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Experiential marketing is a marketing methodology that is deemed to be a more holistic marketing methodolgy. Experiential Marketing uses brand relevant experiences to appeal to both the rational and emotional buying triggers of the intended audience. Experiential marketing differs from traditional marketing methodology because traditional marketing, also known as feature-benefit marketing is designed to simply appeal to rational buying side of the intended audience.

Recently, many people have starting to confuse marketing methodologies with marketing mediums. There are traditional mediums like TV, radio and print than can be used for both traditional and experiential marketing methodologies.

Example of traditional marketing methodology - A brand tries to sell you a product based on the merits (features/benefits) of the product.

Toothpaste - If the toothpaste gives you fresh breathe it will make your teeth whiter. The "whiteness" is the feature that the brand is using to appeal to the rational side of the consumer.

Example of experiential marketing methodology - If we use the toothpaste example then the product attributes would be made into an experiential platform. How is this toothpaste going to make you feel? How do white teeth make you feel?

The experiential platform would be built around confidence, or a much larger platform. Therefore, the experiential campaign would try to sell the "feeling of confidence". They want you to able to feel how you are going to feel if you bought the toothpaste. it looks past the feature of the product.

As the term becomes more widely recognized, (now receiving more than 4.7 million hits on Google) experiential marketing continues to grow in popularity among consumers and marketers alike.

• Marketers spent more than $150 billion on experiential marketing in 2005. According to a study by HPI Research Group, 68% of surveyed marketing executives spent more on experiential marketing in 2005 than in 2004 and half of those executives expect to increase spending in 2006.

Experiential marketing is also termed as customer experience marketing because the idea is to communicate the essence of the Brand through a personalised experience. "Remember," says Erik Hauser "Experiential is a methodology not a medium."

With emerging media entering the marketplace on a regular basis, vying for consumers’ attention is becoming increasingly difficult. The 30-second spot is proving to be less effective and marketers are forced to look for alternatives. Consumers themselves have even resorted to avoiding messages whenever possible by installing pop-up blockers or fast forwarding their DVR (such as TiVo) to avoid commercials.

Experiential marketing was once seen as an alternative approach to reaching the most media-savvy audience. It offers an engaging, entertaining and interactive brand experience unmatched by traditional marketing. In today's marketing landscape experiential marketing is leading the way.

In the past ten years, experiential marketing has become a hot topic in the branding world. Some of the most prominent brands such as Levi's, Nokia, Harley-Davidson and Volkswagen have implemented successful experiential programs to reach their target.

Visit the home of experiential marketing on the web at http://www.experientialforum.com

• Experience Economy by B. Joseph Pine II and James H. Gilmore
• Experiential Marketing: How to Get Customers to Sense, Feel, Think, Act, Relate by Bernd Schmitt
• Experience the Message: How Experiential Marketing is Changing the Brand World by Max Lenderman
• 2006 Experiential Marketing Survey: A Survey of Global Response, Jack Morton Worldwide
• The Future of Competition: Co-creating unique value with Customers by C.K Prahalad and Venkat Ramaswamy
• Experiential Marketing in the events industry.
• Buzzmarketing: Get People To Talk About Your Stuff, Mark Hughes (Penguin/Portfolio) Website