#229: How Brand Experiences Can Increase Your Sales and Brand Loyalty
Branded Giveaways Are Dead! 😵 It's time to ditch the tired swag bags and discover the magic of themed experiences that truly connect with your audience. In this episode, our toy industry insiders reveal how to skyrocket your brand loyalty and sales through unforgettable brand experiences.
Branded giveaways at trade shows are passé. Instead, themed giveaways tailored to your brand’s identity or your consumer’s persona create a more lasting impression. In this week’s podcast, The Toy Coach explores why this shift is crucial and how you can transform your approach.
Diving into the specifics, Azhelle takes you on a journey through her experience at the Hasbro Game Room in New Jersey—a spectacular activation reimagining classic games like Connect Four and Twister at an oversized scale. This isn’t just about big games; it’s about big emotions and deeper connections to unforgettable brand experiences.
To bring these insights down to earth, the episode breaks down actionable steps, from visiting dynamic pop-up museums to meticulously planning trade show experiences that resonate emotionally with consumers. You’ll learn how swapping outdated photo ops for video moments can amplify your reach.
By the end of this episode, you’ll be ready to rethink how you use trade shows and events to create more compelling, emotionally resonant brand experiences.
Episode Cliff Notes
[Timestamp: 5:24] Learn how to make your brand giveaways unforgettable! Find out why Azhelle Wade considers traditional branded giveaways at trade shows dead and discover her strategy for turning themed giveaways into memorable brand experiences.
[Timestamp: 15:47] Find out what makes a video op more engaging than a photo op! Azhelle Wade breaks down why video opportunities are now the go-to for social media engagement and how to use them to your brand’s advantage.*
[Timestamp: 22:13] Discover the secret to successful brand tagging on social media! Learn why Azhelle Wade believes asking people to tag your brand is ineffective and how inviting them as a collaborator on your next IG Reel can 5x the results on your trade show marketing strategy.
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This episode is brought to you by www.thetoycoach.com
Tiny Easel
The Mattel Adventure Park
The Gameroom by Hasbro
The Museum of Illusions -
[00:00:00] Azhelle Wade: You are listening to making it in the toy industry episode number 229. Hey there, Tony people Ezell Wade here and welcome back to another episode of making it in the toy industry. This is a weekly podcast brought to you by the toy coach.com.
[00:00:16] How are you doing toy people? Thank you so much for those of you that reached out to me to ask how I've been doing. We are all good here. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for checking in. And I'm so excited to be back in my podcasting chair and bringing you today's episode. There's a lot going on in the world and I'm sure in your life and in my life, So I really appreciate that.
[00:00:38] We get the time to sit down together every week for 30 minutes at a time and chat about what's going on in the toy industry, how you can do even better in your toy career or on your toy journey with your toy brand.
[00:00:53] We've got some really great episodes planned and scheduled to come out. We have episodes that are going to be [00:01:00] talking about planning out your entire toy launch. We've got episodes on crowdfunding coming. We've got episodes on email marketing coming. And we've got interviews with artists that are creating their own arts and crafts brand and just breaking into the space with workshops and products.
[00:01:16] So I hope you keep tuning in with me a week after week to listen to some of those episodes that will be coming out in the next couple of weeks. Today's episode is going to explore the importance of creating, engaging brand experiences. At your toy trade show at craft fairs, you might attend or at any other events where you might be selling your product or intentionally building and marketing your brand.
[00:01:40] So by the end of this episode, you will know what marketing activations are versus brand experiences. You will have some examples of impactful brand experiences that I've seen in the toy industry. You'll know what's not really working anymore and what you can do differently.
[00:01:54] And you will know how to brainstorm for and create your own memorable [00:02:00] brand experience. So let's get started. First and foremost, you know, I love my definitions
[00:02:05] So let's start off with a definition of marketing activation. So marketing activations, if you've ever heard that term before, let's talk about what that is. These are campaigns, events, experiences, all designed to generate awareness and engagement. For a brand.
