Marketing has come a long way from simply selling goods to creating experiences. I’ve never been a fan of marketing because I hadn’t really understood its potential. It always seemed like a boring space that was heavily driven by numbers. My perception took a 360 degree turn when I came across my first very introduction with experiential marketing. At first, it seemed like a buzz word but the more I got to know about it, the more it appealed to me.
Experiential marketing is a unique way of connecting a brand to its customers. In fact, experts suggest that customers should be simply addressed as humans and not customers. This enables you to start focusing on them and less on the brand. Experiential branding focuses on brands building genuine relationships with their customers by entering their daily life.
I’ve enlisted some really incredible experiences created by brands that have truly made a mark globally.
Credits : UNICEF
Unicef’s Tap water project has always been in the news for its innovative efforts in making people more conscious and aware of their social responsibility. Putting down the phone for kids without clean water is one of the most insightful and easily doable activities. Unicef developed an app that would record the time that people spent away from their phones or when their phones were down. The more time your phone is down the more funds you could unlock. These funds were generously donated by celebrated companies such as Giorgio Armani etc. This campaign successfully benefited more than half a million people. The span of the UNICEF Tap Project saw a drop in the number of children dying from waterborne illnesses from over 4,000 a day in 2006 to just under 1,000 a day in 2015. This campaign also tells us that empathy is simple and it can really do wonders for a brand by getting people to act in ways that are simple.
Credits : Tvspotblog1
We take the sun for granted because we have a lot of it. Imagine living in a place where you don’t see the sun for several days together. Tropicana’s brighter mornings for brighter days campaign raised a helium-filled balloon glowing with 100,000 lumens of light and enabled the town of Inuvik to emerge from weeks of darkness. The campaign’s timing was perfect as it coincided with Inuvik’s sunrise festival that celebrates the return of the sun after several days of darkness. This campaign reflected the true warmth of the brand and translated to digital success as well as incredible media impressions.
Credits: Volkswagen
The fun theory is a campaign supported by Volkswagen that suggests that a simple activity that is fun and easy will contribute to changing people’s behaviour and attitude. Stairs located to escalators were transformed into giant piano keys and strung a brilliant and resounding chord with the commuters. Healthcare is a concern across countries and encouraging people to participate in simple activities that contribute towards a healthier tomorrow can truly bring about a magnificent change.
Credits: Optoma EMEA
Circuses have always been an epitome of marvel and magic. This image was completely destroyed when news of mistreatment of animals and humans alike started making headlines. People visited the circus because it was a dreamlike experience where you would witness the unthinkable and be treated to an immersive and entertaining experience. Circus Roncalli has been travelling across Europe since 1976 with live animals and decided that it was time to lead the change. They introduced holographic imagery of animals such as horses, elephants and monkeys doing stunts through projectors and lasers and created a 3D viewing experience that was one of its kind. It also assures people that they are a part of a cruelty-free brand and that helps garner immense love and respect.
Credits : IKEA UK
The team at Ikea discovered that people were spending less time on selecting their mattress (10 minutes) than they were spending on selecting their lunch. Ikea decided to talk to its customers about the importance of sleep by inviting 100 lucky winners to their store and hosted a grand sleepover. This sleepover consisted of fun bedtime rituals like movie screenings, manicures, reading books and even an interaction with sleep experts to understand healthy sleep cycles etc. This activity brought the customers to the store not for a sale but for an insight-driven experience that would lead to their wellness. The campaign was received very well across the world and Ikea was appreciated for creating a thriving an enriching experience for its customers.
The next one is by my favourite designer, Stefan Sagmeister. His offbeat and honest approach has always amazed me and motivated me to continue to push my bar of creativity.
Credits: Novus TV
Stefan has been a revolutionary designer and strives to work towards creating relatable and unthinkable art. In his pursuit to do so, he created an entire exhibition around the concept of happiness. It is a known fact that the changing lifestyles and environments have led to loneliness and lack of mental health. The exhibition engaged people in interesting ways and encouraged them to be aware of their mental health and work towards building it.
