Not so small world: experience marketing is here. Better learn to thrive on it.

• Author: Walters, Bob
• Position: ADVICE / MARKETING

UNLIKE THE WEATHER, about which much is said but little short-term influence levied, "experience marketing" is both all around us and completely focused in the here-and-now management of brand, product and corporate influence.

It is hard to even imagine a marketing executive in America who is not immersed in the daily pursuit of expressing or promoting a brand or brand cluster through some sort of an experience. A slick message with two-dimensional advertising (I talk and you listen) doesn't cut it any more.

The now-critical third dimension is the live tactile or emotional experience.

Getting the right handle on orchestrating a consumer experience, however, remains more art than science because a great experience is a true act of imagination, creation and execution. Plus, we all have to get past the "huh?" factor so that our eyes don't glaze over when the word "experiential" comes up in marketing meetings.

Broadly defined as "live events where an audience interacts with products or brands face-to-face," experience marketing has to succeed on several fronts. Interest, location, culture, timeliness, innovation and relevance all have to converge on the receptive mind of a potential customer.

But there is most definitely method to the magic. Experience marketing can leave an impression by being entertaining (fun), educational (information), escapist (diversion), or esthetic (emotion). Like Confucius said, "I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand."

Marketing execs covet customers who "get it" and understand their brand.

Classic economists identified only "goods and services" as marketing categories. Experience marketing expands that in both directions, identifying commodities (coffee), goods (canned coffee), services (coffee shops) and experiences (Starbucks).

Good books on the subject typically track the beginning of the "experience economy" to the 1950s and Walt Disney's desire to build a better amusement park. It was such a great idea that the world noticed Disneyland immediately, and experience marketing some 40...