[00:02:21] So activations can focus on enhancing the customer's journey through an interactive experience. It could aim to just resonate an emotional feeling. aim to create A lasting impression and generally increase the consumer's understanding appreciation for and regard for a specific brand. Now a brand experience would fall under a marketing activation. Brand experiences or interactions that allow consumers to connect with a brand on a deeper level. These experiences are designed to showcase the brand's values and create a strong emotional bond. With the [00:03:00] consumers.
[00:03:00] So the brand experience itself should really feel like your brand come to life. Get into some impactful brand experiences in the toy industry. Now, pretty recently, I went to a Hasbro experience.
[00:03:14] so Hasbro has launched something called the game room powered by Hasbro. This is
[00:03:19] At the American dream mall in New Jersey in the us.This is an immersive environment. And it does exactly what a brand experience and activation is supposed to do.
[00:03:30] It strengthens brand loyalty. It allows consumers to build a deeper connection with the products. It's also a great place for younger kids who may not even know Hasbro brands to get introduced to them in this gaming environment.
[00:03:44] Now when you first walk into the game room, you cannot look any direction without seeing a visual or a quote that calls back to one of Hasbro's classic brands.
[00:03:57] There is a Candyland shake [00:04:00] bar.
[00:04:00] there are traditional arcade games, like basketball shooting games that are re-imagined with Hasbro brands, connect four hoops. They have signage that is inspirational and motivational that says like the good life.
[00:04:13] the iconography around the signage calls back to the monopoly man with his top hat and his mustache.
[00:04:20] There are also opportunities for you to jump on the back of a hungry, hungry, hippo, and play. Hungry hungry hippos in a larger format with three friends. So Hasbro's game room features, large scale style, arcade games of their classic brands. When I went with my husband, we played an oversize game of twister that just had us contorting and laughing and just falling apart after just four turns. We played a giant lighted connect for and held multiple rematches.
[00:04:55] And we even attempted to win a power ranger plush from a claw [00:05:00] machine. That was one of dozens of claw machines filled with very specific brand characters in each machine.
[00:05:07] Our fun date night to explore this game room by Hasbro. Ended up being a complete brand building experience. It left me not only having a deeper connection with my husband, but feeling a deeper connection with connect four and twister. So I had to really evaluate this and just ask myself, well, why, how did this work?
[00:05:29] What did they do that made this work so well? So I look back through the videos and photos that we took during this trip. And I will put them up on a blog post very soon. So keep your eyes out for that.
[00:05:42] So at one point we played a game of connect four. This is a super large scale version of connect floor to ceiling.
[00:05:51] The medallions you would normally drop into the tabletop versions are giant lighted pieces that appear on the wall. It's [00:06:00] true. Video game style, right? I won both battles. Sorry, babe. And because of that, I left with this feeling of accomplishment. It was a joke between my husband and I about how I just beat him at connect four, even though I can never beat him when we play tabletop connect for but it was just so fun having this new format kind of like even the playing field and gave a new experience for me playing connect four with him.
[00:06:24] But what's so interesting about this brand activation, is it really, wasn't just about winning the game.
[00:06:29] It was the connection and the experience you were having with a person that you're with or the people that you're with. While you're playing with these classic brands, because at the same game room, I also found myself falling in love with twister all over again. Now twister is just a game that I remember from my childhood.
[00:06:46] I remember the mat never. Quite staying in place. And because of that, people were able to kind of twist and move the mat in certain ways. And I found that so frustrating, But this version of twister that they had at the game room. Oh my gosh. It [00:07:00] was almost like DDR mixed with twister. And it kind of felt like doing yoga because of how much you were twisting and contorting.
[00:07:09] And as I'm saying that that is an idea of twister and yoga combination. That's an interesting game combo as someone who also does yoga and now knows that I still enjoy twister. I think I would play that game.
[00:07:21] Now in Hasbro's game room. the large scale version of twister. like I said, it kind of looked like DDR. There were dots on the wall, and then there were dots on the floor. And I initially, I did think it was going to be a DDR game. But when you start playing, it's just like normal twister. The machine tells you where to place, your hands and your feet. The differences that not all players, move their hands and feet to the same spot.
