Influencer Marketing Hub sets itself apart from conventional review platforms through the involvement of Digital Marketing experts such as Werner Geyser, Djanan Kasumovic, Camille Kennedy, Dave Eagle, and other notable industry figures. This expert team brings a profound understanding of the Digital Marketing landscape, assessing tools and platforms with an insider’s perspective on capabilities, experience, and industry acumen. Unlike user-generated review platforms, Influencer Marketing Hub’s evaluations are rooted in extensive firsthand experience and direct interactions with the tools and platforms in question. This ensures that the reviews are not only trustworthy but also deeply informed. High-caliber brands like Viral Nation, NeoReach, and HireInfluence undergo rigorous monthly evaluations, highlighting the platform’s commitment to identifying and showcasing top-tier solutions in Digital Marketing and beyond.
Influencer Marketing Hub has consistently been recognized by leading media outlets for our authoritative data, findings, and insights within the Digital Marketing landscape. Our platform is frequently cited as a trusted source of information, demonstrating the value and impact of our work in shaping industry standards and practices.
Influencer Marketing Hub employs an expert-driven methodology to evaluate Digital Marketing agencies, ensuring that our recommendations are both reliable and comprehensive. This approach is designed to help businesses and individuals find the best agencies to meet their specific Digital Marketing needs. Here’s how we assess the various agencies like Viral Nation, NeoReach, and HireInfluence:
Experiential marketing is a strategy that focuses on creating immersive, hands-on experiences that let consumers engage directly with your brand. It includes a range of tactics such as event marketing, guerrilla marketing, pop-up shops, product demonstrations, and interactive installations. These approaches are designed to create lasting emotional connections and memorable interactions with your audience.
Experiences, whether online or offline, have become key differentiators that make customers choose one brand over another. 77% of customers pick, recommend, or pay more for a brand if an experience or service, especially when it is personalized for them. Strategies like retail installations, gamification, workshops, and influencer collaborations help enhance these interactions, turning them into something consumers talk about and share.
Experiential marketing agencies help you curate these experiences for your customers based on the marketing situation and preferences of your target audience. Think the Barbie Movie Selfie Generation by Warner Bros or the FIFA World Cup VR experience. These are made possible by dedicated experiential marketing agencies whose creativity and expertise help brands create immense hype around a product or service.
If you're looking for agencies that specialize in one of these specific areas, check out guerrilla marketing agencies, event marketing agencies, and brand experience agencies.
We have reviewed the top experiential marketing agencies, including some successful campaigns they have run. Take your pick below.
Leading Experiential Marketing Agencies:
1. Viral Nation
Notable clients: Walmart, Energizer, PUBG
Location and global presence: Toronto, Canada
Year founded: 2014
Pricing: Minimum spend of $50,000 per project
Viral Nation’s core values are innovation, connection, and drive. They believe in creating for the future. Using a strategy-first approach, they push the boundaries. That said, while innovation and industry-leading tech are at the core of how they approach marketing campaigns, it’s never at the expense of authentic life experiences.
As an influencer marketing and talent agency, much of their work relies on collaborations with influencers and creators. When it comes to experiential marketing, social media, and analytics form the foundation. From exclusive events to pop-ups that delight to high-impact stunts, they can draw attention to your brand in various ways. They’ll also take care of all the stages involved, whether that’s getting a booth or speaker ready.
Part of the reason Viral Nation does a spectacular job of creating brand experiences is its industry expertise and penetration. In 2024, the agency partnered with The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity to launch the LIONS Creators program, which would further give them access to top creators for clients’ experiential activations and events.
As for the agency’s expertise, it comes from its strategic hires and well-experienced team. For example, Viral Nation recently got Kevin King, an industry veteran with over 28 years of experience on board.
Similarly, Nicholas Spiro, the chief product officer at the agency, has extensive experience working on major social media platforms like Facebook, X, and Snapchat. So, the agency can use his first-hand knowledge to enhance its social experiential marketing campaigns.
Viral Nation Awards
Viral Nation’s experiential marketing campaigns are so successful that they have often been recognized by the industry. Here are some awards the agency has won in the past few years:
- PUBG Mobile Launch – 2019 Platinum Winner, Viral Marketing
- PUBG Mobile Halloweek – 2019 Gold Winner, Interactive Brand Experience
- FaceMoji Christmas – 2019 Platinum Winner, Social Campaign
Meta Quest 2 – 2022 Platinum Winner, Social Campaign
The Viral Nation Solution
Viral Nation stands out among brand experience agencies because it creates more than just experiences; it builds global hype and awareness for a brand. That’s what the agency did for Smartwater’s rebrand.
Coca-Cola, when refreshing Smartwater with a new visual identity, came to Viral Nation to create a never-been-seen before campaign. They wanted the rebrand to make waves (pun intended), and that too in just three weeks.
So, the agency created an experiential campaign called #TheDrop, to help position the product as a trendy and fresh option. The campaign went on for two days across LA and NYC.
For the experiential part, the agency created a modified truck featuring Smartwater’s new branding. The truck acted as a moving billboard, a mobile pop-up, and a background for selfies that people would take and post on social media.
On the inside, the truck had Smartwater’s unique vapor-distillation process in action, which sprayed a refreshing mist to help visitors stay cool on hot summer days. To amplify the campaign, Viral Nation worked with 43 influencers to bring more attention to the event. All influencers received a ”swag box,” which contained branded fanny packs, Apple AirPods, bucket hats, and free Smartwater bottles. Of course, the influencers would go on to share these items with their followers on social media.
