Launching your brand for the first time or targeting a new demographic requires thoughtful consideration and strategic planning. 

Top 5 Brand Activation Strategies

When building your brand activation strategy, there are five main components to target. Below, we explore how to adjust your strategy to align with the following campaign angles.

#1. Brand Your Business with the Story in the Spotlight

If your brand activation is only to sell a product, your campaign will only go so far. Consider the pitches presented on Shark Tank: almost every pitch is accompanied by a Shark Tank investor asking for the story behind the product.

Why? They want to know the reason behind the product and the dedication to seeing it impact the world.

By putting your story in the spotlight, onlookers will grow more emotionally invested in the product or service you offer, which in turn will develop a loyalty base. 

#2. Bridge the Gap of Unfamiliarity by Building Loyalty 

When a prospect sees your company for the first time, they owe you nothing, including their interest and investment. As a result, it is your objective and responsibility to bridge the gap and share what you have to offer them.

By building loyalty, your mission is not to lure consumers into spending their hard-earned money on your products or services. If your goal is to make money without building your brand, you must count the cost of customer loyalty. Therefore, inspire onlookers to trust the name and story behind the brand with excellent products, streamlined services, and interactive activities. 

#3. Encourage Social Media Engagement

Social media is more widespread than cable and posters plastered on a community bulletin board. As you build your brand activation strategy, focus on how you can adapt your angle to include social media.

Perhaps you livestream your brand activation event, promote your company and story with behind-the-scenes interviews and demonstrations, or boost online visibility with paid ads. With social media strategy, the cloud offers limitless potential. 

#4. Elevate the Experience with All 5 Senses

The brand 5 Gum is the poster child for this campaign angle. As their commercials try hard to explain a gum flavor, they highlight the remaining four senses (touch, sound, smell, and sight) using sensory imagery. Furthermore, their slogan “How it Feels to Chew 5 Gum” grew to be a highly recognizable tagline.

5 Gum is not the only company that capitalizes on this branding strategy. Additional businesses that also abide by this angle include:

• York Peppermint Pattie
• Nike
• Allstate
• Apple
• Coca-Cola
• Pepsi
• Snickers
• Red Bull

Despite the industry you categorize your business as, consider the following questions:

• In what ways do prospects need to understand your organization and mission?
• Which of the five senses can you best use to your marketing advantage? Could you capitalize on multiple, if not all five senses?
• How can you creatively use untraditional methods and senses to deliver the message of your products or services?

It is important to note that this angle does not exclude businesses outside of the food and beverage industry. If you can successfully incorporate this into your branding strategy, you will be able to notice bolstered brand awareness.

#5. Entice Prospects with an Aesthetic and Interactive Booth or Showcase 

State fairs, farmers markets, trade shows, and seasonal vendor showcases can quickly fill up with hundreds to thousands of companies competing for every consumer dollar. How well do businesses perform with an aesthetically pleasing booth as opposed to a “plain Jane” booth with no branding flavor?

Every year, US exhibitors allocate a staggering $24 billion explicitly for trade show displays, which would account for approximately 31.6% of their overall marketing budget for events and exhibits.

Why? In a sea of vendors, you want to stand out and capture the attention of the consumers. Therefore, pay special attention to how well you attend to your booth fabrication. Bolster your brand with stickers, interactive activities, and aesthetic design. 

Launch Your Brand Activation Strategy with Perspectiva

At Perspectiva, we offer a full suite of strategic and promotional planning services to help brands connect and engage with their audience and grow business right from the start. From research, brand assessment, and competitive analysis to insights generation and planning, we will be with you from brand activation and beyond.

If you are ready to partner with our team and get your brand up and running, contact us today! We are eager to help with your brand activation strategy regardless of where you are at in the process.