{"id":1917,"date":"2014-08-19T20:00:47","date_gmt":"2014-08-19T20:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theswitch.us\/blog\/?p=1917"},"modified":"2014-08-20T22:37:54","modified_gmt":"2014-08-20T22:37:54","slug":"challenges-activating-event-10000-people","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/switch.us\/blog\/challenges-activating-event-10000-people\/","title":{"rendered":"Challenges of Activating at an Event with 100,000+ People"},"content":{"rendered":"
Leveraging an existing crowd to create brand engagement can be a strategic move, as long as you adequately prepare.<\/address>\n

 <\/p>\n

Whether it is a music festival, a racing event or a World Series, a large-scale event will often draw in thousands of excited attendees. Naturally, brands also want to jump in to the action. Crowds = exposure to potential buyers! Crowds = profit! Right???<\/p>\n

In reality, it\u2019s not so simple. There are plenty of challenges involved in setting up camp at a 100,000-person event. This list isn\u2019t to discourage, but to empower. So let\u2019s dig in.<\/p>\n

Challenge 1: Understand whom you\u2019re reaching<\/h1>\n

This challenge is listed first because it\u2019s part of the research process. As a brand, you should have a clear idea of which audience you\u2019re trying to target. But does the event attract those people? Are the effort and resources required for an activation worth the potential result? Research illuminates the interests, psychographics, motivations and trends among your audience. This information allows you to find the right field staff so you can have the best chance of creating strong connections with the individuals that engage with your brand.<\/p>\n

Challenge 2: Fight Special Snowflake Syndrome<\/h1>\n

Crowds don\u2019t automatically earn you attention. It\u2019s important to remember that you\u2019re not<\/i> the main event. You\u2019re not a special snowflake. Simply showing up \u2013 and even handing out free stuff \u2013 isn\u2019t always enough. Digging into the aforementioned research, it pays to deeply understand the market so you can create an engagement that will stand out from the crowd, the other brands and the main event. With a little creativity and divergent thinking, you can deliver an experience that will supplement the concert, fair or sporting event without competing with it.<\/p>\n

Challenge 3: Prepare your army<\/h1>\n

Once you have a staff of brave brand ambassadors, make sure they\u2019re prepared for the chaos and excitement. There are the obvious measures to take: outfit your staff with brand- and weather-appropriate garb, ensure they eat a hearty breakfast, make sure they arrive earlier than necessary, etc. However, beyond the logistics, the key is training; it\u2019s essential. They need to know the brand inside and out \u2013 and have the confidence and knowledge to draw in prospective customers and talk about the product. A field staff also needs to be equipped with the resources to capture information about audience. In a way, the engagement can serve as a large-scale focus group, giving the brand granular insight into the wants of their target audience.<\/p>\n

Challenge 4: Transcend the physical realm<\/h1>\n

The beauty of activations in the 21st<\/sup> century is that the experience can exist and linger within social media channels, which can quickly reach a much wider pool of people. When a brand goes above and beyond with it\u2019s activation, people will talk. They\u2019ll also snap photos to share on their networks. Clearly communicate a hashtag for people to use; this streamlines the conversation, makes it easier to connect experiences and monitor any social media activity. Besides social media, you can integrate a digital aspect into your hands-on activation, such as post-event communications, trackable coupons or on-site digital activities.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, the end-goal of an activation is to provide an experience that is worth people\u2019s time and attention. Coinciding with a major event can be either a blessing or a curse. On one hand, you have the opportunity to reach tens of thousands of people at once \u2013 but on the other hand, you are also facing a thousand different distractions. How well your activation is imagined, researched, implemented and measured will guide you to overall success in your investment.<\/p>\n