They also partnered with local artists from both cities to customize the attendees’ Smartwater bottles with art-on-site memorabilia that people would be enticed to share on social media and take with them as they’re on the go.
Smartwater case study
Strategic Approach
Here’s everything Viral Nation did to make the Smartwater rebrand a success:
- Selected 43 influencers across social media to target different audiences and demographics
- Created a modified truck showcasing Smartwater’s new branding as a moving billboard and mobile pop-up
- Offered an interactive experience inside the truck with Smartwater’s vapor-distillation process
- Distributed influencer “swag boxes” with branded items
- Partnered with local artists in LA and NYC to customize attendees’ Smartwater bottles
Together, these experiences resulted in a reach of 3 million. Plus, over 5,000 people attended the event.
Viral Nation
The Global Leader of Social-First Transformation & Commerce
50+
Toronto, New York, Los Angeles
Best for:
Enterprises
Viral Nation
The Global Leader of Social-First Transformation & Commerce
2. NeoReach
Notable clients: Airbnb, Walmart, Amazon
Location and global presence: Headquartered in San Francisco, California, USA
Year founded: 2014
Pricing: Minimum spend of $50,000 per project
Experiential marketing comes natural to the marketing team of NeoReach. From getting a whole soccer stadium to participate for FIFA to curating large-scale events, the agency boasts expertise in engaging the target audience in offline and online experiences.
What makes them such a great agency to partner with for event marketing is that they have a network of influencers that they can leverage. This way, you can amplify the presence of your brand. Though, they won’t solely rely on influencers to create a buzz but will also use tactics like teasers and post-event content to keep your brand foremost in your target audience’s mind.
As your dedicated event marketing agency, NeoReach doesn’t limit itself to influencer-hosted workshops, panels, product demos, and live content creation. They also create meet-and-greet experiences to bring your brand closer to your target audience. Plus, they are adept at social experiential activation through hashtag campaigns and social media challenges.
After recruiting creators for your brand’s experiential campaigns, the agency also stays by its side to ensure awe-worthy content creation. For example, when Marta Mielczarska went to the Paris Olympics to create content for NeoReach’s client, USIMS App, the agency’s team followed along to capture behind-the-scenes content for social media.
NeoReach Software
While NeoReach is happy (and sufficiently experienced) to manage your experiential campaign from start to finish, they also offer proprietary creator management software for brands that want a hands-on approach. Using this software, you can:
- Find influencers for social and physical experiential activations
- Automate workflows, such as deadline tracking, post reviews, and payment tracking
- Evaluate campaign performance
- Measure your campaign’s ROI and CPM
The NeoReach Solution
Although NeoReach also helped make FIFA World Cup 2022 a social media success, the agency’s most recent experiential marketing campaign leaned heavily on physical activations. Laifen, a household product manufacturer, came to NeoReach to set the stage at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) for their new electronic toothbrush, the Wave.
NeoReach partnered with eight influencers and brought them to the CES so that they could create content right from the brand’s booth at the event. They were strategic in selecting influencers from dental health and tech fields since their audiences would be particularly interested in Laifen’s new product.
Strategic Approach
Here’s how NeoReach delivered results for the client:
- Partnered with mid-macro tier influencers across Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube who were actively engaged with their audiences
- Encouraged influencers to share their experiences at the convention with their audiences
- Highlighted the features and benefits of Laifen’s new product through influencer content
NeoReach case study
This strategic approach resulted in over 14.6 million impressions with just 43 influencer posts.
NeoReach
NeoReach creates world-class original influencer campaigns for leading brands and Global Fortune 500 companies. Founded in 2013 and managing over $250...
50+
Los Angeles, San Francisco, Orlando, Tokyo
Best for:
Large Companies
NeoReach
NeoReach creates world-class original influencer campaigns for leading brands and Global Fortune 500 companies. Founded in 2013 and managing over $250...
3. HireInfluence
Notable clients: Microsoft, Ricola, Oreo
Location and global presence: Headquartered in Los Angeles with additional offices in Houston and New York City
Year founded: 2011
Pricing: Minimum spend of $50,000 per project
Part of HireInfluence’s full-service influencer marketing services is delivering experiential ideation and fulfillment to its impressive roster of clients. The agency has solidified its reputation for creating influencer experiences that are innovative, diverse, and powerful.
It helps brands stand out from competitors by making sure that these experiences go beyond industry norms. It supports a wide range of events, from photo shoots and travel experiences to festival promotions and TV commercials.
HireInfluence understands that in order to have longevity in the market, one must connect with the target market on an emotional and psychological level. The agency works full-force in forging and fostering such connections, creating immersive experiences that will surely engage the target audience and form favorable associations with brands.
HireInfluence isn’t stuck on yesterday’s experiential marketing trends. Their team is always on the lookout for new and emerging trends, making sure their clients’ campaigns stay fresh and relevant. For example, they attended TikTok’s lunch-and-learn at the social media company’s Chicago office to get holiday campaign insights and creative solutions for engaging content.
They use their updated knowledge to manage on-site brand promos and events for their clients, too. The agency has supported photo shoots, travel experiences, speaking engagements, guest appearances, product demonstrations, festival promotions, grand opening events, trade show pop ups, and more.
