Brand activation: what it is and examples that work

Advertising makes people look. A brand activation makes them do something: taste, play, try out, take part. What you've done yourself, you remember better than what you've seen, and that's the point. Below you'll read what brand activation is exactly, how it differs from brand experience, five forms with examples and where it goes wrong in practice.

What is brand activation?

Brand activation is any action in which the public does something themselves with a brand. A supermarket shopper tasting a new product, a festival-goer playing a challenge at a sponsor's stand, a trade show visitor taking a short quiz about a machine: all activations.

The difference from advertising lies in direction. An advert sends a message to someone. An activation draws someone towards the brand and lets them experience something. That makes the reach smaller but the impression deeper. In a day you might talk to five hundred people instead of fifty thousand, but those five hundred know what you do afterwards.

Brand activation and brand experience

The terms get mixed up. Brand activation, merkactivatie in Dutch, means the same thing. Brand experience is often used for larger, immersive set-ups, such as a pop-up or a furnished space you walk through. The activation is then the moment the visitor does something themselves within that experience.

In practice it makes little difference which word you use. The question that counts is always the same: what does the visitor do, and what do they take away from it?

Five forms with examples

1. Tasting or trying out

The oldest form, also called sampling. Handing out a new drink at the station, letting people test a product in the shop. It works if the product sells itself once someone has tasted or held it. It works less well if the product needs explaining, because there's no time for that while you're handing things out.

2. A game or challenge

A skill game with a scoreboard, a quiz about the product, a prize promotion on the phone. A game works if the product itself isn't visible or can't be shown in a minute. An insurer that has people play a game about risks in the home is already having the conversation it wanted halfway through the game. The condition is that the game is about the subject and doesn't just carry the logo.

3. A demonstration

Showing the product doing what it was made for. A food processor running at a market, a bike brand offering a test ride. The rule is to keep it short: twenty seconds to make someone stop, then the longer version for the people who stay.

4. A temporary location

A pop-up shop, a fitted-out container on a square, a stand at a festival. Here the setting is what matters, and the activation is what people do within it. A beautiful space with nothing to do in it produces photos, but few contacts.

5. Sponsorship activation

A company that sponsors a club or event wants more than a logo along the pitch. A prediction game before the match, a quiz at half-time or a challenge in the fan zone gives fans a reason to engage with the sponsor. What that looks like on match day is covered under sponsorship activation.

Where it goes wrong in practice

• The stunt has nothing to do with the product. Everyone talks about the stunt, but nobody remembers whose it was. A good activation only makes sense for this one brand.
• Nothing is recorded. There were hundreds of people, but nobody knows who they were. Decide beforehand what you want to know and what visitors get in return.
• The activity takes too long. Anything over three minutes per person creates a queue, and a queue drives people away instead of drawing them in.
• There's no follow-up. The contacts sit in a file for three weeks before anyone calls. Plan the follow-up before the activation starts.

How to set up a brand activation

1. Goal. What do you want to have afterwards: contacts, trial users, sales with a promo code, or brand awareness in a new region?
2. Location. Where is your audience, and do they have time there? At a festival they do, at a station during rush hour they don't.
3. Activity. What does the visitor do, in one sentence with a verb in it? The rest follows from that.
4. Registration. What does the visitor share, with their consent, and what do they get in return?
5. Follow-up. Who calls or emails within a week, and with what message?

If you want an activation with a game, the page about brand activation explains how we approach it: designing the game format, building the software and being there on the day itself.