Experiential Marketing – Starting a Movement

You may have come across this video of “The dancing guy” from the Sasquatch music Festival back in 2009 which has been used widely as a discussion point around Leadership and how a movement is started. It even formed the subject of a TED talk in 2011 and has recently trended with a swathe of similar posts.

It provides a unique illustration of how a movement is started and the importance of leadership, and more importantly, the first followers.

We think there’s a few lessons in there too which can be applied to experiential marketing. Watch the video first and we’ll discuss!

So, apart from the important messages in leadership, what can we learn and apply to experiential marketing?

Nurture your first followers as equals making everything about the movement and not you.

This is important. Consider how an audience will “feel” as they’re taking part in an experiential campaign. How can you represent your brand in a way which people can relate to while making them feel ‘equal’ and important to your movement.

The Importance of being Easy to Follow – Show people how to follow you and make it easy to do so.

Experiential marketing provides a unique opportunity to connect with people on many levels but if you want to start a movement you want them to share their experience and amplify what you’re doing to maximise your investment. So, make your key messages relevant, easy to understand and easy to follow.

There’s no movement without the first followers and leadership is over-glorified.

If we assume the ‘Leader’ is the brand then the message here is to think of the movement’s objectives rather than focussing on the leader alone. The leader’s job is to create the framework for the movement and to get the first followers, taking on board the important messages of nurturing your first followers, being easy to follow making your followers feel equal and important to the movement.

When you sit down to plan your next experiential marketing campaign think about how you can apply what you’ve learned from “The dancing guy”!