For all their experiential marketing campaigns, the agency provides everything from strategy conceptualization to planning and reservation and itinerary management. They also have a Plan B for what-if scenarios to ensure the success of each campaign.
The HireInfluence Solution
HireInfluence has managed campaigns of massive scale, and one of them was for Southwest Airlines. When the airline started its first-ever flights to Hawaii, it partnered with HireInfluence to create an experiential campaign that would cultivate audience interest in pre-sales tickets.
The agency identified six influencers on the West Coast to announce the airline’s new routes and ticket availability. They organized Instagram Story takeovers of the West Coast influencers by Hawaii-based influencers who could show the influencers’ audiences what to do and see in Hawaii.
Southwest case study
Strategic Approach
HireInfluence used the following tactics to achieve the brand’s objectives:
- Leveraged influencers’ local knowledge and experience in Hawaii
- Targeted audiences in five categories: lifestyle, family, surfing, food & dining, and adventure
- Used account takeovers to show a new angle of the destination
The campaign resulted in 56 million impressions and 3 million engagements.
HireInfluence
Influencer Marketing Agency of the Year 2023 + 2024. HireInfluence is an award-winning agency, serving the world’s most established brands since 201...
1 - 10
Houston, Los Angeles, New York
Best for:
Large Companies
HireInfluence
Influencer Marketing Agency of the Year 2023 + 2024. HireInfluence is an award-winning agency, serving the world’s most established brands since 201...
4. Zorka.Agency
Notable clients: Tencent, Domino’s Pizza, AliExpress
Location and global presence: Limassol, Cyprus
Year founded: 2014
Pricing: $100 – $149 per hour / Minimum spend of $5,000 per project
Zorka.Agency is an international digital marketing agency specializing in forecast strategies that can scale your brand. The company has made its mark on influencer marketing, having won several awards and recognition in 2020, such as from us here at Influencer Marketing Hub, App Growth Awards, and Clutch.
As for creative launches, they have the best experiential technologies and influencer targeting to help businesses grow and gain measurable returns. Bespoke content, be it video, graphics, or photo shoots, is designed to keep the brand’s essence intact while pushing the audience’s interest around it.
When creating experiential campaigns, the agency combines technology with creativity for the best results. They specialize in innovations, AR & VR experience, digital product activations, and influencer-driven social media performance.
The agency also stays on top of social media events and industry conferences to gain direct insights for its experiential campaigns. Their influencer marketing director, Kristina Nikeenko, attended the 2024 TwitchCon in San Diego to build partnerships with gaming influencers.
Previously, they had also attended GamesCon to get insights into the future of experiential entertainment. They don’t just focus on the US side of marketing but also keep an eye on trends across the globe. For example, their regional director, SEA, Alexandr Ferre, attended eTail, Asia’s eCommerce & Digital Marketing Retail Summit.
By attending these events, Zorka Agency stays ahead of the curve and ensures they are always using the latest strategies in their campaigns.
Zorka Agency Technologies
Zorka Agency uses a blend of technologies to run result-driven online marketing campaigns.
- Zorka.Video: It’s an internal platform that the agency uses to work with influencers and collect analytics for their campaigns.
- Hype Train: With this tool, the agency gets deep insights into influencer audiences so that they can select the best creators for experiential campaigns.
- Iqdata: This tool provides analytics for influencer ads not only for the agency’s clients but also for competitors.
- YouScan: This is an AI-powered social media analytics platform that the agency uses to conduct brand sentiment analysis and competitor analysis.
Together, these technologies allow Zorka Agency to run data-driven experiential marketing campaigns and optimize them regularly.
The Zorka Agency Solution
Zorka Agency’s expertise is evident from the fact that they have worked with many of their clients for years. One such client is Plarium, a renowned game developer. They have been working with Zorka Agency for over 6 years, during which time the agency has marketed its games across 7,000 unique channels worldwide.
A prime example of an experiential marketing campaign the agency has run during this time is the cosplay campaign for Raid: Shadow Legends. The agency was tasked with bringing gamers’ attention to this game, and they did this in a unique way. Zorka realized that reaching such a unique and sophisticated audience through traditional media channels would be a challenge, and experiential marketing would be a better option.
Zorka Agency case study
Strategic Approach
Here’s how Zorka approached this campaign:
- Partnered with Kamui Cosplay across YouTube, TikTok, X, and Facebook to create tutorials for cosplaying the game’s heroes
- Showed the game’s features and mechanics through videos on YouTube
- Tapped into the gaming community on Reddit to promote the game and the cosplay campaign
Their efforts paid off, as the cosplayed costume went viral on Reddit. The campaign got over 25,000,000 views with an average engagement rate of 8%.
Zorka.Agency
Zorka.Agency is an influencer and performance marketing agency focused on creating ROI-forecasted strategies with a fair risk assessment that help businesses scale up.
50+
Limasol (Cyprus)
Best for:
Enterprises, Large and Small brands
Zorka.Agency
Zorka.Agency is an influencer and performance marketing agency focused on creating ROI-forecasted strategies with a fair risk assessment that help businesses scale up.
5. Next/Now
Notable clients: Adidas, LG, Samsung
Location and global presence: Chicago, Illinois, USA
Year founded: 2011
Pricing: $100 – $149 per hour / Minimum spend of $50,000 per project
Next/Now is an award-winning experiential marketing agency that concentrates on digital exhibition and multimedia design. Their team of 40+ employees come from different backgrounds and often incorporate new tech solutions like generative art, virtual reality (VR), and extended reality (XR) into their experiential campaigns.