[00:07:48] So it'll say player one, left-hand yellow, but player two, right foot blue
[00:07:51] Unlike the board game twister, there is absolutely no leeway for almost falling off of a circle because [00:08:00] the system actually senses the weight of your hands and your feet.
[00:08:03] And if you pull off a little bit too much of your weight in an attempt to land on the next spot, you are out, the system calls you out. And it's so challenging I went not knowing what we were going to be getting into. So I was wearing 3.5 inch heels. And it pretty much guaranteed that I was going to lose every round because there was just no way I could support my weight. And lift my foot to go to the, to the spots that it was telling me to.
[00:08:26] We ended up playing twister two times in a row. And then once more before leaving, just because I enjoyed it so much. This experience really left me wondering about all the new twister games I'd been seeing come out because as I was playing this game, I realized, you know, I haven't played twister in years and this kind of game play is a game placed out that I really like, why haven't I played twister in years? And putting it in this new format really allowed me to remind myself of how much I did love this brand.
[00:08:57] And it had me wondering about new [00:09:00] games. I'd seen coming out recently, like twister air and wondering are those games also as much fun? I think I'd like to play them because I could also imagine myself while I was playing this game with my husband. I thought, oh man, I wish we brought some friends with us because it would be so fun to play this arcade game with two more people.
[00:09:17] Cause like normal twister, it has space for four people. And so it just got me thinking and wanting to share this experience with my friends, with my family, which is exactly what a brand experience is supposed to do. And it can be done for your brand as well. Another example of how a brand can create a lasting Impression through immersive experiences in the toy industry would be Mattel's upcoming theme park. So Mattel is set to open a theme park. And the park said to bring Mattel's beloved characters and products to life, offering a unique and engaging way for consumers to interact with the brand.
[00:09:54] Mattel's adventure park, which is set for a 20, 24 opening. Wondering if [00:10:00] that's still going to happen.
[00:10:00] That'd be very cool. It's supposed to feature the first of its kind hot wheels, bone shaker, a rollercoaster. A Barbie dream house.
[00:10:08] They have plans to open one in Kansas city, Kansas, as well as Glendale, Arizona. So we're keeping an eye on that to see when the Mattel adventure parks will be available from the renderings that we can see, it looks like it's mostly an indoor with a partial outdoor experience with some of the rollercoasters coming outside of the building, but they're really just embodying the experience of all of their brands in a physical and emotional way. Those are two high ticket examples of a brand activation, but you might be thinking, Azhelle, I'm not Hasbro. I'm not Mattel. What can I actually do? That's going to help my brand. Don't worry. I got you. Okay.
[00:10:51] So here's what you could do at, at a trade show or at another event to create a brand experience, with a smaller [00:11:00] budget. Recently I was at Astro marketplace and academy and I stopped by a booth because it was just streaming with bubbles. Must've been hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of bubbles. These bubbles caught my eye because as a marketer, I'm always looking for some content. And I walk over and they offer to take a video of me with the bubbles.
[00:11:20] And I said, well, sure, that sounds like a great idea. Now the booth was thin air brands and the bubbles were actually a happy accident. Another trade show member was walking. The floor, saw the bubble gun that Thin Air Brands sells and they were just waiting at the counter. And as they were waiting there, they started shooting off bubbles.
[00:11:40] And this bubble display resulted in a small crowd forming. The video that they took of me dancing around the bubbles, I have since posted on my IG. And this was a perfect marketing opportunity for the brand. If they simply planned for it. What they could have done is had [00:12:00] someone standing at the front of the booth, constantly blowing these bubbles. Offering to take videos of passers by maybe at a certain angle to capture the brand name in the video. And then they could offer to airdrop the video to them.
[00:12:14] And even better idea would actually be to gather the Instagram handle of the person you're taking the video of. And just post it for them to the thinner brand's website right then in there and invite that person. As a collaborator and then all they have to do is accept the collaboration and they can instantly share their bubble video with their whole following.
