive sales.

However, with rising competition, you need to look towards a strong strategy. Here we have concluded the 13 best brand activity strategies that help your brand stand out and create memorable experiences for your customers. So just have a look at what Dreamcast proved strategy;

• Utilise experiential marketing tactics
• Provide opportunities for customer participation and co-creation
• Influencer marketing & social media campaign
• Gamification into your event activation
• Exclusive promotions with incentives
• Create a sense of urgency or exclusivity
• Utilise interactive elements with innovative technology
• Align with appropriate societal or cultural trends
• Leverage collaboration with local businesses or organisations
• Ensure a seamless, memorable experience and emotional connection to the customer
• Use data-driven insights to inform your strategy
• Measure the impact and success of your activation
• RFID, QR-Based badges, and digital currency

The knowledge of potential strategies is valuable. However, knowing the examples is crucial. So, next, we have covered the brand activation examples for you.

13 Best Effective Brand Activation Examples

These effective brand activation examples are based upon the above 13 top strategies and are point by point for easy understanding. So, have a look to maximise your event success;

• Hosting an interactive pop-up event featuring your brand’s products or services to engage with customers.
• Encouraging customers to submit their own product ideas or designs, then creating a limited-edition product line based on their input.
• Collaborating with a social media influencer to promote your brand through sponsored posts or giveaways.
• Incorporating a scavenger hunt or other game-like activity into your activation to create excitement and engagement.
• Offering exclusive discounts or special promotions to customers who participate in your activation.
• Hosting a VIP event or limited-time-only product release to create a sense of urgency and exclusivity.
• Creating an interactive installation using innovative technology, such as augmented reality or virtual reality, to create a memorable and unique experience.
• Aligning your activation with a relevant societal or cultural trend, such as sustainability or diversity and inclusion.
• Partner with local businesses or organisations to create a community-focused activation that promotes your brand while supporting the community.
• Creating an immersive and personalised customer experience, such as a pop-up shop with custom products or interactive elements.
• Using data analytics to track and analyse customer engagement and sentiment to improve future activation strategies.
• Offering RFID or QR-based badges and digital currency to incentivize customers to participate in your activation.
• Measuring the success of your activation by tracking key performance indicators such as social media engagement, foot traffic, and sales.

There is nothing which needs to be informed to you, but at last. Before incorporating any strategy or deploying any brand activation examples or ideas into your real strategy. Try talking with experts in the field like brand activation agencies or service providers. To help you out from any future bustle, you can contact Dreamcast and look forward as your valuable partner for a seamless brand activation enriched event.

What is a brand activation idea?

Brand activation is a creative approach that a brand uses to maximise its engagement with its attendees to promote its brand awareness while establishing a strong relationship.

What is an example of brand activation?

A good example of brand activation in an event can be considered any big brand. Like Coca-Cola’s “Share a Coke” campaign where they distributed personalised bottles with customer names on them.

What are event activation strategies?

The event activation strategy is simply a technique used by brands to boost their brand awareness and engage the audience with their experiential marketing or influencers or social media campaign and others.

What are the goals of brand activation?

The primary goals of brand activation in an event are to improve brand awareness, drive customer engagement, and ultimately boost ROI.

What is brand activation at events?

An impactful marketing strategy designed to connect customers with a brand and create memorable interactions is referred to as a brand activation event. It generally consists of events such as product launches, pop-up shops, and sponsored events.

How do you plan a brand activation?

Planning a successful brand activation requires identifying your target audience, creating a compelling concept, setting measurable goals, and partnering with experienced vendors and influencers.

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How integrating on-ground brand activation with Digital amplifies conversations around a brand

Month-long digital campaign for a home healthcare brand’s mumbai launch results in a reach of 13l on twitter & 15l on facebook, executive summary.

A home healthcare service provider based out of Delhi was launching its services in Mumbai. They wanted to do an integrated campaign that involved traditional as well as digital media. For a humble start-up to break through the clutter of the behemoth brands in a saturated market like Mumbai, was no mean task. The brand started looking at innovative use of media and a different line of communication that would make the TG sit up and take notice. What could be that touch-point that would result in maximum impact?

Much research and brainstorming later, the Mumbai local train was zeroed in. With its eight million user base it looked like the perfect vehicle to carry the brand’s message to its TG. But it was already a very popular media touch point with every inch of the railway stations and the space inside the trains layered with billboards.

A disruptive, unconventional brand activation campaign was planned. The campaign made use of the announcement system at the train, something the passengers continuously pay attention to so they do not miss their destination. Normally one would expect the announcer to say the name of the upcoming station. Instead, the announcer calls out the name of a station that doesn’t exist! There couldn’t have been a better way to instantly register the message of a critical old age ailment, Alzheimer, and how ignoring timely treatment and care may result in memory loss.