They’re one of the most reviewed experiential marketing agencies. They’ve been praised for their ability to stick to deadlines and innovative ideas. Needless to say, these are two critical qualities when it comes to experiential marketing specifically.
As for specific services, the agency specializes in brand activations. They accomplish this through experience centers, innovation centers, showrooms, public art, and corporate lobbies. Their experts can also create immersive environments for your audience through live and virtual events, pop-up activations, and meaningful storytelling.
To accomplish this, the brand uses a host of tech solutions like VR, AR, 3D configurations, Metaverse, and immersive web. They also network with industry experts to get the best results. In fact, they host in-house events, such as The Experiential Exchange, which is geared towards bringing together industry experts to discuss the latest experiential marketing trends.
The Next/Now Solution
Next/Now is one of those entertainment marketing agencies that has worked with some of the largest brands in the world, and one such name is the NBA. The association wanted to convert its NBA Store into a fan engagement hub, and that’s exactly what Next/Now did for them.
They managed everything from campaign design to the final touches. Next/Now installed kinetic audiovisual effects and used cinematic content to transform the store into an engagement hub rather than just a product showcase.
They also used their proprietary Activate360 solution to convert a wall into a live game broadcaster, which switched between live NBA action and cinematic content to keep the audiences engaged.
Source: linkedin.com
Strategic Approach
Here’s how Next/Now made this experiential activation a success:
- Used 66 addressable lights to create different patterns and effects
- Used custom software that reacts to people’s movements to create a lively and interactive experience
- Created content for 19 display zones across the store
- Provided live entertainment through real-time graphics
Next/Now’s campaign was lauded by the NBA and the audience alike. It also put the agency in the spotlight, exhibiting its ability to translate visionary retail experiences into reality.
6. RMNG
Notable clients: Hello Kitty, Barbie, Walmart
Location and global presence: Los Angeles, California, USA
Year founded: 2009
Pricing: Minimum spend of $25,000 per project
RMNG joins brands and their target audiences face to face to create magical moments that leave a long-lasting impression. For the past 10+ years, they’ve taken advantage of their knowledge of mobility and food trucks to create unique marketing opportunities.
Similarly to their founding father, Roaming Hunger (the authority in food trucks), they weren’t satisfied to be stuck in one place. They’ve served the majority of US states and expanded their reach to hundreds of markets across Canada and Europe too.
Trusted by leading global brands, they can help your business to go mobile. It doesn’t necessarily need to be with the help of a food truck. Their services include mobile pop-up shops that are easy and quick to set up and disassemble as well. And, if you’re interested in something bigger, they can also help you to organize a mobile marketing tour.
7. MKG
Notable clients: Target, Delta Air Lines, Motorola
Location and global presence: Headquartered in New York City with another office in Los Angeles
Year founded: 2003
Pricing: $100 – $149 per hour / Minimum spend of $5,000 per project
MKG is a women-owned and operated creative agency that’s listed by Built In New York City as one of the top experiential marketing agencies. They were also named as Ad Age’s 2023 A-List Experiential Agency of the Year.
They specialize in creating brand action like employee engagements, virtual events, social impact actions, and live experiences. From developing a brand and campaign strategy to competitive analysis to production, they can help you with all the key aspects involved in experiential marketing.
For example, to help Barbie celebrate her 60th anniversary, they worked with R/GA, an international marketing and global digital product company, to create a pop-up celebration that brought her past to life. From a life-size version of her Dreamhouse to a physical timeline that highlighted her different looks, there were more than enough to keep Barbie young and her young crowd entertained.
They’ve also worked with a number of other big brands. For example, to help Google launch its newest lineup of products, they partnered with influential New Yorkers who could help audiences see how these products would be used in a real-life setting.
8. Sector 5 Digital
Notable clients: American Airlines, Dell, IBM Cloud
Location and global presence: Fort Worth, Texas, USA
Year founded: 2014
Pricing: Minimum spend of $25,000 per project
Sector 5 Digital (or simply called S5D) is an award-winning creative agency that uses emerging tech and storytelling to help transform brands. They offer a wide range of services that include experiential marketing, augmented reality (AR), integrated campaigns, video production, and 3D animation.
They’re one of the most reviewed agencies in the experiential marketing category and past clients have praised them for really going the extra mile and putting in loads of effort. For example, to help potential passengers of American Airlines get a better idea of the different cabins of the fleet, they created a web-based product that allowed them to experience a 360 animated tour.
From big planes to big contracts, they know how to go big. Their agency recently entered into a six-figure engagement with one of the largest architecture firms to create an immersive experience that will bring their business campus to life.
9. Pro Motion
Notable clients: Bosch, Gatorade, Disney
Location and global presence: St. Louis, Missouri, USA
Year founded: 1995
Pricing: $100 – $149 per hour / Minimum spend of $50,000 per project
Pro Motion is one of the oldest independent experiential marketing companies. As you would expect, they’ve received a number of awards during their 20+ years in business. As a matter of fact, in the past 18 months alone they won a total of six new industry awards.
