H&C News meets with suppliers regularly to keep up to date with the latest product and service innovations, aiming to get the inside track on what companies offer to the market and how it is delivered. This week, we met with Katie Penfold, Managing Partner of BEcause Brand Experience at their offices in Ascot to gain a better understanding of the business.
As a live brand experience agency that’s worked with some of the biggest names in the food, beverage and hospitality industry, BEcause builds brand love through a blend of services that include experiential marketing and live creative technology.
Katie Penfold, Managing Partner of BEcause Brand ExperienceBEcause is a live brand experience agency. What exactly does that mean?
We help consumers to fall in love with brands. It’s that simple. Unlike brand awareness, you can’t buy brand love – you have to earn it through memorable and meaningful experiences.
On a daily basis we create and deliver immersive, positive encounters that are consistent and repeatable. It is these experiences that encourage word of mouth, so important in such a highly-competitive industry.
Food and drink are at their heart social experiences that lend themselves very well to experiential marketing – and as well as F&B brands, we work closely with a large number of hospitality outlets, from pubs and bars right through to exclusive members clubs. We use our expertise to either bring brand experiences directly into venues or to take these experiences on the road, distilling down the experience and giving consumers a flavour of what is on offer.
Can you tell us about some of the campaigns you’ve delivered here in the UK?
We’ve worked with clients right across the industry, including the likes of Heineken, Café Direct, Perrier, Maxxium and Bel UK to name but a few.
One campaign that really stands out was The Macallan Residence that we created, when we transformed London’s Two Temple Place into a sensory event to promote the Macallan 1824 series. Working closely with this illustrious venue to create an exclusive event for premium influencers, we attracted a high-profile audience of press and bloggers. Experiential marketing is perfect for people that need to taste and be hands on.
The environment in which people experience a product has a big bearing on their perception of the brand. To launch Société Perrier as the ultimate cocktail mixer, we turned a London Georgian Townhouse into a time travel portal. Donning wigs and fancy dress, guests went on a theatrical journey through the brand’s history.
How exactly do these campaigns help?
Contrary to perceptions, experiential marketing campaigns are actually highly measurable and can be closely linked to corporate objectives. We actually have our own Brand Value Generator tool that does exactly that.
To give an example of the impact that engaging, targeted, high-volume sampling can have, I’d point to our work with Heineken over the past decade. In that time we’ve given out samples on a huge scale in pubs and clubs across the UK, with ambassadors offering a choice of brands from the Heineken portfolio to match individual products to personal taste preferences.
Education is at the heart of this; raising awareness amongst consumers of the experiences that are available. Our hit squad of breakdancers and magicians that we introduced into bars and nightclubs across the UK on behalf of Heineken’s tequila-based lager brand Desperados, for example, was a great way of reaching a very specific demographic for the brand at a crucial time of year, delivering a first taste in the right environment.
What do you see for the future of experiential events? Where is BEcause heading?
Every day, we are exploring new ways to surprise and excite audiences: doing so is the key to driving desire, loyalty and advocacy.
The use of live creative technology is only set to grow, with virtual reality providing the unparalleled chance for consumers to touch, feel and sense a product in ways that have never been done before. Our work with Boursin demonstrated this: an experiential sampling roadshow that took consumers to a whole new world as they journeyed through a fridge!
At BEcause we will continue to do what we do best: deliver experiences targeted at the right audiences to kickstart conversations and generate talking points. Providing insight and provenance into brands and venues is the key to building close connections and brand love.
For more information on BEcause Brand Experience please get in touch.
BEcause, 39 High Street, Ascot, SL5 7HY
Tel: 020 3371 3337