Experiential marketing explained by XP&D CEO Chanda Singh

Experiential marketing is a buzzword in today’s day and age. As technology gets more immersive, businesses are keen to connect with consumers at a much deeper level. This is where experiential marketing agencies like XP&D come in, blending “offline to online to offline (O2O2O)” strategies to bridge the gap between brands and buyers.

Having worked with some of India’s biggest organizations such as Hyundai, Asian Paints, Kia Motors, BMW, Dream11, BCCI and Mercedes, and having handled big ticket sporting events such as the IPL closing ceremony and the Chess Olympiad torch relay, XP&D CEO Chanda Singh is perfectly placed to offer insights into the dynamic field of experiential marketing.

In an exclusive interaction with Sportskeeda, Ms. Chanda Singh provided a crash course in experiential marketing.

Read on to know more!

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Q. What is experiential marketing?

Ms. Chanda Singh: It’s everything that you experience if you are sitting inside at home or if you’re out of your home. If you're on the road and you're seeing someone trying to educate you about a new brand and its product, that’s experiential marketing.

Whether you are in a group inside a restaurant or a club enjoying your favorite meal and you see a band performing, but at the same time you also see videos that are trying to teach you about the new stuff that is available in the market, that’s experiential marketing. Or as big as, if you are reaching out to a stadium to just see a match but there’s suddenly a light show that happens that is commemorating the 75 years of India, that’s experiential marketing as well.

In many ways, just like people, brands have their own story, history, personality and relationships. And when all of these things are built on experiences that consumers can have with the brand, that is what experiential marketing is.

Q. How is experiential marketing different from other forms of marketing?

Ms. Chanda Singh: A very big differentiating point would be that you are reaching out live to people and you are getting the responses live at that very moment unlike any other one-way form of marketing, which will probably give you feedback much later.

Q. What are the core experiential marketing principles?

My first core principle would be to build an emotional connection. This is the main driving motivator for any buyer to purchase.

Making it very personalized would be my second principle. No matter what the shape and size is, if you are wanting to promote a brand, a customer needs to feel that he has been made a part of it.

In today’s day and age, ensuring that you are incorporating tech and future ready solutions into your plans would be my third pillar.

Q. What are some famous experiential marketing examples?

Ms. Chanda Singh: When talking about global experiential marketing examples, anything and everything that Nike does is something that sets a benchmark. Not only do they ensure that they are promoting their product, but they are promoting a very healthy lifestyle that people should be looking forward to living for themselves.

They are not just promoting a healthy lifestyle, they are also promoting sustainable solutions for the Earth and for the planet. Therefore, any campaign or any experiential marketing tool that Nike uses becomes a global benchmark.

Red Bull does a lot of these experiential marketing exercises. Soap boxes are something that people have loved. When they came to India, it was the most talked about consumer activation that a brand could have done.

Red Bull Soapbox Race is an example of experiential marketing

I would say that any of the festivals that happen here in India, primarily NH7 Weekender, not now but in yesteryears, was a great experience for people to enjoy their weekend.

It was not in the heart of any of the big metros [and] it was a drive out [of town] for many people. But..it created its own niche and attracted people from all over India with the kind of lineup they used to create, with the kind of things they used to do.

XP&D has done an IPL closing ceremony. After doing the IPL closing ceremony, we also did the Chess Olympiad torch handover ceremony. The experiences that you create for sporting events which are large scale inside a stadium, whether indoor or outdoor, gives you a big high and that creates that wow moment for you to think that, ‘yeah, that was a great experience.’

Experiential marketing example: Chess Olympiad torch handover

We did the Chess Olympiad torch handover event which happened along with honorable Prime Minister Narendra Modi. This was done in Delhi. The whole idea was to curate a story that talks about the heritage of chess in India.

It’s not just now that people have started loving this game. It’s been there for yesteryears. And that was the story that had to be brought alive and that was completely curated through audio-visual, through dances, through performances that can bring alive the story of how chess has been there in our country, prevailing from yesteryears…and now that it has come to India for the first time as Chess Olympiad how it should be loved by everyone.

The torch was then launched there, which moved across the country, it went from city to city and then finally got planted again at the Chess Olympiad opening ceremony that happened recently. The opening ceremony that was recently held in Mahabalipuram was a great experience. It was a great visual spectacle.

Q. Are there certain categories of products and services which inherently suit an experiential marketing approach, and other categories where conventional marketing would be preferred?