Their services include B2B experiential marketing, pop-up shops, event marketing, and experiential marketing tours. For example, for Bosch, they organized the Bosch Big Blue Tour to help them boost product exposure among professional, DIY consumers. By building five mobile workshops on wheels with interactive stations, they could demonstrate new products. Not only did they engage half a million consumers, but they also recruited and trained more than 20 Bosh brand ambassadors. Almost half of these brand ambassadors were appointed on a full-time basis by Bosch.
When working with them, you’ll be assigned a senior level account team. Combine that with the fact that they work with only 10 clients at a time and you can look forward to a truly collaborative approach.
10. Amplify
Notable clients: LEGO, Netflix, Nike
Location and global presence: Global hubs in London, Paris, Sydney, New York City, and Los Angeles
Year founded: 2008
Pricing: Undisclosed
Amplify is a brand experience agency that helps brands to create meaningful and authentic connections with their audiences with the help of digital content, experiences, and PR. With offices on three continents, they’ve worked with a number of global brands.
Recently named Campaign’s Brand Experience Agency of the Decade, they take a holistic approach. Narrative design and storytelling are at the core of everything that they do. To use their own words, they “blur the lines between physical experiences and online digital experiences”. They combine the charm of in real life (IRL) with the best features of the digital world to break away from typical formats.
11. iMP Experiential & Product Sampling
Notable clients: Fiat, Jeep, New Balance
Location and global presence: Leeds, England
Year founded: 2008
Pricing: Undisclosed
If you have a product to sample in the UK, you can check out iMP Experiential. They’re an award-winning experiential agency that can help with product sampling, experiential roadshows, and brand activations.
Not only will they help with the design and creation process, but as a full-service brand experience agency, they also have promotional staff, drivers, and promo vehicles at hand. Their staff is individually chosen for each campaign and their vehicles can be fully branded and adapted for mobile product sampling.
They know that it’s key to think about strategy and the wider opportunities. This way, they successfully target the right people at the right place at the right time.
For example, when Ritter Sport wanted to introduce one of their new chocolate bars to a potential market segment (the brand managers and influential stakeholders at Sainsbury’s head office), their agency dressed up brand ambassadors as a whole hazelnut bar and sloth. They might have looked nutty, but 24,000 of samples were distributed and even more consumer engagements initiated.
12. Backlash
Notable clients: Notion, Nespresso, Sephora
Location and global presence: London, England
Year founded: 2017
Pricing: Undisclosed
Backlash is another experiential agency that’s based in the UK. The three founders’ passion for this niche has grown and ultimately resulted in the birth of Backlash, not just as a way to explore their passion further but also to challenge how other agencies go about marketing. According to their website, their experience in marketing allows them to create their own “Big Agency” approach to all briefs irrespective of the budget.
Whether you need a product launch, roadshow, or pop-up shop, they can create multichannel campaigns. For example, for Lego’s AR-powered product, Hidden Side, they created a spooky-themed product launch that included multiple product displays, an AR photo booth, and, of course, goody bags.
And, you don’t have to worry about any backlash. On Facebook, they’ve received only positive reviews so far.
13. All Terrain
Notable clients: Kellogg’s, Nike, Airbnb
Location and global presence: Chicago, Illinois, USA
Year founded: 1998
Pricing: Undisclosed
Just like MKG, All Terrain is a women-owned, full-service marketing agency. In fact, they’re the first women-founded and owned experiential agency in the US and they’ve been offering experiential services long before experiential marketing was a recognized marketing strategy. During the 20+ years, they’ve also successfully established themselves as the go-to agency for brands that want something else than traditional advertising.
They describe their experiential marketing campaigns as “people-centered, digitally integrated, and socially amplified”. From mobile tours to virtual events, they help brands to create real, meaningful connections that last.
And, if you suddenly need to change your plan from a live tour to a virtual launch, rest assured that they’ve done it before successfully. In 2020 (aka the year of virtual events), they helped Ferrari to create its first virtual launch. The result – 500,000+ impressions and even more in dollars for Save The Children.
14. Evolve
Notable clients: Amazon, Google Pay, Fox
Location and global presence: Los Angeles, California, USA
Year founded: 2013
Pricing: Undisclosed
For event marketing services specifically, be sure to check out Evolve. On their website, they describe themselves as an event marketing activation agency that’s led by a team of experts in experiential marketing.
Whether you need help with logistics, developing your marketing program, or event production, their team offers a variety of marketing services. As a full-service agency, they can help with all steps of the process. If you need help with a promo vehicle or brand ambassador staff, they can assist with that as well.
One thing that deserves special mention is their focus on sustainability. Whether it’s through sampling materials, route planning, or vehicle efficiency, they’ll help you to make your marketing greener, ultimately helping you to create that emotional connection with your target audience.
15. Traina
Notable clients: Space Center Houston, Microsoft, John Deere
Location: San Diego, California, USA
Year founded: 2006
Pricing: $150 – $199 per hour
Traina is one of the top creative agencies and has worked with a number of top international brands. Included in their list of services is experiential brand activations. They design bespoke activations that deliver unforgettable experiential moments.
Whether you’re interested in a global campaign or strategically placed pop-up, they know how to identify new ways to let brands connect with their community in a meaningful way. They view all touchpoints as opportunities.
They’ve been praised for their professional communication skills and their ability really to listen to their clients and translate that into innovative, impactful experiences. For example, when corporate leaders indicated that they were eager to explore the idea of a hybrid event, Traina made sure that in-person as well as virtual attendees of Degreed’s event were entertained. In fact, the event attracted nearly double the number of attendees that the conference attracted before the pandemic.