[00:12:36] Then you as a brand are actually going to grow because you're collaborating with them. And that video is going to be shown to their following and it will be shown to your following. And there will be a compound effect on the views and the likes as a result of that.
[00:12:49] This might seem like a simple activation and you might think it's not going to work Azhelle. But it will, what you want to do is make these videos full-proof. So I'm going [00:13:00] to share a link to the video that was taken of me at this booth. In the show notes for this episode, go to the toy coach.com forward slash 2, 2 9.
[00:13:07] To check that out. And the piece of advice I would give if I were running this booth and I were going to, you know, looking to gain some visibility from a marketing effort like this. What I would do is have someone at the front to take, to be constantly shooting, bubble videos, but also have someone who is planned to periodically step in and. Do an action amongst the bubbles.
[00:13:32] Like the one that I did in the video that I have on Instagram, where I was just spinning with my arms up in the air, surrounded by these bubbles. Right. So these two people ideally will be your social media team, maybe an intern and a social media team member, freelance, or contractor, whatever. When people walk by, you ask them something specific.
[00:13:52] when people walk by, you say you want to take a spin in our bubble machine and then they'll say, oh, well that sounds kind of fun.
[00:13:59] [00:14:00] Or maybe you have a special bubble formula. Do you want to take a spin in our eco-friendly bubble formula? Something like that. Right. People say, well, that sounds interesting. Sure. You have the person who is there to do the demo of how to spin, show them the spin. And then you have the other person say, we will take a video of you and send it to you.
[00:14:20] Or you'll say, we'll take a video of you. We just need your Instagram handle. We'll tag you so you can share it with your friends super easy,
[00:14:27] And then they will say, well, sure. That sounds like a fun thing to do because then I can tell people I'm at this trade show and I don't have to do any work.
[00:14:35] So perfect. You take a video of the person looks great. They walk away. Maybe you give them a pamphlet. Maybe you give them a catalog or a business card. Or you invite them to walk your trade show booth, but for those two people running this, this brand experience campaign, their job has done. They move on to the next thing.
[00:14:52] But now once you have that video, the real work begins because if you send that video to the person who just [00:15:00] visited your booth, They post it won't they post it, will they tag us? Will I ever see that video again? Who knows? And if you don't use the video as a brand owner and they don't use the video as a brand owner, it's a wasted effort.
[00:15:11] So that's why instead I would recommend. That part of this experience is that your team will post the video. And we'll invite them as a collaborator. Here's what that does. On Instagram, if you post a video and you invite somebody else as a collaborator, what happens is they get a notification on their side that they were invited to collaborate on a video. If they accept that video now goes onto their feed. And it's also on your feed, any likes posts or comments that you get, they get any likes, post comments that they get. it's a win, win situation. Plus you can control the quality of the post. Now you can post that video, have them put the perfect trending sound behind [00:16:00] it. You could add the perfect text. If text is something you want to add, like playing in bubbles, maybe that hashtag playing in bubbles or whatever, or hashtag playing in bubbles within air. Oh, that's, that's brilliant.
[00:16:14] And that is a major marketing tool that can live on. from there, you should definitely have a highlight reel of like your products on your Instagram account. Like maybe your top three products. And then this could be added to that highlight reel. If one of your top products is that bubble machine.
[00:16:30] now, If you want some help executing this idea, reach out to me.
[00:16:34] You can send me an email at hello at the toy coach. Dot com
[00:16:37] This is something my team could do for you. So reach out. Let me know. You heard it from this podcast episode.
[00:16:42] if you're a toy brand owner or you work in sales for toy brand,and you have any demonstrable products, I want you to pull it aside right now and look at it as we go through the rest of this episode, because I think you're going to be inspired for ways that you can create a brand experience at your next event, with that product.
[00:16:59] Azhelle Wade: [00:17:00] In today's market consumers are craving connection and emotion. We are still starved of connection. Since the pandemic, we are stressed out. Some of us are struggling financially because the cost of living is sky high.