Ms. Chanda Singh: If you would have asked me this question 15 years back, I would have definitely given you some brand names. But honestly, currently in today’s scenario, especially after the last two years, it has become imperative for us to reach out to people.

It has become imperative for every brand to create those experiences that: A) I don’t feel that you are cheating on me; B) I connect with you personally and I know that ‘yes you are true’; C) I see you doing something for the planet, something for the world at large so I feel that ‘okay, fine, you are doing it for the betterment of everyone and not just the betterment for yourself.’

I think every sector be it banking, automobile, FMCG…Government for that matter…it is so important for them to reach out to people live. I mean, we are talking about the experiences that brands are creating, but think about this, governments have been using experiential marketing since whenever…I mean since even before independence.

How would they have asked people to vote for them if they had not created an experiential marketing campaign, sitting or standing live in front of people and making people believe in them to go ahead and vote?

So I think all sectors, I wouldn’t differentiate that there is anyone who can’t use, or is not using, this tool of experiential marketing to reach out to consumers.

Q. What about the hardcore B2B infra component industry? They are not reaching out to the final retail consumers. For example, say semiconductor chip companies, why would they need to do experiential marketing?

Ms. Chanda Singh: I would assume even they would be using one in some form or the other. Even if they are reaching out to people to educate them about their services, that’s experiential marketing.

You don't necessarily have to do a large-scale stadium event. If you are reaching out to fans and doing this small scale activity where you are just engaging with them, it’s experiential marketing in some form or the other. So the scale doesn’t matter but I think I am sure they are using this too.

Q. What are some of the experiential marketing disadvantages compared to other forms of marketing?

Ms. Chanda Singh: In comparison to the other marketing, if you ask me, whether it’s cost or imagination, that’s completely in [our] control. If you look at what brands must be spending on their ATLs…which is ‘Above The Line’ media I’m sure that’s way too much than what they would be spending on ‘Below The Line’ media, which is us.

They [conventional marketing] are restricted to doing 30 seconds to one minute for their other campaigns if they are publishing on different media. Here [in experiential marketing] you are doing one hour, one-and-a-half hours, two hours [or even] a day long experience that you are creating at maybe less than half the price that you are paying to the other side and other forms of marketing.

In terms of imagination, you are restricted to doing whatever you are doing, in 30 seconds. Here [in experiential marketing] it is completely open for you to go to whatever means and boundaries you want to, to ensure that you are making that point very clear and very impactful for your consumers.

So I wouldn’t actually see any flipside in using experiential marketing against other forms of marketing.

Q. What personality traits are required to be a successful experiential marketer?

Ms. Chanda Singh: I think it is very important to have a very open mind. At the same time you need to have [an] understanding of what’s happening in the market. You cannot just decide one day…get off your bed and decide that ‘okay fine, I’m going to join experiential marketing because I think I plan my birthday parties really well.’ [It] doesn’t work like that.

You need to understand brands, understand how they are spending, what they are spending on, how they are reaching out to people, who they are meeting, who they want to meet. If there’s a gap between who they are meeting and who they should be meeting….ways and means by which you can cover that gap and fill that gap.

It is important to have that basic understanding and basic knowledge of what is going on in India as a market. And then obviously while you are working in the industry you’ll understand how global standards are [and] what kind of global standards you can work on.

On hiring experiential marketing professionals

Q. Are experiential marketing courses or experiential marketing certifications being offered by colleges and universities? If not, is it possible to secure experiential marketing internships?

Ms. Chanda Singh: Many institutes teach mass communication and…we as brands would want to go to mass communication institutes and hire kids from there or take placements from there.

When we started so many years back, there were barely a few colleges all over India that could teach you Mass Comm, and in Mass Comm, they would be teaching you marketing, communication, audio-visual, journalism [etc.]. They would just be touching base on various things that may be helpful for you when you come on the job.

But 99.9 percent is what you learn on the job. You learn from your experiences because like any other job you wouldn’t be able to learn or study on crisis management, which is a major thing that you have to learn while doing experiential marketing.

You decide to do something really big and suddenly it starts raining….how do you manage that crisis? You decide to do something really big on the road and the police comes and stops you…how do you manage that situation? You decide to do something really big inside a venue and any casualty happens…while you are very safe in taking all precautions but anything happen[s]…how do you manage a crisis like that?

Or, for that matter, you are sitting in COVID and you still have to do an event, how do you ensure that you are absolutely creating a safe and secure environment for people who are coming so that there’s no outbreak that happens there?

