Users are beset by digital clutter. Internet ads, search engine ads, social media ads and TV ads are everywhere and inescapable. Even subscription entertainment services now force ads upon paying customers. While these ads can be clever and thoughtful, they are also tiresome and an extremely competitive ecosystem. It is understandable that in an era where the number of Americans working from home has tripled within the past 4 years that advertisers would focus their attention to mediums that reach people there. However, there is increasing demand for in-person engagement among top-tier business leaders and professionals who make most B2B purchasing decisions. Incentivized activism is a tactic that’s disrupting the traditional marketing campaign, and it gives brands the opportunity to effectively organize events, protests and rallies on-site at industry gatherings to make the company’s mission heard.
According to CVENT, an event management software company, in-person conference event check-ins in 2023 approached 2019 levels. The attendees at these business conferences are savvy customers used to tuning out ads. Brands who want to reach them have to be strategic and catch them off-guard in a way that is humorous and unignorable. Enter marketing stunts and incentivized activism surrounding these conferences and other important events. Imagine arriving at a conference seeing performers dressed in costumes, holding signs, chanting, and holding court. Event goers typically will at least want to hear why they were there, helping to create buzz around the activation.
These events have three significant benefits. First, for B2B brands it can help reach target audiences because they are all gathered together for industry conferences. Second, it creates viral moments that can be amplified using social media and TV advertising. Lastly, they provide an opportunity for companies to show a unique sense of brand identity and humor while building brand awareness both in-person and beyond.
In-person marketing stunts have the opportunity to reach an audience when they are most interested in networking and connecting. Business leaders and purchasing managers are there to speak, identify new opportunities, and learn about industry trends. Typically, the best time to reach audiences at a conference is right at the beginning and immediately prior to the keynote or opening remarks. That way, these demonstrations will reach attendees before they have been inundated with other information and when they are most excited to learn.
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Incentivized activism serves to get peoples’ attention but in order to succeed in the broader goal (namely: getting more customers), brands must have a strong product that would otherwise resonate with its target audience. Stemming from Crowds on Demand’s results over the last 12 years, approximately 80% of attendees spend at least 10-20 seconds looking at the marketing stunt. Of those, approximately 50% take out their recording devices to snap a photo and 15% will come up to speak with participants. That is a high percentage of engagement compared to other marketing methods. Moreover, it leads to interactions with top-tier individuals such as top venture capitalists, CEOs, and even celebrities that would not otherwise be possible. Again, these events serve to get their attention but the product must be high-quality and appropriately priced to translate that attention into commercial success.
One critical step is to make sure the event you are targeting will have your target market and/or media present. Brands must determine if the individuals who can either purchase or amplify their product will be present. Additionally, they must decide if the venue is right for in-person engagement. An event at a suburban office park might not present the opportunity for such engagement while a conference center in New York City would be ideal.
Beyond that, another key asset is to have high-quality talent onsite who can evangelize the product or service. While marketing stunt participants are not salespeople, realistically they will be asked about the product. It is important for them to be trained so that they can give a simple elevator pitch version that will captivate prospective customers’ attention and encourage them to engage further.
It is also crucial to have a clear and clever narrative that can convert people from briefly looking upon the protest to needing to know more. For example, the 2018 “Bankers Against Bitcoin” parody event outside of a cryptocurrency conference featured a group of middle-aged men in suits purporting to be out of touch bankers “protesting” bitcoin to promote Genesis Mining. Parody protests are particularly impactful because now people and companies are defined by who is against them as much as they are by who is for them. The image of out of touch bankers protesting against “the future” of cryptocurrency was unignorable by those inside the conference. There were flyers and demonstrators able to clearly articulate the message to convert onlookers into customers. Brands often need to walk a fine line between being clear enough in their messaging for onlookers to know who is behind the event whilst not being so overly promotional that it lacks humor and light-heartedness.
In-person events can also be used to create viral social media and internet content that can be used in advertising. The #BankersAgainstBitcoin event earned the client hundreds of thousands of dollars and new customers along with substantial earned media attention. To make an in-person event go ‘viral,’ brands first have to accept that there is a novelty factor needed to catch someone’s attention. A recent event for Air Inc., a faster alternative to Dropbox, Google Drive, and Box, featured a group of 50 elderly protesters saying they were young when they started using Air’s competitors. Both “Bankers Against Bitcoin” and “Silicon Gables” were great narratives that led to success at these conferences and generated millions of dollars combined along with an influx of new customers, earned media and social media virality.
Staging events outside conferences presents an opportunity for earned media attention given the narrative fits with what the outlets are covering. Don’t bet everything on a viral moment. Instead, design an event that will effectively engage attendees. A viral moment is just icing on the cake.
Incentivized activism is an effective tool in any marketer’s war chest and should be allocated a budget to match. In-person events are more important and impactful than ever if you use them the right way. It should be a means to target key customers at relevant industry events and create a clear narrative with prepared team members and a comprehensive media strategy to back it up.
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