Acronym

I visited New York City for the first time in December. The hotel where I stayed was directly across from the Charmin's Pottypalooza restrooms on Times Square. I remember reading about it at the time as experience marketing, or "experiential marketing" if you prefer longer words - letting customers interact with the Brand.

I heard the Charmin song. I did the Charmin cha cha cha. I got my picture taken with the Charmin bear.

But it never hit me until this morning while reading about a new white paper on experiential marketing that these Charmin restrooms are just like our annual meeting - customer interaction with a brand.

Wikipedia defines experiential marketing as: "Experiential marketing uses brand relevant experiences to engage key audiences while creating a forum where these audiences interact with a brand. It involves high levels of interactivity and sensory impact and seeks to elicit an emotional response among the target through a more personal level of engagement than other media."

High levels of interactivity. Sensory impact. Emotional responses. Engagement. It's our annual meeting. (Be gentle, meeting planners. I'm sure many of you are shaking your head, rolling your eyes and thinking, "Duh." But I'm not a meeting planner, so this is a salient moment for me, OK?) ;) I just had never thought of our annual meeting as experiential marketing before today.

I knew it was an experience economy. I knew we were creating an experience. I had just never thought of it as a three-day marketing campaign with intense, hands-on brand interaction with our top customer base.

And experiential marketing is not the same as event marketing. It's a different animal.

I'm still pondering on how to use my newfound knowledge to the betterment of my annual meeting. In the meantime, go check out the blog of Max Lenderman, Experience the Message. Lenderman was one of the founding board members of the International Experiential Marketing Association (IXMA).

See. I already have one thing to be thankful for today...at least I'm not having to experientially market to the members of IXMA this coming June. Sheesh. Talk about a tough crowd! It's making hospital administrators seem like a cakewalk into town now.