16. Lytehouse
Notable clients: Uber, Hyundai, Ralph Lauren
Location: Albany, New York, USA
Year founded: 2012
Pricing: Undisclosed
Lytehouse is a full-service influencer marketing agency that has been in the industry for over a decade. Their team of casting directors, talent strategists, brand partnership managers, and creative producers has been praised for their professionalism, communication, and smart approach.
Included in their list of services is experiential marketing. From strategizing to reaching out to invitees (and even managing the guest list), they can design, develop, and manage one-of-a-kind experiences. Whether you just want to spark authentic consumer interaction or focus on building a community, they know just what to do.
Lytehouse
Lytehouse is a creative, full-service influencer marketing agency with 10+ years of experience that works with brands at every stage of the influencer...
10 - 50
New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Nashville
Best for:
Enterprises and Large brands
Lytehouse
Lytehouse is a creative, full-service influencer marketing agency with 10+ years of experience that works with brands at every stage of the influencer...
How Can Brands Benefit From Experiential Marketing?
Experiential marketing benefits brands in many ways. Here are some of them.
Creating Memorable and Authentic Connections
The primary reason for implementing experiential marketing is to create a memorable connection between the brand and its target audience. Customers who become a part of these experiences are likely to recommend your brand to their peers. These experiences also evoke emotions that have a lasting impact on the consumers' minds.
The level of authenticity in these experiences also contributes to creating a genuine connection with the brand, as customers are actively engaged and not just passive consumers of a message.
As our Monthly Influencer Marketing Report July 2024 has highlighted, authenticity is a major concern for marketers. In fact, 36.7% of them deem it an issue with the use of AI in influencer marketing. So, for an element that's so important, experiential marketing proves to be a major asset for brands.
Showcasing Your Unique Brand Value
The main way in which experiential marketing differs from traditional marketing is that it not only tells but also shows the brand's unique value proposition. When a brand creates a themed event or experience, it's an opportunity to show what sets them apart from their competitors.
For example, when My Heritage, a DNA testing kit company, partnered with Zorka.Agency to run an experiential influencer-led event, they did not simply want to tell people about their product. They also wanted to show it works, so that people can see the value in at-home ancestry testing.
As part of the event, influencers were given DNA tests and then asked to use them. This action-driven content helped the brand demonstrate its unique value and educate consumers on how its product differs from others.
Check out our detailed guide on creating a brand identity to learn more.
Driving Results Through Immersion
A traditional YouTube ad can be easily skipped. Similarly, people drive past billboards without a second glance. But with experiential marketing, brands create experiences that people can't ignore.
Another way to create immersive brand experiences is through storytelling. Be it an interactive installation or a virtual reality experience, an immersive narrative can capture the audience's attention and leave a lasting impression. Storytelling taps into the emotional side of consumers, making them more likely to remember and connect with the brand.
Similarly, the more you personalize the experience, the more impactful it becomes. Brands can use data and technology to tailor experiences to individual attendees, making them feel special and valued. These attendees can further help your brand through word-of-mouth marketing and social media mentions.
Regardless of the experience, ensure it's interactive. For example, you can engage audiences with games and challenges. Or, offer them virtual reality experiences that they can fully immerse themselves in.
For example, when M&M created its Flavor Room pop-ups in New York City, the company decorated each room with fragrances and aesthetics related to each flavor. They also had drink lounges and snacks with M&M-themed treats. This allowed attendees to sample and learn about the different flavors. Plus, there were plenty of opportunities for them to take photos and share their experiences on social media.
Since people are also actively present (physically or virtually) at the experiential events, brands can collect first-party data through sign-ups and registrations. You can also see audience responses in real time and determine how well the event is going.
For example, ABB Robotics worked with Next/Now to create an immersive experience for their audience. The agency implemented AV installations and custom fabrication to create a dynamic environment that would keep people hooked. They also used pedestals, wall graphics, supplemental down lighting, and direct-view LED walls to create an unforgettable experience.
Source: nextnowagency.com
With such an immersive Customer Experience Center, ABB Robotics managed to create a lot of online buzz and impress people with its innovation. It's certainly an event attendees won't forget due to its immersive nature.
Learn how to deliver an immersive customer experience in our guide.
Strengthening Bonds with Consumers
Since the business world is becoming more and more competitive every day, it's important to build emotional connections with consumers. Experiential marketing helps do that. It gives your target audience a sense of belonging since they are a part of an experience.
These emotional connections further result in customer retention, ultimately increasing revenue. Our guide on customer loyalty trends further highlights this aspect.
Creating Shareable Moments
Your print, Google, or YouTube ads aren't exactly shareable. People might take action as a result of such ads, but they won't take the time to share them on social media.
However, experiential marketing creates shareable moments that people can't resist sharing on their social media. It helps your brand in two ways:
- Expands your organic reach
- Establishes customer advocacy and user-generated content
Since 20 to 50% of all purchase decisions are a result of peer-to-peer marketing, these shareable moments ultimately lead to more conversions and sales. You can encourage people to share content from your experiential campaigns by giving them an incentive like a discount or free product.
Or simply offer something in your experiential event that forces people to post it on social media, such as a photo-op or interactive installation. For example, in a campaign Sector 5 Digital created for AT&T's 5G network, they created kiosks where fans could take pictures with virtual versions of Chicago Bulls and Chicago Blackhawks players.