Several commuters aboard these trains heard these announcements. The confusion and curiosity led to a lot of passengers, that included Influencers, sharing their reactions on social media. These conversations resulted in noteworthy traction and brand awareness. That is not all, it attracted the attention of the medical community in Mumbai, especially Insurance and Pharma companies. The buzz also made it to leading brand publications like Scoophoop and Brand Equity.

A leading healthcare service provider from India, the brand helps patients recover at the safety and comfort of the place they know best – their home. Backed by an industry giant among others, the brand has over 1000 team members and caregivers, serving in more than 40 Indian cities. The brand has impacted over 4,00,000 patients and counting. It is known for maintaining high standard on customer service, a fact supported by Net Promoter Score of over 70 per cent.

Brand’s offerings

• Setting up ICUs at home
• Providing Cancer treatment at home
• Home nursing and physiotherapy
• Has own distribution setup offering chronic medicines to patients right at their doorsteps.
• Plethora of clinical procedures at home thereby delivering almost 70% of all clinical services at home.
• Announce the launch of home health care services in Mumbai
• Innovative use of media and a different line of communication that would make the TG sit up and take notice
• Extend on-ground brand activation to digital platforms to create greater brand awareness amongst the TG

Too many giant brands already hogging on the mind space of the TG. Making a mark was a huge challenge for a new entrant.

In a Mumbai local train, where commuters are solely dependent on the announcements about upcom-ing stations, the announcer pronounced station names that didn’t even exist! It wasn’t a software glitch or an employee’s fault but part of the brand’s disruptive campaign to drive home the message that dementia shouldn’t be taken lightly.

The campaign could grab the attention of an estimated eight million daily passengers that board the Mumbai locals and listen attentively to each and every announcement.

Digital integration

Mumbai launch announcement banner on the brand’s website.

Exit pop up pushed an exclusive offer for Mumbai.

Cover pictures across the digital channels were changed to announce the launch.

The brand also released an announcement video.

Brand’s film launched.

Some news portals had started picking up the news of the brand’s innovative way to catch people’s attention. Several influencers supported the initiative and helped spread the word.

The conversations around the campaign led to creation of additional customer base. Insurance companies looking at reducing patient re-admissions and pharma companies seeking support in their medical adherence programs approached the brand.

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Brand + Activation

The power of personality.

Who are you as an institution? This is where your brand solution will begin—by defining your institutional personality. There is no better way to stand apart from the crowd than by being uniquely you. We’ll start by asking some vital questions: What does the market believe about you? Who is your competitive pack, and how do you stand out from it? Whom do you attract, and how do you do it? How do you create the right story and tell it? How do you reach your target audience and convert it?

Together we’ll answer those questions about personality, perception, pack, personification, and precision and by doing so we’ll build a brand platform that is evergreen and unique to your institution. Your persona will be activated by the images you choose, the design you execute, the campus culture you curate, and the stories you tell. This is the power of personality—distinctive positioning rooted in core truth.

THIS IS NOT A ONE SIZE FITS ALL APPROACH. YOUR BRAND + ACTIVATION SOLUTION WILL BE AS UNIQUE AS YOUR BRAND CHALLENGE.

What's Your Challenge?

How do i ensure my brand refresh is authentic and stands the test of time.

Carnegie’s brand platform solution starts with your institution’s Organizational Personality . Grounded in archetypal theory, we conduct stakeholder research to understand your institution’s unique personality and to generate a brand voice and message that are as distinct as a thumbprint. This process reveals the human attributes that form the true identity of your college or university. The result is a comprehensive Brand Positioning strategy and messaging platform that is evergreen.

In this solution scenario there is a clear way to move forward, and its that definition that ensures the outcome of your brand project will be totally unique.

HOW CAN I ENSURE ON-CAMPUS ADOPTION OF MY NEW BRAND?

This challenge will take team work. Your Brand Strategy will include workshops and interviews at every level of campus, which will help to build buy-in and consensus. You can help by recruiting stakeholders on your campus to participate in this work. Additionally, our comprehensive, mixed-methods research will enable you to validate your brand story with stakeholders. An External Perception Research study and Competitive Analysis will give you well rounded evidence. And finally, teaching your campus to activate your new brand will ensure proper adoption.

MY INSTITUTION IS THE BEST KEPT SECRET—HOW DO I CHANGE THAT?

We’d recommend building a brand that connects , on a human level, and then deploying a precise activation . We can help you break through the noise and captivate your audience. We can help you be seen , heard and remembered . Let’s talk, and decide where we should begin, together.

YOUR SOLUTION WILL BE BUILT FROM BEST-IN-CLASS SERVICES, TAILORED TO MEET YOUR NEEDS. WE'LL BUILD IT TOGETHER.

Build Your Brand Solution.

Here is a sampling of our integrated service lines to get you started.

• Marketing Strategy
• Digital Marketing
• Signature Creative
• Integrated Research
• Enrollment Strategy
• Website Design + Development

Personality. Perception. Pack. Personification. Precision.

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