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BELGIUM – Belgian marketers believe massively in the growth of live communication
The research made by students of the erasmus University College Brussels in cooperation with The Oval Office was conducted among 1.503 marketing and communication specialists who were surveyed on their knowledge of live communication and the use of brand experiences as a communication medium.
The most important conclusions of this research are:
– Brand awareness, brand engagement and sales are the main reasons to use live communication.
– Marketers consider field marketing, events and online marketing the most effective media to create brand engagement.
– Customer events, trade shows and staff events constitute the top three of the most used live communication experiences.
Nearly seven out of ten respondents (67%) agreed with the proposition “I expect live communication to grow in importance in the future’. 31% were undecided and only 3% didn’t share this opinion.
Brands like Red Bull, Starbucks, Nintendo, Zara and Electrolux are already believers. But B-to-B brands and even traditional media like Flair (Flair Shopping Day) or the VRT (Music for Life, Radio 2 dag, Thuisdag, Flikkendag) also organize brand experiences that allow them to build a strong emotional bond with their clients and public. They create unique experiences that people (and the press!) want to share and pass on, off-line or on-line (via social media). This way, companies rouse sympathy for their brand without promoting it too aggressively.
The fact that strong brand experiences are often at the basis of word-of-mouth didn’t escape the notice of many marketers. Respectively 40% and 38% among them consider field marketing and events the most effective media to create brand engagement. Six out of ten respondents deem on-line sharing of brand experiences and stories the most brand engaging medium. Cinema (2%) and Outdoor (9%) score the lowest.
The most visible expressions of live communication are often aimed at consumers. They take place in shopping centres, in the street and on squares, on festivals, etc. But even to communicate with professional or internal target groups, companies more and more often opt for brand experiences. Via authentic live experiences, they want to inspire their customers and staff and involve them in their brand story. To the question which branches of live communication get the most attention, the respondents answered: customer events (55,7%), trade shows (43,2%), internal events (33,8%), seminaries and congresses (26,5%) and field marketing (25,4%).