This report shares our latest insights into Tech & Digital industry’s core experiential marketing trends.

Our study features the perspectives of 15 C-suite executives and over 750 senior brand marketers across more than 12 industries, found through interviews and surveys. 

The complete report, which provides comprehensive analysis and detailed visuals, will be available shortly on our website. 

In the interim, our exclusive Tech & Digital industry preview performs a deep-dive into how brands can leverage experiential marketing to sustain their competitive edge by offering unique consumer experiences.

Experiential Budget and Resource Allocation in Tech & Digital

All industries in the study lean toward mid-sized budgets, although Tech & Digital shows a larger spread. Differing company sizes and changing demands within the sector can lead to greater variance in budget allocation, as brands test new digital tools.

• Experiential budget growth is commonplace, with 77% of Tech & Digital companies and 81% across all industries reporting increases that range from slight to significant.

• For the Tech & Digital sector, more than half of respondents (59%) reported a slight increase, whereas for all industries this was almost half (51%).  

• This insight suggests that experiential marketing budgets in Tech & Digital tend to increase at a moderate, steady pace. 

Chris Schmicker, Director of Brand Marketing at Shopify says: “Brands must take a long-term view on brand building. Without investments like experiential, brands fall off the map.”

Overall, the Tech & Digital sector’s distribution is closely aligned with general industry trends and a very low percentage of respondents reported any decrease in experiential marketing budgets.

Experiential Marketing Strategy

All industries provided in the study share similar attitudes as to which areas should be viewed as experiential.

• The need to build experiential connections is emphasized, with Partnerships / Collaborations and Influencer Content Creation highly prioritized across Tech & Digital (46% and 43%, respectively) and all industries (52% each).

• Perhaps to be expected, experiences through the Metaverse are slightly more common in Tech & Digital (33%) compared to the broader industry (27%), reflecting the sector's early adoption of virtual environments.

Main experiential objectives, however, show greater variance between Tech & Digital against all industries.

Innovation / Test Marketing is identified by 64% of Tech & Digital respondents as a main objective, higher than across all industries (46%). This increased focus may be driven by a desire to use events as a means of introducing and testing new products in the real-world.

Additionally, The tech sector's interest in creating genuine experiences is demonstrated by 39% of its respondents identifying Authenticity as a main objective, in contrast to 26% across all industries. 

Despite this, Emotional Connection is significantly less prioritized in Tech & Digital than the industry average (16% vs. 39%, respectively), which suggests a more practical approach.

Assessing ROI from Experiential Marketing

For the Tech & Digital sector, experiential marketing is increasingly focused on measurable sales and media exposure.

• When ranking the most important ROI metrics, Tech & Digital prioritizes Sales (58%) more than the all-industry average (50%), reflecting a focus on measurable revenue outcomes.

• In contrast, the average for other industries places a higher emphasis on Awareness (53%) and Loyalty (48%), suggesting a broader focus on brand-building and customer retention.

• At present, 67% of the Tech & Digital sector and 56% across all industries use Earned Media Value to gauge success, reflecting the value of media exposure.

Marie Gulin-Merle, GVP for Ads Marketing & Centers of Excellence at Google says: “Experiential is undergoing a second significant transformation. The first shift happened with social media—physical events connected with digital audiences and platforms via influencers and UGC.”

Tech’s Biggest Challenges in Experiential Marketing

As with all sectors, companies in Tech & Digital face challenges when it comes to experiential. Issues associated with internal cross-collaboration and budget allocation both surpass industry averages. 

• 60.66% of Tech & Digital respondents cite Internal Cross Collaboration as a primary challenge, compared to 52.46% across all industries, highlighting the complexity associated with effectively aligning specialized teams.

• 57.38% of Tech & Digital companies identify Budget Size & Allocation as a major challenge, compared to 47.54% across all industries, possibly due to high costs associated with integrating new technologies into experiential campaigns.

Furthermore, adapting to current trends is reported as a challenge slightly more frequently within the Tech & Digital sector (just over 1-in-5 respondents), underlining the need to keep pace with rapid innovation and changing consumer expectations.

However, stronger confidence for Tech & Digital in tracking and demonstrating ROI is shown, as 21.31% of Tech & Digital companies see Proving ROI as a challenge, compared to 31.15% in all industries.

Marie also says, “With the advent of AI and more connected online cultures, we are amidst another major transformation. Today’s technologies enable brands to scale, measure, and evaluate experiential marketing by embracing innovation.”

Integrating Experiential Marketing with Other Channels

Being able to integrate experiential marketing with other channels is highly favorable for brands, as the strategy can act as a key difference maker for consumers.

• Both Tech & Digital and the all-industry average prioritize Influencer (just over 50%) and Paid Social (just under 50%) at around the same levels.

• The broader industry displays less of an emphasis on Advertising (43.30%) when compared to Tech & Digital (52.46%).

• A majority in both groups agree on the benefits of Holistic Integration (Tech & Digital 67.21%, All Industries 72.21%).

The main integration stage for both groups tends to be during creative development. However, Tech & Digital integrates more frequently at the final stage of execution, highlighting the adaptability of tech campaigns.

Tech & Digital Industry Case Study: Gradient’s Experiential Marketing Campaign for Facebook/Meta

The challenge

Facebook wanted to showcase their transparency directly to users and enable them to put an approachable face to the brand.

The idea

Gradient created a pop-up in Bryant Park amongst the Holiday Markets where users could communicate directly with the brand, helping put privacy controls in the hands of consumers. 

The solution

Reinforcing the theme, the pop-up’s lightly frosted facade alluded to 'transparency' whilst blending seamlessly with neighboring attractions. 

One-to-one coffee chats with Facebookers ensured warm and honest brand encounters could take place, debunking myths, improving platform literacy, and shaking off brand cynicism.

The results

• 140% of the client’s target KPIs.

• 80% lift in consumer sentiment.

Discover the full story behind our Bryant Park pop-up for Facebook and see how they provided users with warm hospitality and personal tutorials.