EMBiz: Why Los Angeles Is a Perfect Location for Experiential Marketing
LA's a Perfect Place for Events
Laurel Mintz
Why We’re an Experiential Marketing Agency in Los Angeles
Hi everyone, Laurel Mintz here with Elevate My Brand. As you probably know, we are a full-service agency, which means we do all of the digital but we also do a lot on the experiential side. We launch events, trade shows, conferences, national field marketing efforts... all of the ways that our brands get sips to lips—get products in people's actual hands. I tend to love experiential because nothing ever goes right the first time and you always have to pivot and figure out how to fix something in real time. Some people don't love that; they want more control. I think there's something beautiful in the unknown of those experiential moments, but I will tell you that Los Angeles and other highly populated parts of the country are fantastic places to create experiential moments.
LA has a huge consumer base
LA has a very dense population, which means there's a lot of people per capita. So there's just a lot more people to talk to. I mean, the people are in a moment or in a shopping mall, for example, the more likely it is that they're going to try your product or service.
LA tourism is great for UGC
LA is a hot spot for tourist destinations. Of course, you know, I'm born and bred here, so I don't look at it that way. But the truth is that it really, really is. So there's great shopping and new experiences, and all of that leads to great user-generated content moments. Think of all of the people that are traveling from out of town to come to LA; they want to share with their friends and family back home that they've come to LA and that they're having all these crazy wild experiences on social media. So it's a great opportunity to touch a whole new audience coming into this densely populated city center.
LA is interesting
And then there's a diversity of interests, right? That's what happens when you have such a melting pot of cultural experiences like we do here in LA. So whether you're into K-pop or you know, you're a big foodie, there's always going to be something here for you to do. As a brand, marketing in an experiential space like LA means that you have the opportunity to really focus and segment your audience.
LA has opportunities for press
Finally, and of course, everyone wants to cover LA. There's a reason that Beverly Hills 90210 was such a popular show; everyone wants the kind of the publicity around the LA moment, right? So the media attention that LA gets as a city is also a great opportunity for brands to get in front of their new audiences. And that's really what experiential allows you to do. You create these viral moments, super hands-on and potentially viral moments—very touchy-feely. For example, one we did was for the Tamara Mellon shoe brand. We created a rainbow wall where people could come in and try on the shoes in real time and then take their pictures in the mirror. And it was the hashtag #FlashYourMellons campaign, which went viral. It was a really, really fun moment.
So, just a couple of examples and reasons why LA is a hot spot for experiential and why we love doing experiential here so much at Elevate.