[00:17:15] We want connection. We want positive emotion by providing these through your brand experience at your next trade show or event. You can not only attract attention, but also foster a deep connection with your customer base brand experiences have to align with your brand's mission and values, and they also have to evoke an intended set of emotions. And elicit some type of connection, whether it's a connection to your brand directly, or it's a connection between the two participants of the brand experience. who will now relate that connection that they have with each other, [00:18:00] with your brand, because your brand was the facilitator of that.
[00:18:03] Okay. Let's get into brand experiences for trade shows and events that don't work and what to do.
[00:18:08] Instead, there are some things that were mainstays in the industry that you should always do, but have since evolved because partially social media But also just has evolved because the old way is getting stale and it's not exciting people anymore. So let's get into that number one, branded giveaways.
[00:18:27] So one big thing that, everyone does for trade shows is they think of like, how can we give something away with our brand on it? So sometimes that would be something like A notebook or a pen a t-shirt a sticker. A pin and it would always have the brand logo on it.
[00:18:44] Like literally all it is is something you normally would have in your life. but now it has the toy coach logo on it. Branded giveaways in my opinion are dead. All right. We want to do themed giveaways. Now theme giveaways can mean a bunch of different things. [00:19:00] One, a themed giveaway and we're going to use the toy coach.
[00:19:03] As an example, we did a trade show booth in which we had a movie theater theme. So our giveaways were themed with the movie theater. They were popcorn bags with popcorn and gifts inside. So that was a themed giveaway. that giveaway in conjunction with our trade show booth. Created an experience because it was themed.
[00:19:24] Participants would come to the booth, walk through the pink carpet, like it was a red carpet. Enjoy that brand experience and leave with a popcorn giveaway. So it was a themed experience. And that's why that giveaway works. Another way you can theme your giveaway is to think about the identity of your consumer.
[00:19:44] Another example for the toy coach,
[00:19:46] we have toy person notebooks. These are giveaways for our podcast listeners, and they are not primarily themed with the toy coach branding. They're primarily themed with [00:20:00] toy person, because that is the identity of the people who listen to this podcast. So you want to think about what is the identity of your consumer?
[00:20:10] For example, your consumers, they might love Teddy bear company limited, but you don't want to give them a t-shirt that says Teddy bear company limited. No, you want to give them a t-shirt that says, I love snuggling with my Teddy because it's like theme to their personality and their identity and they can connect with that and that can give them a brand experience.
[00:20:29] Okay. The next thing that doesn't work and what works instead is product giveaways. So product giveaways is when you literally give away a free something of your product, sometimes you might have a raffle where a bunch of people submit for it. And one person wins. This doesn't work for multiple reasons. One, the cost of doing a product giveaways to the reward. And then two, if you do Something like a raffle, only one person walks away with a good feeling. The rest of the people walk away feeling like they [00:21:00] didn't win anything. So instead, what I see working is mini product giveaways. Company that does this really well is tiny easel. their brand is called tiny easel, and they have tiny easel giveaways. their main product line is not a bunch of tiny easels.
[00:21:16] They have a full arts and crafts product line of full-size products. But their giveaway is a tiny easel and a tiny arts and crafts kit that works. So think about your main product and if you can create a mini version of it or a mini experience of it. The next thing that doesn't work. Photo ops. Photo ops don't work. there is a way around photo ops working, but honestly, it's not worth it. So I'll tell you what it is, but don't do it.
[00:21:45] The reason photo ops don't work is because unfortunately on social media, Photos are just not as engaging as they once were.. There are a few accounts that are photography [00:22:00] accounts where photos are still. The main source of interest and intrigue, but photos are just not it right at the moment. Even with Amazon, with product listings, you are seeing more and more on Google shop and Amazon shop that photos are being replaced with videos of the products turning in white spaces or 3d renders that you can physically move with your mouse to look around the products.
