In 1999, Joseph Pine and James Gilmore published their book, “The Experience Economy,” which has been praised by scholars and used by leading brands to evolve their business and marketing strategies. In fact, experiential marketing was a byproduct of Pine and Gilmores’ research. One major distinction of an experience economy over others is the effect it has on buyers. As Pine and Gilmore state:
An experience occurs when a company intentionally uses services as the stage, and goods as props, to engage individual customers in a way that creates a memorable event. Commodities are fungible, goods tangible, services intangible, and experiences memorable.
When selling sponsorships, leaving a lasting impression is critical. While your brand, products, and opportunities bring sponsors a lot of value, the emotional story may get lost in your presentations. But that is not necessarily your fault. Traditional presentation software such as PowerPoint does a good job but it lacks the capability in providing your sponsors an engaging, memorable experience. As our partner, Sean Olson, Assistant GM for the Omaha Storm Chasers said, “You’ve seen one PowerPoint, you’ve seen them all.” If you are looking to create an immersive, memorable experience for your sponsors during the sales and renewal process, then it is time to begin using a cloud-based presentation platform.
Experience Selling
As mentioned, experience or experiential marketing started receiving credible attention in the early 2000s as a new way to engage with customers. With the advent of the cloud, tools are more prolific than ever for selling your activations in an experiential way. . We call this, Experience Selling. Experience selling is not only about selling an experience, but about evolving your sales tactics so that every touch-point you have with your prospects leaves a lasting impression.
Think about the last presentation you participated in when the presenter was using traditional presentation software. At any point during the meeting, did your eyes start to glaze over? How many times did you check your phone? What was one slide or one aspect of the presentation that you clearly remember? If you are drawing a blank it is okay. So are we.
Traditional presentation software can be underwhelming because it does nothing that can be classified as remarkable, memorable, or game-changing. That is why more teams are relying on the Digideck to deliver a truly immersive experience.
Our partner, Justin Wolf, Corporate Sales Manager for the Green Bay Packers put it eloquently when participating on our recent panel stating, “For sports, we are in the business of selling goosebumps.” These are the important moments that connect an individual on a deep level to your sports organization through external factors beyond just words on a screen. Moments that go beyond a traditional sales pitch to an elevated level of storytelling. This is the crème de la crème for sponsorship sales.
The Digideck, by Sportsdigita, has the power to bring your sponsors inside your presentation. Many of our teams leverage our 360 panoramas to put the sponsors right into the stands, allowing them to see their logo placements and moments of exclusivity throughout the arena, stadium, or ballpark. Some even add audio, such as the roar of the crowd, so prospects can feel the excitement of the game as if it was happening in real-time. The Digideck’s rich media capabilities allow you to play activations on the jumbotron so sponsors can experience it before it happens. Adding videos from coaches, players, and top executives (that play seamlessly) gives sponsors an opportunity to experience your team culture and the confidence that their brand will be in good hands.
When a presentation becomes an experience, your sponsors are actively participating because you’ve made an emotional connection with them. You want a prospect’s first exposure to your brand to be a memorable one. You can never have a second, first impression. As Daniel Caulfield, Head of Corporate Partnerships, Groups, and Events for Woodbine Entertainment (the largest horse racing entity in North America) attests:
“Our partners are looking for unique ways to connect to our highly engaged audiences. Curating those brand moments and creating winning experiences for our guests is at the heart of what we do. The Digideck helps us tell our story.”
– Daniel Caulfield, Head of Corporate Partnerships, Groups, and Events
The Digideck allows you to compete on an entirely different level because your prospects are not just looking at slides, they are experiencing your brand, your team, your culture, and will remember every part of that experience. Interested in learning more? Let’s start a conversation!