Experiential marketing has been able to garner true brand love as it does not involve sales pitches but personal and impactful experiences. It is about creating spontaneous and real moments. In order to be effective, brands need to understand who they are talking to, where they will find them and how they can demonstrate their offering into an experience that is active, live and multi-sensory. This is only the beginning of an industry that has endless possibilities.
“I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
― Maya Angelou
Partner
With 15+ years of spatial design experience, Sveta leads the team that helps extend brands to three-dimensional spaces. She has the ability to visualise intangible attributes such as brand positioning and translate them to materials, finishes and furniture in every space. Her belief is simple – ‘every detail in retail design has to reflect the brand.’ Over the years she has worked with some of the biggest brands in the hospitality and retail industry. At ABND, she is pivotal in projects that require branded interior design, retail design, way-finding and signage systems. Sveta is as defined and disciplined in dance as she is in her work!
March 1, 2018
The pioneer of liberal education in India, Pune based FLAME University is creating waves in liberating young minds. Over the years, the institution has built a reputation for itself that is significant enough to reckon with. Built on the methodology of psychologist Howard Gardner’s ‘multiple intelligence,’ there is a renewed focus on interdisciplinary learning. A vast array of options lies for students as there are over 250 unique major-minor combinations to choose from here. While you can major in subjects like Economics, Psychology, International Studies, Environmental Studies and Journalism, you can also graduate in Dance, Music, Theatre and Design. At FLAME, you could also do a BSc in Applied Mathematics and BBA degrees in Finance, Marketing, Communications Management, HRM, Operations and Entrepreneurship.
At a time when private players are still not trusted in the field of higher education, FLAME University is still a clear preference for young minds, owing to its unique approach. The string of collaborations it has made makes it an institution of excellence which stands out. Renowned foreign universities including Nuffield College, York University of Canada, and Wellesley College, Babson Collaborative and other institutes of repute have tied up with FLAME University.
At ABND, FLAME University was given a rejuvenated identity. Several competing institutions offered Liberal Education as part of the curriculum as well. In an attempt to set themselves apart from the clutter, FLAME University needed to rebrand themselves by giving Liberal Education a new way of expression we proposed for them – ‘Diversity of the Mind.’ To know more on how this reputed institute was envisioned anew and given a dynamic visual identity. To know more Click Here
Founder-Partner
Kunal says, “I’ve no specific talent, I’m merely inquisitive.” While his past experiences include product design, retail branding, packaging and design for manufacturing his true passion lies in branding and strategy. He’s the go-to person whenever the crafting needs finesse or the creation needs a fresh perspective. A certain sixth sense guides him in business and branding, honing the skill through experience. Kunal is also a guest lecturer and visiting faculty at a college in Mumbai, teaching branding to young bright minds.
February 27, 2018
Coming into view, the emerging logistics company, Grab, have recently received heavy government investment backing from Small Industries Development Bank of India’s wholly owned subsidiary, SIDBI Venture Capital Limited. Pratish Sanghvi, the co-founder of Grab, said that this funding of $1.5million is detrimental to their growth as the company is currently working on a crowdsourcing distribution model. SIDBI has joined a list of their big investors including Aramex, Zomato, Sixth Sense Ventures and Oliphans Capital. In spite of the hyperlocal delivery space being overcrowded, Grab was a prominent player for SIDBI to consider because of its sector-agnostic approach and its high chances of being EBITDA positive.
Providing hyperlocal and intracity logistics services to businesses including restaurants, food tech platforms, pharmacies and banks, Grab was once only doing food deliveries, being known as Grab-A- Grub. ABND had worked on the brand’s identity when they wanted to expand from being a food delivery startup to an all-encompassing hyperlocal logistics company. Changing from Grab-A- Grub to Grab, their rebranding made for a more sharper and agile brand. To know more Click Here
February 22, 2018
Thursdays at ABND just got chocolaty! Each of us brought our favourite chocolate to office. There was a huge goblet brimming over with chocolates of all kinds, apart from our favourite ones too. In a game of passing the parcel, the rubik’s cube filling in for the parcel in the last moment, the chocolates were exchanged amongst the chocoholics! What you got to pick in the lottery became your chocolate.The twist in the story came with the fact that the last person to pick her own chocolate in the lottery, got a chance to win the entire Goblet of Chocolates! Poornima won the Goblet. Following that we quirked it up by trading some of our chocolates with the Goblet Queen. It was a fun trade off. There were some toothaches after, but it was a happy sugar rush.