People would get a downloadable version of the photo, which they could share on social media. To no one's surprise, 99,000 fans took photos with their favorite players.
Source: sector5digital.com
Personalizing Campaigns for Maximum Impact
To get the most out of your experiential marketing efforts, you should personalize these campaigns. According to 88% of marketers, they prioritize personalization because it helps improve customer experiences. To start, segment your audience into different groups and create tailored experiences for each one. Next, follow these tactics to personalize their experiences:
- Personalized Product Sampling: Use customer purchase history to create tailored product sampling experiences.
- Tailored Messaging: Personalize promotional content by addressing customers by name and aligning messaging with their interests.
- Data-Driven Insights: Analyze customer data to identify preferences. Doing so will help you design more relevant and targeted events, focusing on popular products in specific regions.
- Interactive Brand Engagement: Use augmented reality or similar tools to let customers visualize how products would fit into their daily lives.
- Personalized Product Demos: Use field experts or brand ambassadors to deliver product demos that are customized to individual customer preferences.
For example, a luxury fashion brand could create an exclusive pop-up event for its VIP customers while also hosting a street-style fashion show open to the public. Similarly, you can create virtual events for different social media platforms to cater to different demographics. Then, analyze the data and feedback from each segment to decide which strategies to reuse for future campaigns.
Our guide on creating a personalization strategy further touches more on this subject.
Turning Customers into Brand Advocates
When you deliver authentic and enjoyable experiences, it shouldn't come as a surprise that customers would rave about your company. Use this opportunity to turn them into brand advocates by providing them with tools and resources to spread the word about your brand.
For example, create branded hashtags for customers to use in their posts from the event. You can collaborate with influencers and get them to share promo codes with their followers, encouraging them to attend the event and share their experiences.
Maybe do something like AT&T, as we’ve shown in the example above. Give people something that they cannot resist sharing with their friends and family.
Apple is another good example in this regard. Their brand advocates stand for hours outside their stores for new phone launches and store openings. Why? A study found that experiential marketing through sensory, behavioral, and intellectual brand experiences contributes to this brand loyalty, which ultimately makes people buy from the brand repeatedly and choose it over its competitors.
Apple case study
What Services Do Experiential Marketing Agencies Offer?
Experiential marketing agencies offer several services based on their expertise. Some of them are as follows.
Campaign Strategy Development
For starters, these agencies create an overall vision for your experiential campaign. They also set the objectives and KPIs to measure. Since they've dealt with similar clients and audiences before, they know how to reach each demographic and audience type.
The campaign strategy has a lot of elements, such as event design, physical and digital infrastructure, activation, and production. The agency creates a detailed plan that specifies each step of the campaign with clear roles for both the client's team and their own.
That's exactly what Viral Nation did in the campaign for SmartWater. They created an experience and then intertwined brand messages in small details throughout it.
Creative Concept Development
Next, the agency creates a creative concept on which the experience will be based. For example, the concept may be an interactive installation or a pop-up event.
This aspect requires a lot of brainstorming, as the idea should be memorable and well-aligned with the campaign's goals. The agency's experts handle all these tasks and present the final concept to you before moving forward with the campaign.
We've already established that storytelling is an imperative aspect of experiential marketing. The agency tackles this task by creating a narrative or theme that ties all aspects of the campaign together.
For example, in the NeoReach campaign for Laifen, the agency selected the most ideal-fit influencers who could act as the vessel for the brand's story. They also assisted the influencers in content creation to ensure consistency and alignment with the campaign's narrative.
Product Launches
What better way to launch a product than with an event that becomes the talk of the town (physically and on social media)? Experiential marketing agencies can help you launch your products in a way that not only gets people talking about it, but also makes them experience it firsthand.
They can organize product demos, experiential activations, interactive experiences, and influencer-led product demonstrations.
That's what HireInfluence did for Southwest Airlines when they wanted to introduce their Hawaii flights to the public. The agency took on the task of hiring the right influencers and creating a certain hype around a trip to Hawaii that would get people interested in the pre-sales tickets. Since there was an expert handling every single aspect of the campaign, it's no surprise that it generated 3 million engagements at a mere cost of $0.03 per engagement.
Seamless Event Planning and Expert On-Site Management
Once a concept has been finalized, the agency takes care of the logistics, such as venue selection, permits, event setup, staffing, and budget management. They also handle the coordination with vendors, event staff, and any necessary equipment or technology.
With them in control, you simply have to focus on promoting the event and ensuring that your team is ready to engage with attendees.
Experiential marketing agencies don't disappear after setting up an event. They stay on-site to manage and oversee the smooth execution of the campaign. This includes managing and directing event staff, ensuring the proper functioning of installations, troubleshooting issues, and overall event coordination.
For example, when Pro Motion ran a country-wide experiential campaign for Gundam Base, their team was present in every city. They kept a check on everything and created behind-the-scenes content.
High-Quality Production and Installation
As experts in customer experience agencies, experiential marketers have to make sure the vendors deliver high-quality production and installation. For example, with an interactive live event, the agency oversees the setup of any digital or physical installations, ensuring that they function properly and align with the creative concept.
They also conduct rehearsals to iron out any technical glitches and to make sure that everything runs smoothly on the day of the event. Before giving you the green signal, the agency also conducts a walkthrough quality check.