So a lot of things you learn on the job which is not taught to you while you are studying in the institute. But [yes] there are now many institutes that are at least prepping you to reach a level where you understand the words that are being used in marketing.

You understand the lingo that people are using so that when you are sitting in your first year in a client meeting and they are talking about trends and if they are talking about various other things you’re prepared of what conversations you can have with these words.

Q. In XP&D’s hiring interviews, what qualities do you look at? How can someone improve their hiring chances?

Ms. Chanda Singh: For me personally, I look first and foremost for that spark in the eye. I mean, you have to be excited about getting into an industry like this. You cannot be thinking that ‘oh my God you’ll meet your role model’. You will learn a lot if you are on the job but if you have that will to learn…that’s the first and foremost thing that XP&D sees in people.

The second thing is your way of conducting yourself. We try and put them in scenarios that are very stressful, even while we are doing these job interviews just for us to be able to understand that if the person composed, if the person calm. Because when you are that age, even if you don’t know the answer, you might just not want to show that on your face and say that you know ‘I think this is how you want to do it.’ So that confidence, that composure, is the second thing that we look forward to.

Apart from that, yes I mean there are educational qualifications…what you’ve done in the past, where all have you interned, what all placements have you taken care of earlier, if you worked with any brand or not.

[Another aspect is] which department excites you? Because in our industry, there are multiple departments –creative, content, production, client servicing…what excites you more? What kind of knowledge [do] you have in that because now you have been made to study for three years or two years in those courses, so what kind of understanding [do] you have there?

But for me still, it is just that spark in the eye that just clicks in the first go. That excitement that you want to be in an industry and do something really good to create [an] experience in people is something that helps us pick up that person.

Q. Since experiential marketing is a new field…is there a chance for someone in their 30s or 40s to get into this space? Or would you still say that there’s an advantage for younger, energetic 18-25 year olds when it comes to this line of work?

Definitely the latter. The reason why I am saying younger age is because they can be completely molded into your way of working, they can be made to understand. Sometimes we feel that people come with their set of thinking and they know that ‘no this has to done this way only’ and then when you are in your late 30s or late 40s you’ve already understood the trick of the trade and you will want to behave in a particular way, you would want to set standards in a particular way.

But having said that, when you are in your 30s and 40s you can definitely, or should definitely, work as consultants for many brands because brands and agencies are looking for people to come on board as consultants…as event planners who are consulting them for special projects.

As event planners who can execute special projects for them. But if you are in your early 20s you should definitely want to hire those people as your permanent employees because they have a trajectory to work with you for five years, 10 years, and grow with you.

Younger blood is more adaptive…which is why I would go with that.

Nike is known for its trendsetting experiential marketing campaigns

Q. Are candidates with organizational experience, whether in their school or college – be rated highly when it comes to hiring?

Ms. Chanda Singh: I would say yes. This industry is all about the practical knowledge that you have, it’s all about the practical experience that you have. It also depends on the level of hire that I am making. If I am making an absolute fresher hire then these things count.

[One] level up I would want to know if you worked one year in some agency. what were you doing? What kind of projects were you handling? I wouldn’t obviously interview you on your skills of managing a client end-to-end, but while you were on a project, what were you handling, what were you managing, what [were] all the things that you did…and then it just keeps on increasing on the levels that you are hiring.

The senior most person [I’m hiring] will obviously need to show me five to eight years of experience of having handled clients such as [the] big names that we have in the country, or have handled or executed projects that are like bigger in scale and size. [They should] have handled team size of 4, 5 [or] 6 people.

So [hiring qualifications] depends on the scale and the level of people that we are hiring. But for a fresher I would definitely look at what they have done in college.

Q. You mentioned that you put candidates in a stressful environment during your hiring interviews. Can you give an example of what kind of stressful environment?

Ms. Chanda Singh: Just creating mock setups. So I behave like a client…and I am not a very easy client. I am trying to grill you for no rhyme or reason (like most of our clients do) and just not accepting whatever you are offering. I am just going on saying no…just trying to ask for justifications.

So when we create mock situations either I’ll roll out a brief and ask them to work on it for a quick while and tell me…this is the idea, reject, this is the idea, reject…

I’m not saying it’s a Shark Tank, but it is a little mockup of a stressful situation that we can create for these guys by me becoming the client or my HR becoming the client and we [are] just trying to reject everything that they are saying and then see how they are handling the situation.