[00:22:25] Photos are just not. Doing the job anymore. First the way around photo ops, if you just, I don't know if you just really want to not listen to me, is to create a photo that you actually intend to cut up and post as a carousel. Cause carousels are still kind of working. So that's the way around it. You can use apps. There's an app called photo split. Canva is also a good way to do this. If you have an, a photo experience that is very wide and cut it up into at least three different photos.
[00:22:56] So someone has to slide through to see the whole photo that [00:23:00] can work and you can do that. But really just photo ops for a brand experience, I wouldn't say is, is really working. What is working instead video ops. So there was okay. The first thing that's coming to mind for me is I was at a either a sweet, sweet, sweet, or a holiday of play. This giant Eiffel tower, a place set for the brand miraculous. And the giant place that was on a spinning base. And so this place that was like, I don't think three and a half feet tall. And The spinning base allowed you to see all different angles of the place at. For me as a marketer, the spinning base made it so easy to get a really good video of this place.
[00:23:48] That, and it made it super easy for me to include that video in my posting schedule, because all I had to do was add some explanation of what it was. Maybe add some texts. And because it was [00:24:00] already a moving video and there were so many interesting things in that video. I didn't really have to do much else.
[00:24:04] So video ops are super important. Going back to the bubble example we talked about earlier. The entire bubble experience was a video up. Had that just been a photo. It would've done. Okay. But a video made it so much easier to be engaging. The last thing that doesn't work is asking people to tag you. It just doesn't work. And too often, there are so many other accounts with a similar tag that if you're asking a consumer or a potential client to tag you, you're asking them to do your branding work.
[00:24:34] Instead of taking control over it. So what you can do instead, now you can invite them as a collaborator, as I was mentioning earlier, you need to, in that case, get their Instagram name and make sure you're spelling it right.
[00:24:46] And you found them and then invite them as a collaborator on that post. It will do the same thing as if they posted it and then they tagged you and the best part of this is that you get to control the quality.
[00:24:58] so instead of doing a [00:25:00] brand experience where you're asking someone to tag you and hoping that they will. Just invite them as a collaborator and make sure in your video ops or your photo ops, if you still choose to do those, that your tag is visible in the background because the social media is known for people ripping off content, every posting content.
[00:25:18] So the most important thing you can do is make sure that in any brand experience that you have. Your logo is somewhere. very visible and almost difficult to cut out of the experience. Finally, let's get into how you can find inspiration for your own brand experiences, because while all the ideas I gave are amazing, of course. You don't want to just copy someone else's idea. You might end up getting inspiration from some of the ideas I shared here, but wouldn't it be better if you could come up with something on your own.
[00:25:50] So to get inspired for creating your own brand experiences, I want you to visit museums and pop up exhibitions. As well [00:26:00] as actually going and experiencing experiences at a toy trade shows by walking through booths and looking for who has something that. Is meant for you to interact with and taking notes. And then if you're in the area and you can go to the game room by Hasbro, or if the Mattel. Venture park is near you and you can go there.
[00:26:21] Or if you can go to any major, a mall, like the American dream that has brand activations in it, Go to them, experience them, see how you are engaging with these major brands and what the experiences that they created elicit from you emotionally.
[00:26:37] now. While I love getting inspiration from my fellow creators within the toy industry.
[00:26:45] I find there's no better way to inspire innovation than to look outside of the industry. And that's why I want you to go to museums and pop-up exhibitions near you to get inspired for coming up with your [00:27:00] brand experiences. I recently went to the museum of illusions in NYC. From there. I engage with a very interesting kaleidoscope exhibition. There was a room that was supposed to be endless and limit list. There were photos that appeared black at one glance. And when you came up to them, they were 3d and popping out at you. There was a light exhibit where you could play with the light and there were photo ops all over this exhibit. There were spots on the floor that would tell you where you needed to stand. There were placards on the wall that would explain what you needed to do and how you should take a photo and what to do with the photo after you took it to make it look the coolest, like literally there was one. Exhibition that said, stand on this platform, do a pose like this, take a photo, then flip the photo upside down and you will see what it's supposed to look like.
