Experiential Marketing: How relevant is the practice in the Fast Moving Consumer Goods Sector?

Aim/ Research QuestionThis research investigates the use of experiential marketing in the FMCG industry. Many industries have witnessed a shift from traditional features and benefits marketing towards creating experiences for... [ view full abstract ]

Aim/ Research Question

This research investigates the use of experiential marketing in the FMCG industry. Many industries have witnessed a shift from traditional features and benefits marketing towards creating experiences for their customers (Pathak, 2014). Rather than communicate through traditional methods, they create a brand environment in a public space and involve potential customers by encouraging them to take part in an activity (Strategic Direction, 2008).

This research contributes to the existing investigation on the practice of experiential marketing in the fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) industry. It offers an insight into the practice of experiential marketing and examines its relevance as a marketing tool as part of an integrated marketing communications plan.

Adopting a qualitative approach, purposive in-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with marketing and brand managers in leading FMCG companies. The aim of this was to profile brands which utilise the practice of experiential marketing, and examine its relevance in the FMCG sector.

Design Methodology/ Approach

This research study can be further categorized as interpretivist. This stance relies on an ontological assumption by the researcher that reality is socially constructed, relative to the situation at hand and exists in multiple realities, where the primary emphasis is on the comprehension and interpretation of the data collected. Complementing the interpretivist approach is the assumption that respondents to the research navigate the direction of the research. This ideology is in line with the inductive approach where the emphasis is placed upon theory generation as opposed to the alternative, theory testing.

The research can further be categorised as a qualitative study. Denzin and Lincoln (2005) state that this approach to research is comprised of an interpretive, naturalistic approach to the social world. It involves the observation of research subjects in their natural settings, seeking to correlate or interpret a phenomenon in terms of participant’s response to the research topic being investigated. Burns and Bush (2008) offer  a similar view stating that qualitative research involves collecting, analysing, and interpreting data by observing how people act, as well as what they do and say. The primary feature of well-collected qualitative data is that it derives from a direct focus on naturally occurring, ordinary events in natural settings so that the researcher has a clear understanding of what real life is like in the participants perspective (Leahy, 2008). These previously stated features make the collection of qualitative data ideally suited to the current study where the focus is on examining the relevance of the use of experiential marketing in the FMCG sector.

Although the interpretive/qualitative approach is comprised of a multitude of methodological options, individual interviews are the chosen method of qualitative data collection as they are most capable of addressing the research question. Individual interviews are particularly compatible with interpretive research, along with the researcher’s ontological and epistemological position, as they afford the respondents the opportunity to present their thoughts and opinions on the research topic.  There are a multitude of advantages of conducting individual depth interviews, in particular it is clear that they are the most powerful method in qualitative research for descriptive purposes (McCracken, 1988) allowing for an in-depth understanding of another person’s experiences (Thompson et al., 1989). 

Regarding the use of the individual interview construct, the researcher has the opportunity to continually alter the research design according to observations, the developing theoretical perspective, or changes in literature in what is being studied (Babbie, 1998).  This information is then used to direct the rest of the research in its quest for enlightenment and clarification on the issue under investigation. As qualitative researchers collect data they revisit and alter their conceptual frameworks, leading to a more precise outcome. As the researcher’s knowledge improves, the co-ordination and collection of data gathering continually improves as a result (Miles and Huberman, 1994).  Therefore, it can be said that conceptual frameworks develop and evolve out of the conducted research itself (Miles and Huberman, 1994). 

This research profiles thirty leading brands which implement the practice of experiential marketing as part of an overall marketing communications plan. This has been achieved through in-depth, semi-structured, individual interviews with brand and marketing managers in multi-national FMCG companies who conduct experiential marketing to investigate each brand’s experiential practices. To successfully collect relevant data, it was critical to have suitable research subjects who have expertise in the area of implementing experiential marketing in the FMCG sector. Therefore, the sampling technique can be categorized as purposive. Maxwell (1997) defined purposive sampling as a type of sampling in which “particular settings, persons, or events are deliberately selected for the important information they can provide that cannot be gotten as well from other choices” (Maxwell, 1997). In this case, the brands have been specifically selected for their exceptional use of experiential marketing, and to relay this information, marketing and brand managers have been chosen to take part in interviews.

Findings

The use of marketing tactics in the FMCG sector is constantly changing, and is being influenced by changing consumer demands, consumption patterns and buying patterns. As a result of the evolution of consumer demands, it is fundamental that companies in this sector implement experiential marketing as a core element of an integrated marketing plan.

Numerous reasons emerged from the data which support the use of experiential marketing as part of an integrated marketing plan, and through the methodological coding and chunking system, it enabled classification of these topics into five broad thematic areas. Essentially, respondents’ attitudes towards the relevance of the use of experiential marketing in the FMCG sector fell into five main categories:

1. Bringing the brand to life in a real and tangible way;
2. Creates engagement;
3. Cannot work in isolation, it must be conducted as a primary element of an integrated marketing plan;
4. Content creation; and
5. Prominent utilisation methods

These findings suggest that it is imperative to implement experiential marketing in the present day FMCG sector. The practice of experiential marketing offers a brand the unique opportunity to build two-way communication with a specific target market and allows them to respond in real time, deeming it responsive. In addition, as experiential marketing offers a real and tangible façade of a brand which is not offered through traditional marketing practice, it builds relationships with consumers. However, as briefly mentioned in the thematic areas, although there are a multitude of benefits to the practice of experiential, these cannot be achieved if the marketing technique is used in isolation. Therefore, to reap the benefits of experiential marketing and for it to be deemed a relevant tactic, it must be used as a core component of an integrated marketing plan and be supported by both traditional, online and social media marketing to ensure that there is one consistent message ensuring brand consistency. 

Research Limitations/ Implications

There are certain limitations of the present study which should be acknowledged. Firstly, this research discusses the use of experiential marketing in the FMCG sector, however, this is an activity which is utilised in a multitude of business sectors. Although as stated, the practice of experiential marketing in the FMCG sector is an essential component of an integrated marketing plan, this finding is not representative of all sectors. Therefore, further research should be conducted to examine whether the findings of this paper are also relevant to other business sectors.

The second category of limitations relates to the sampling method employed. The study was conducted in the Irish subsidiaries of multi-national companies in the FMCG sector, therefore, the findings are arguably geographically specific to the use of experiential marketing in the FMCG sector in Ireland. As stated in the 2016 Pearlfinders report, the use of experiential marketing in the FMCG sector varies according to geographic location. Although on a global scale, 20.6% of participating companies in the FMCG sector participated in the practice, when broken down this figure fluctuates. In Europe 21.6% of FMCG companies employed experiential marketing, but in the USA this figure rose to, 22.3% and reduced in Asia to 14.9% (Pearlfinders, 2016). Therefore, for the findings of this research to be globally representative further research should be conducted.

Originality/ Value

The paper provides evidence of the relevance of practice of experiential marketing along with its practicality in the FMCG sector. This research offers evidence of the importance of using experiential marketing as a primary component of an integrated marketing communications plan; evidence which has heretofore been missing from the academic literature in the area.