I have worked on hundreds of experiential, marketing campaigns and this Okanagan Springs brewery promotional tour is one that I hold up as an example of a great execution.
First, they chose popular on premise sampling locations. You’d be amazed that that is not always a given with promo jobs. They were choosing really busy patios on evenings and weekends, so there was a high traffic coming through all of their activations .
Second, the brand ambassador uniforms were appropriate for both the situation and their brand. The girls were not required to wear stilettos and instead were wearing appropriate white trainers.
Third, they understood that the point of experiential marketing is to provide an experience (not just a sample & a photo op with a pretty girl). In this particular activation, they had a surfing simulator, and we’re giving out prizes for high scores. The grand prize for the highest score at the end of the activation was a standup paddleboard that was branded. The secondary prizes were branded Ray-Ban sunglasses. So overall, they were really exceptional prizes.
This activation was so successful that it came back for two summers, just slightly different branding, but always around the Okanagan Springs summer series. I wasn’t the lead organizer, but I was in field for the BC portion of this activation.