[00:27:54] And then you're like, oh, I would've never thought to do that. But they make the process super easy for you. At the [00:28:00] end of the exhibit, they even had a wall of fame for people that had the coolest images to tag them and potentially win to be on the hall of fame and displayed at the museum.
[00:28:12] Now when you go to museums, exhibits, When you go to branded gaming and park experiences, like the Hasbro game room, maybe you go to the Nickelodeon, a theme park. I want you to pay attention to how all of these environments make you feel and think about how you can recreate those emotions for your customers.
[00:28:32] So for example, Hasbro's game room pop-up creates an engaging and playful atmosphere. That can be a great source of bonding between friends and families. So if that's what's important, And to your brand, think about how you can create that same feeling for them.
[00:28:47] before we dive into our summary of today's episode, which is also going to be your step-by-step guide of how to come up with those brand experiences.
[00:28:55] So stick around for that. I do have to give a shout out [00:29:00] to listener Vernon who left a podcast review that put a huge smile on my face. Thank you, Vernon.
[00:29:06] So Vernon says, thanks for what you're doing. I also wanted to give you your props. Last year, I had a fourth grade class evaluate my game in a maker, collaboration.
[00:29:16] They really enjoyed the game and provided suggestions for improvements. You mentioned those exact recommendations on one of your podcasts where you discuss the key components of a great game. I've been following you ever since. Thank you so much, Vernon. I really appreciate that.
[00:29:30] Thank you. Thank you. All right, let's get into our summary. How do you come up with brand experiences? The step-by-step guide. Step one. I want you to visit at least one pop-up museum experience. Then I want you to visit at least one toy industry related branded experience or event. And then I want you to go to a trade show or a craft fair, where someone has an engaging experience for you to partake in, and I want you to partake in it.
[00:29:59] So [00:30:00] that means you might be going to the museum of illusions as step one. You might be going to the Hasbro game room as step two, and then you might be going to your local trade show or craft fair and looking for an opportunity to engage with at least one booth and experience. What their brand experience is. Step two.
[00:30:19] I want you to get clear on your brand mission. What are three words that people think of, or you want them to think of when they think of your brand? Step three. Think about the emotions attached to those words.
[00:30:32] so let's say your brand stands for women empowerment. What is the emotion attached to that pride? Right. Think about it in that way. Step four. I want you to think of the events you saw in your research that you didn't step one. And think of a time in your personal life. When those emotions were evoked, and write that down.
[00:30:53] Step five. I want you to think about how you can translate that into a brand experience, no ideas are [00:31:00] bad ideas, but narrow it down to three ideas that you really like.
[00:31:04] then step six to help you decide which idea to go with. you need to budget out the cost of actually executing each experience so that you can have that experience.
[00:31:14] And then what would be the fees per person. to keep doing that experience at every show? Once you have those numbers, it'll make it clear to you, which idea you should go. with which one might be for later, which one might be perfect for right now.
[00:31:27] All right. Toy people today, we learned the importance of marketing activations to generate brand awareness and engagement and how those brand experiences that you use in your marketing activations can foster deeper connections with your consumers. We talked about drawing inspiration from various sources.
[00:31:44] You can craft your own unique and engaging brand interactions.
[00:31:49] Your action item to do for next week. I would love for you to go to a pop-up exhibit near you. I went to the museum of illusions cause I'm in the New York area, [00:32:00] but you can go wherever you find a pop-up brand experience. Send me a message on Instagram and tell me about a brand experience that you've created or been inspired by
[00:32:09] You want to grab the links or anything mentioned in today's episode, head over to the toy coach.com forward slash two to nine.
[00:32:15] If you know of a really cool brand experience that you think I should know about, I want you to send it to me. You can message me on Instagram. My username is at the toy coach. I would really like to see any brand experiences that might be in your local area that you think I should check out. And I really would like you to go to a brand experience that you haven't been to before and start working up ideas for what you can do with your own brand. As always, thank you so much for spending this time with me today.
[00:32:42] I know your time is valuable and that there are a ton of podcasts out there. So it truly means the world to me that you tune into this one until next week.I'll see you later. Toy people.
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