Q. How much do experiential marketing professionals earn compared to marketers in other categories?

Ms. Chanda Singh: At par for sure. I can say that because I come from an institute where there were people being hired by marketing agencies and by advertising agencies and by experiential agencies.

The start price [for entry level experiential marketing professionals]…unless you have done your MBA from a very known institute, that’s obviously different…but otherwise it’s at par barring a couple of thousand here and there but it is at par.

Q. How has experiential marketing in India evolved? What are some of the experiential marketing trends in 2022 and beyond?

Augmented Reality & Virtual reality are buzzwords in experiential marketing today

Ms. Chanda Singh: It has evolved drastically. [When we started 20 years ago] we were just reaching out to people through mediums of creating live events and experiences. While we're still doing that, we have digitized it completely, we’ve tried to bring in a lot of tech into our game right now, which is making people interested.

If I have to talk about what it will be like 10 years from now, there will be a lot of virtual experiential marketing that will evolve. So rather than just doing exclusive events for people that are live, we will be doing exclusive events in person with people where we will be creating virtual environments for them, like how the rest of the world is doing.

Most brands and consumers have already accepted virtual experiences. Add to that some bit of creativity, some out-of-the-box approach, a little bit of digital experiential marketing, and that’s the most effective way to reach your audience. So, ‘virtual experiential’ will definitely be something that will be a big future trend coming up.

Another will be, integration of a lot of interactive digital touch points. Aside from VR and AR, I think a lot of digital experiences like contests, polls, giveaways, and on-spot surveys [are] something that will become really important and imperative for experiential marketers to do.

Also, coming out of the situation we are in right now, we have come to realize that it’s not always a live event, it can now become a hybrid event as well. So while the desire to gather is really strong, we are now slowly accepting the fact that we can do a combination of both digital and in-person events. And I think that will also become a very important point for experiential marketers ahead.

The last thing I would say would be to design safe events. It is very important for us to design safe events because we have seen something that probably nobody has seen in the last many decades and now we don’t know how these things will change or if there is a new outbreak that happens after a few years. You cannot just have people coming there sitting or standing or breathing onto each other. It will have to be made, or at least planned in a manner so that you can try and move towards creating a safe event.

I would say a lot of data driven work will happen as well.

Initially we used to take feedback on paper from people: how did you like this event so if you can rate us from one to five. Now it’s all about data. There will be a lot of data driven insights that will help us create experiences for people.

If [Person A] and [Person B] like a particular kind of music, why should we make them eat food and not play music? So that’s the data that we receive from [Person A] and [Person B] while they were filling the registration form that this is the genre of music that they like and if you are not playing that music at all in your experience, you have not created that personalized experience for them. A lot of data driven insights will help us create those experiences for people as well.

Q. Lastly, what are the best ways to leverage experiential marketing in sports?

Honestly, sports is a canvas that is huge enough to create experiences. You don’t only have the fans, you also have the players, you also have the game. You are also inside a space where you can do so much. You also have your brands, you also have your sponsors. The canvas is so huge when it comes to creating experiences that it just becomes imperative for us to think very differently.

Initially, fans used to come to a space to experience everything. Yes, you will still create experiences for them in a live environment, but now they can also see the same thing and experience the same thing while sitting at home. So how do you create that kind of environment for them sitting at home?

We created this one concept called har ghar stadium, where even if you can’t reach the stadium, we will create a stadium-kind experience for you at your home. We send you packages wherein you can call your family members, call your best friends…[and] you can still have the hooters in your hand and when there is a six or four you create that mini stadium-like environment in your house itself.

We’ll send you a couple of things that will make you brand that your screen area…just give you props… some face paint [and] wigs that will make you feel like you are sitting inside the stadium. So it is more experiential.

Now there are ways and means by which you can show people sitting at home on the stadium screen or on the broadcast screen. So it’s just your phone camera that is taking you or just the camera that is in front of you which is taking you and relaying you…so that feeling that ‘okay, fine I couldn’t make it to the stadium but here I am, party to the same experience.’

So sports has just so much that we can do wherein you can make your second screen part of the entire thing. I am watching a match on my TV screen but I am also engaging with my second screen which is my phone.

So am I playing a quiz [on my phone] which is also giving me some goodies while I am watching my game [on the TV]? Is it that I’m going to send a message on the WhatsApp community group that I’ve created for the game and that gets displayed on the screen? [There are] many, many things that can keep you engaged throughout, so I would say that not just whatever we are doing inside the stadium but what we’re doing outside the stadium is even more interesting in today’s day and scenario.