An international survey predicts that experiential marketing is “set to become major growth area in next five years” as senior marketers shift an increasing proportion of their marketing budgets towards it. From the survey, it becomes clear that marketing budget holders believe that experiential marketing offers considerable advantages over other marketing tools, especially in building brand loyalty and encouraging word of mouth recommendation amongst consumers.

Other interesting results from the survey:

  • Nearly all of the respondents view experiential marketing as an effective part of their marketing mix.
  • There is a general feeling amongst marketers that experiential marketing provides better ROI than other marketing activities used
  • Over three quarters of the respondents would welcome more effective measurement tools.

But we still have a long way to go. According to the survey, a lack of training or suitable measurement tools is holding the discipline back causing it to be seen more as a tactical tool rather than a strategic activity.

OK, the survey was commissioned by the MICE group, who may be a bit biased (after all, their name literally stands for Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, Exhbitions), but the report was created by an external agency, surveying brand marketers from a broad cross-section of industries and based in the UK, Germany, France and the US — so the results should be quite trustworthy.

You can find the report here: www.experientialmarketing.org