As we’ve mentioned earlier, when Next/Now created a fan engagement hub in the NBA store, they managed everything from virtual installations to live broadcasts. It was due to their supervision that everything went as smoothly as it did.
Comprehensive Measurement and Evaluation
Since the agency is fully involved in your campaign from start to finish, it's only fitting for them to take care of reporting and analytics, too. The good news is that they do!
They analyze the results of each campaign and provide insights that can be used to make future campaigns even more successful. Full-service agencies that offer experiential marketing as a service can further repurpose content from the campaign for your social media and email marketing strategies.
For example, the Zorka.Agency has worked with Plarium for over 6 years. The insights they took from the cosplay campaign was further used to guide the client’s future campaigns, such as the Progress Bar campaign. So, when an agency has been by your side from the very beginning, they know exactly what works for your brand and can provide valuable recommendations for future campaigns.
Woo Your Customers With Experiential Marketing
Whether it's storytelling agencies or those focused on performance marketing, agency-led experiences are worlds apart from traditional advertising and marketing methods. These events and campaigns create immersive and interactive experiences for customers to connect them with your brand deeply and emotionally.
From pop-ups and AR/VR installations to influencer collaborations and experiential activations, these agencies can help you create unforgettable experiences that delight and engage customers. More importantly, the engagement you cultivate through these experiences can turn your customers into brand advocates. So, it's a multi-faceted win-win situation.
We have created compilations of the best marketing agencies in different regions, industries, verticals, and use cases. Here are some of them: Besides experiential marketing, there are many ways to ensure excellent customer experiences. The following agencies help in this regard. At Influencer Marketing Hub, we have rounded up the best experiential marketing agencies for you to choose from. Here’s an overview: Experiential Marketing Agency Enterprises NeoReach Large companies Zorka.Agency Enterprises RMNG Enterprises Experiential marketing agencies provide different services based on their specialization. The table shows the services provided by the best agencies in this sector. Experiential Marketing Agency x NeoReach x Zorka.Agency ✔ RMNG ✔ Experiential marketing agencies charge based on their expertise and campaign size. The minimum campaign size for top agencies is as follows. Experiential Marketing Agency Blog, social media NeoReach Blog, social media Zorka.Agency Physical events RMNG Social media, physical events Some of the top experiential marketing agencies in the USA are: New York City is home to many experiential marketing agencies, including: Here are some of the top experiential marketing agencies in LA: Experiential marketing is important for brands because it allows them to create unique and memorable experiences for their target audience. These experiences can leave a lasting impression on consumers, leading to increased brand awareness and loyalty. Experiential marketing also provides an opportunity for brands to engage with their audience in a more personal and interactive way, allowing for a better understanding of consumer preferences. Experiential marketing is more direct and personal compared to traditional marketing or event marketing. Instead of simply promoting a product or service, experiential marketing creates an immersive experience for the consumer to actively engage with the brand. It also focuses on creating emotional connections and building relationships with consumers rather than just delivering a message. Experiential marketing is a type of marketing that involves live events and real-life experiences. The big benefit to hiring an experiential marketing agency is that the marketing engages customers through branded experiences and live events. Immersive marketing experiences can make a big impact. These three companies are using experiential marketing in outstanding ways: Examples of experiential marketing include business events, festivals, award ceremonies, and activities at trade shows. Unique experiences that fit the brand are key to experience marketing. The goal of experiential marketing is to ensure lasting impressions on consumers that will lead to brand loyalty down the line. These experiences should create a big impression that the people want to share with others. It’s not about advertising - it’s about letting consumers understand what their eyes would be like with the product.Frequently Asked Questions
Comparing the best marketing agencies
Comparing agencies for customer experiences
What are the best experiential marketing agencies?
Location
Notable Clients
Best For
Viral Nation
Toronto, Canada
Walmart, Energizer, PUBG
Headquartered in San Francisco, California, USA
Airbnb, Walmart, Amazon
Large companies
HireInfluence
Headquartered in Los Angeles with additional offices in Houston and New York City
Microsoft, Ricola, Oreo
Limassol, Cyprus
Tencent, Domino’s Pizza, AliExpress
Businesses of all sizes
Next/Now
Chicago, Illinois, USA
Adidas, LG, Samsung
Los Angeles, California, USA
Hello Kitty, Barbie, Walmart
Enterprises
MKG
Headquartered in New York City with another office in Los Angeles
Target, Delta Air Lines, Motorola
Which services do experiential marketing agencies provide?
Content Marketing
Performance Marketing
Influencer Marketing
Event Marketing
Viral Nation
✔
✔
✔
✔
x
✔
x
HireInfluence
✔
✔
✔
✔
x
✔
✔
Next/Now
x
✔
x
x
✔
x
✔
MKG
✔
✔
x
How much does it cost to work with experiential marketing agencies?
Minimum Campaign Size
Channels
Viral Nation
$100,000+
$50,000+
Blog, social media
HireInfluence
$50,000+
$5,000+
Social media
Next/Now
$50,000+
$25,000+
Physical events, road tours
MKG
$5,000+
What Are The Top Experiential Marketing Agencies in USA?
What Are The Top Experiential Marketing Agencies in NYC?
What Are The Top Experiential Marketing Agencies in LA?
Why is experiential marketing important for brands?
How does experiential marketing differ from traditional marketing or event marketing?
What is an experiential marketing agency?
What companies use experiential marketing?
What is an example of experiential marketing?
Why do companies use experiential marketing?
