Brand Activation: Ideas & Examples to Engage an Audience Build Loyalty With These Brand Activation Ideas

Brands use all sorts of advertising strategies to hook their audiences and get their products in front of them. But in this age of short attention spans, many of those strategies just don’t do the trick anymore.

Customers today are looking for something that would engage them. Something that would connect with them and offer real solutions to their problems. And brand activation checks all those boxes. 

But what brand activation ideas can actually help you build loyalty and keep your audience engaged? This is the question that we will answer together, but until then, let’s talk about what brand activation is.

Grab your snack 🍪 your cup of coffee ☕ and get ready to dive in!

What is brand activation? 

Brand activation is a marketing strategy designed to create meaningful interactions between a brand and its target audience through engaging events or campaigns that drive consumer action. 

The takeaway from brand activation is to raise brand awareness, drive conversions, and build an emotional connection with customers.

If you want your customers to take action, you’ve got to spark that with things like hosting live events, launching social media campaigns, offering limited-time promotions. Put simply, any activity that strengthens your relationship with them. 

How can brand activation maximize engagement in your events?

Now, you’re probably thinking things like what brand activation has to do with events. Hang tight, and we’ll help you have that ‘Aha!’ moment👌

Time to get into the meat of the topic and paint a clearer picture of the impact of brand activation in boosting event engagement. 

Creates lasting memories

The impression attendees take away from an event often has much to do with the interactive activities we experience and if nothing exciting happens. It ends up being just another average event. 

That’s where brand activation comes in to help your attendees form lasting memories associated with your brand through activities like workshops, product demos, live performances. 

So, are these brand activation ideas always at the top of the priority list in event planning? 

Absolutely not. Can they make or break your event engagement? Absolutely.

Encourages participation

Don’t wait for things to come up naturally — they never do, but when you activate your brand through fun activities, AI chatbots, contests, and meet-and-greets, you’re, in a way, getting your audience excited to join in that event!

And with more participants comes better brand connection and with better brand connection, more won deals, and increased revenue. All thanks to brand activation. 

Cuts down marketing costs

Can brand activation boost revenue? Absolutely! But revenue alone doesn’t tell the whole story because this strategy is often more cost-effective than traditional advertising, and it’s more like an organic way to promote your brand to your target audience during your hosted event. 

Not only does brand activation deliver better results in the long run, but it also helps you cut down on the insane costs usually associated with marketing campaigns. 

Leverages technology

Brand activation is an invest-to-win game that requires a blend of creativity and technology. So why not go further and build your own interactive event app or digital engagement platform? A custom app not only entertains but also facilitates attendees’ interactions, tracks their engagement, and offers you more data to work with. 

Now you might be thinking, “Okay, that’s great, but what if I don’t have the resources to build it in-house?” Well, you can outsource it to a software development company like Relevant.software, that will help you create and release your bespoke app, without you doing any of the heavy lifting.

Differentiates Your Event

Using brand activation to make your event stand out is a terrific idea, just think about it: we’re living in a time where consumers are constantly bombarded with choices. You host an event that adds real value to your attendees (and proves you don’t just talk the talk) through hands-on workshops, storytelling, and activities that speak to your audience. 

Your events will become the talk of the town the next day because you went the extra mile and showcased your brand in a way that feels authentic and relatable. After all, what are events really about? Engaging customers and building brand loyalty, right?

10 brand activation ideas and examples

Now that you know how brand activation can impact your event engagement by making events more interactive, personal, and memorable for attendees, it’s time to explore some real-life examples and ideas to know the process of doing this a bit better.

Let’s get into some hands-on work!

Distribute branded giveaways

Nobody likes tests and exams, true. But contests and giveaways aren’t your everyday basics.

Organize fun branded giveaways and contests related to your industry to boost participation, create buzz, and share the experience on your socials. You can hand out prizes like stickers, keychains, t-shirts, cups—basically anything that gets your brand out there!

Need some ideas to get you started? Ahrefs crushed it with their creative giveaways by blending fun and personalization. Attendees would pick a card, answer a few questions, and if they’re lucky, they’d win an Ahrefs sticker, book, or manual based on their result. Simple, engaging, and super effective!

Include a recreational activity

How do you show off your brand culture on social media during events? Through recreational activities, of course!

These activities are powerful enough to attract the attention of people who identify with your brand values and give them a glimpse into the behind-the-scenes vibe of your team’s work environment.

Airtable, the famous project management software, got very creative with their recent social event, where they hosted a recreational luncheon to celebrate Black History Month. This activity perfectly reflects Airtable’s core values—talk about soft power in action!

Leverage Social Walls

Your work doesn’t end with the event; now it’s time to make some noise on social media. What better way to do that than with Walls.io? Post some user-generated content of the event on your social media wall, photos from your pop-up shops, influencers featuring your brand, shoutouts from brand partners, testimonials from attendees. Anything event-related will do! 

Oh, and don’t forget to push those event hashtags. 

Intel HPC—who doesn’t know Intel? The giant technology company behind the microprocessors that power our computers. It’s pretty obvious that they host multiple events each year to showcase their latest product features, new launches, computers, etc.  

As soon as guests click on the social wall icon, they’ll be directed to a feed that shows their latest tech news, upcoming conferences, and everything in between. It’s a great way to keep your attendees engaged even after the event ends!