Measuring Experiential Marketing with Jonathan Yaffe

“I’ve been completely obsessed with this—not only how do we prove the ROI of these specific experiential programs but how do we do it at scale.” Jonathan Yaffe was one of the first marketing hires at Red Bull following the brand’s entry into the U.S. market. His first task? Quantifying their experiential marketing efforts. Today he does this for numerous brands through his company AnyRoad. We discussed all of this and more on this week’s episode of the On Brand podcast.

About Jonathan Yaffe

Jonathan Yaffe is the CEO and Co-Founder of AnyRoad (hailed one of Marc Benioff’s best investments), a data and analytics platform that powers the data behind many of the Fortune 2000’s offline experiences, including Absolut, the Kentucky Bourbon Trail, Michaels Arts & Crafts, Honda, Diageo, Peet’s Coffee & Tea, and the Golden State Warriors. Jonathan began his career in experiential marketing at Red Bull, and holds a degree in Cognitive Science from the University of California Berkeley.

Episode Highlights

“Experiential marketing is all about the brand—about causing emotions in customers,” Jonathan shared, adding: “And nothing is able to create these emotions at the level that experiences are.”

Measuring the Kentucky Bourbon Trail. While I haven’t traveled as much of the Kentucky Bourbon Trail as I’d like to (yet!), I do have a passport. As this brand experience is an AnyRoad client, Jonathan shared how and why measuring this experience is critical. “You visit a distillery and all of a sudden it becomes their favorite brand based on that experience.”

“The world of experiential marketing has been data-less,” explains Jonathan noting that many brands like cola companies are still doing taste tests and counting smiles! Jonathan’s company AnyRoad—an Experience Relationship Management or ERM company—certainly sounds like a better road. “We measure anything that changes behavior.” Speaking of smiles …

What brand has made Jonathan smile recently? “I smile all the time,” Jonathan began. However, he found himself smiling ear to ear recently due to Lego’s exceptional work developing new products and experiences around their adult customers or AFOLs (Adult Fans of Lego). He also shared that Red Bull called their core customers PINOEs (People In Need of Energy). Naming your core customers can help you get even more specific with your branding efforts.

To learn more about Jonathan, check out the AnyRoad website and follow him on Twitter.

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