February 19, 2018
After back to back workshops and presentations through the weeks, the team felt like taking a break under the sun. Around the coffee table, there were some games and some lively chatter. While we had started the day all pumped up with a presentation for brand identity that went down well with the client, we ended the day on a light note at a coffee shop. From acting out the weirdest of movie names like ‘Matru ki Bijli ka Mandola’ and ‘Chameli ki shaadi’, we had great fun breaking down apparently simple ones too, when playing dumb charade. All of us had a crazy good time guessing interesting symbols and rhyming words when dissecting and decoding the films. We, at ABND, love our breaks as much as we enjoy the action!
Associate-Strategy
An experimenter at heart, Nikita’s experiences in interior design, sculpture design, advertising and branding has made her flexible to new ideas and new spaces. Nikita is a certified scuba diver. She has her own website, showcasing beautiful illustrations and paintings. Her art speaks of her love for animals and her admiration for the creatures of the sea. She loves to travel around the world and brainstorm on challenges.
Associate-Strategy
Stringing up the world with words, Sumanjari is driven by creativity, but with a purpose. Munching at her table always, she can (over)think but not on an empty stomach. She loves her coffee bittersweet and her strategies well researched. Academically inclined, she has written research papers on a wide range of topics from religion and music to branding to euthanasia. Sumanjari values spending time with her students, lecturing at a college by the weekends apart from her engagement at ABND.
Head-Creative
With a strong influence in the Applied Arts, our happy-go-lucky green haired creative lead has been a constant in team ABND right from its founding years. She is always humming a tune or two and livening up the pulse of the workspace. Ekta’s optimism and openness to new ideas fuels her creative best. Quirking it up in her attire, food and art, Ekta’s innovative at heart. She has a childish impulse of surprising others. Her love for bikes and nature deserves a special mention!
Founder-Partner
Priyanka Sachdev Shahra is a design thinker and serial entrepreneur. Her passions lie in bringing meaningful projects to life. Priyanka’s experience with entrepreneurship begun in 2010, when she cofounded ABND with Kunal Vora. Always having strongly felt for what’s environmentally and socially sustainable, she set up One With Earth in 2014 as a vehicle to support such projects. She has also been involved in an interesting venture which is a first of its kind in Singapore, an online swapping platform called Swapaholic. Priyanka manages the Singapore office of ABND.
Associate-Creative
A woman of less words and more action, this designer on the dot likes to keep it short and sweet. Having mastered in design in college, Poornima is driven by discipline and style. Zumba is a favourite pastime and she is also passionate for the cause of saving stray animals. Simplicity is what defines her spirit, whether she is designing or talking.
Associate-Creative
Debugging and resolving errors, Hitesh is the techie in the house responsible for digital and web strategies. A smooth operator, he is persistent in problem-solving. He is very passionate about solving the Rubik’s cube and we can see him at it often. We can tell that at school he must have been immersed in his science projects, which led him further to study information technology. In sports too it’s always the technique which fascinates him. The music in his ears is always loud enough for the entire office to hear!
Associate-Creative
With several years of experience in Interior Design, Deepu is the go to guy for detailing each space to the T. He lives Mies Van Der Rohe’s quote “god is in the detail”. His experience helps the team visualize design concepts from a detailed point of view, mapping it on to real spaces. A quiet and simple soul, we can always see Deepu working at his desk with complete concentration. A workaholic at heart, he is also a cricket buff and a harmonium player. He likes sticking to a rule book but won’t mind swinging to a catchy rhythm when he’s off work.
Administrator
Organized and to the point, our administrator likes keeping the house in order. Florie also has varied talents in cooking, sewing and embroidering. Diligence drives us as a team and so does it drive the person who holds the pack together. Florie is fond of country music and likes reading murder mysteries.