At the height of the pandemic, virtual events reigned supreme and introduced novel ways for audiences to interact with the brands they love. These ranged from virtual store experiences, which allowed audiences to digitally navigate a make-believe space, to online social activities such as pop quizzes and polls.
In the last 3 months, however, 97% of enquiries for our event management services were for either in-person or hybrid events. Given that Singapore and the region at large have mostly reopened, this trend isn’t surprising – and is in fact music to the ears of brand owners!
If you’re a brand owner, what can you do to capitalise on this trend? In this post, we’ll check out the brand activation and product launch ideas that will help you continue to keep your audiences connected and engaged with your brand.
1. Help your audiences learn more about themselves
Inset photo credit: Lancôme
You might have been greeted with a curious question if you had approached Lancôme’s Beauty Tech flagship store: “Have you made an appointment with us?” That’s because the pop-up experience, which recently concluded its run on Orchard Road, housed the French cosmetic brand’s Skin Screen machine.
Guided by a special set of clinical parameters, the machine analyses the quality of your skin and delivers a report that recommends you a tailored skincare routine. You could then exchange your test results for a sample of the brand’s anti-aging serum and eye cream.
As opposed to giving out gifts in hopes that your audiences will take a desired action, this brand activation or product launch idea gives your audiences much-needed value by giving them information about themselves before matching it with a gift that actually has context.
Between a brand that demands participation from its audiences and a brand that gives its audiences an easy reason to participate, we know which will connect more effectively with its audiences!
2. Keep your audiences’ significant others engaged
A kid fills up a colouring page with moomoo’s mascot at the activity area of moomoo’s in-mall brand activation at Waterway Point
If you’re marketing to everyone, you’re marketing to no one! It’s a rule of thumb that’s been repeated ad nauseam for good reason: Identifying target audiences enables you to spend your marketing dollars on people who are more likely to buy from you. But are your target audiences really all you should focus your event budget on?
We asked ourselves this question when we conceptualised moomoo’s in-mall brand activations. The brokerage app had just launched Cash Plus, which aims to appeal to those who prioritise safe returns on their investments and people who are new to investing.
Moving quickly to establish Cash Plus’s target audiences as young families and people who are just starting their careers, we decided to activate moomoo’s Cash Plus over a weekend across NEX, Waterway Point and Century Square. These malls are located in young estates and boast youthful crowds.
Kids interact with moomoo’s ‘orange cow’ mascot at moomoo’s in-mall brand activation at Waterway Point
But we paid careful attention to not only where our target audiences reside but also who’s with them. Among the highlights were moomoo’s adorable mascot moo, an activity area for children, free balloons and kid-friendly snacks. This way, we could engage the kids while educating their parents about Cash Plus.
By the end of the brand activations, over 800 people had deposited money into Cash Plus, proving that you can win the hearts of your target audiences by also winning the hearts of their significant others!
Read more: ‘Have a Kopi on moo daily’ Roadshows
3. Create an interconnected experience for your audiences
Even as we disconnect from virtual events, there are still advantages to curating an online presence for your brand activation or product launch. The idea could be as simple as encouraging your audiences to share their event experiences via a unique #hashtag. This gives your brand the potential to reach out to even more people.
Merchandise at the Lazada Festive Pop-Up is tagged with QR codes
The online experience was a big part of the Lazada Festive Pop-Up, which we ran through last Christmas on Orchard Road. The pop-up store showcased holiday-inspired gift sets and limited-edition merchandise, each tagged with a QR code that led shoppers to purchase the items on the Lazada app.
This offline-to-online retail experience allowed audiences to enjoy both the immediacy of offline shopping and the perks of online shopping like hassle-free delivery. Especially for products that benefit from sampling, such as diffusers and skincare gels – or even bulky home appliances, your audiences will appreciate the seamless interconnectedness.
Read more: Lazada Festive Pop-Up case study
Want more ideas for your brand activation or product launch? Our Experience Managers are on hand to share more ways you can upgrade the audience experience at your next brand activation or product launch.
Book a complimentary consultation or contact us at +65 6242 8032 (Call).
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