I need to say something that might get me uninvited from some conference panels: experiential marketing is, in most cases, just events marketing with a rebrand and a bigger line item.
Don't get me wrong. Some experiential work is genuinely transcendent. Meow Wolf exists. Sleep No More exists. The Museum of Ice Cream was a cultural moment regardless of how you feel about it. But the vast majority of what agencies (including mine) sell as 'experiential' is a pop-up with good lighting and a hashtag wall.
The rebrand worked though, and that's the part worth studying. Calling it 'experiential' instead of 'events' did three things: it justified higher budgets, it made it sound strategic instead of tactical, and it gave it a seat at the planning table instead of being an afterthought.
Which honestly? Is a masterclass in positioning. The product didn't change. The framing did. And the framing changed everything about how it was resourced and respected.
And the framing changed everything about how it was resourced and respected.
I say this with love because I'm currently planning an 'experience' for a client that is, functionally, a really nice party with branded cocktail napkins. But we're measuring sentiment lift, so it's strategy.