To further pick Michael’s brain on the subject, contact him at MichaelC@theswitch.us<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Leveraging an existing crowd to create brand engagement can be a strategic move, as long as you adequately prepare. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":1918,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,2,1,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1917","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-experiential","category-featured","category-featured-home","category-how-to"],"yoast_head":"\nChallenges of Activating at an Event with 100,000+ People - sw:tch blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/switch.us\/blog\/challenges-activating-event-10000-people\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Challenges of Activating at an Event with 100,000+ People - sw:tch blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Leveraging an existing crowd to create brand engagement can be a strategic move, as long as you adequately prepare.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/switch.us\/blog\/challenges-activating-event-10000-people\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"sw:tch blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-08-19T20:00:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-08-20T22:37:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/switch.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/powerade.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"575\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Switch Marketing Team\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Switch Marketing Team\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/switch.us\\\/blog\\\/challenges-activating-event-10000-people\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/switch.us\\\/blog\\\/challenges-activating-event-10000-people\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Switch Marketing Team\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/switch.us\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/3faa6a5ff850b9c26f73be6015a7367c\"},\"headline\":\"Challenges of Activating at an Event with 100,000+ People\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-08-19T20:00:47+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-08-20T22:37:54+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/switch.us\\\/blog\\\/challenges-activating-event-10000-people\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":630,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/switch.us\\\/blog\\\/challenges-activating-event-10000-people\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/switch.us\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/08\\\/powerade.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Experiential\",\"Featured\",\"Featured Home\",\"How To\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/switch.us\\\/blog\\\/challenges-activating-event-10000-people\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/switch.us\\\/blog\\\/challenges-activating-event-10000-people\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/switch.us\\\/blog\\\/challenges-activating-event-10000-people\\\/\",\"name\":\"Challenges of Activating at an Event with 100,000+ People - sw:tch blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/switch.us\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/switch.us\\\/blog\\\/challenges-activating-event-10000-people\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/switch.us\\\/blog\\\/challenges-activating-event-10000-people\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/switch.us\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/08\\\/powerade.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-08-19T20:00:47+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-08-20T22:37:54+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/switch.us\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/3faa6a5ff850b9c26f73be6015a7367c\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/switch.us\\\/blog\\\/challenges-activating-event-10000-people\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/switch.us\\\/blog\\\/challenges-activating-event-10000-people\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/switch.us\\\/blog\\\/challenges-activating-event-10000-people\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/switch.us\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/08\\\/powerade.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/switch.us\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/08\\\/powerade.jpg\",\"width\":1280,\"height\":575,\"caption\":\"large-venue-activations\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/switch.us\\\/blog\\\/challenges-activating-event-10000-people\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/switch.us\\\/blog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Experiential\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/switch.us\\\/blog\\\/category\\\/experiential\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Challenges of Activating at an Event with 100,000+ People\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/switch.us\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/switch.us\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"sw:tch blog\",\"description\":\"sw:tch board\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/switch.us\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/switch.us\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/3faa6a5ff850b9c26f73be6015a7367c\",\"name\":\"Switch Marketing Team\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/c4ce5dddb626bbcc8dec5cc96b438437ae47f1530f70a3fe6cb428480a662909?s=96&d=https%3A%2F%2Fswitch.us%2Fblog%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2025%2F07%2Fcropped-dots-150x150.jpg&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/c4ce5dddb626bbcc8dec5cc96b438437ae47f1530f70a3fe6cb428480a662909?s=96&d=https%3A%2F%2Fswitch.us%2Fblog%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2025%2F07%2Fcropped-dots-150x150.jpg&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/c4ce5dddb626bbcc8dec5cc96b438437ae47f1530f70a3fe6cb428480a662909?s=96&d=https%3A%2F%2Fswitch.us%2Fblog%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2025%2F07%2Fcropped-dots-150x150.jpg&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Switch Marketing Team\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/switch.us\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/switch\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Challenges of Activating at an Event with 100,000+ People - sw:tch blog","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/switch.us\/blog\/challenges-activating-event-10000-people\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Challenges of Activating at an Event with 100,000+ People - sw:tch blog","og_description":"Leveraging an existing crowd to create brand engagement can be a strategic move, as long as you adequately prepare.","og_url":"https:\/\/switch.us\/blog\/challenges-activating-event-10000-people\/","og_site_name":"sw:tch blog","article_published_time":"2014-08-19T20:00:47+00:00","article_modified_time":"2014-08-20T22:37:54+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1280,"height":575,"url":"https:\/\/switch.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/powerade.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Switch Marketing Team","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Switch Marketing Team","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/switch.us\/blog\/challenges-activating-event-10000-people\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/switch.us\/blog\/challenges-activating-event-10000-people\/"},"author":{"name":"Switch Marketing Team","@id":"https:\/\/switch.us\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/3faa6a5ff850b9c26f73be6015a7367c"},"headline":"Challenges of Activating at an Event with 100,000+ People","datePublished":"2014-08-19T20:00:47+00:00","dateModified":"2014-08-20T22:37:54+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/switch.us\/blog\/challenges-activating-event-10000-people\/"},"wordCount":630,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/switch.us\/blog\/challenges-activating-event-10000-people\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/switch.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/powerade.jpg","articleSection":["Experiential","Featured","Featured Home","How To"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/switch.us\/blog\/challenges-activating-event-10000-people\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/switch.us\/blog\/challenges-activating-event-10000-people\/","url":"https:\/\/switch.us\/blog\/challenges-activating-event-10000-people\/","name":"Challenges of Activating at an Event with 100,000+ People - sw:tch blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/switch.us\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/switch.us\/blog\/challenges-activating-event-10000-people\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/switch.us\/blog\/challenges-activating-event-10000-people\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/switch.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/powerade.jpg","datePublished":"2014-08-19T20:00:47+00:00","dateModified":"2014-08-20T22:37:54+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/switch.us\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/3faa6a5ff850b9c26f73be6015a7367c"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/switch.us\/blog\/challenges-activating-event-10000-people\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/switch.us\/blog\/challenges-activating-event-10000-people\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/switch.us\/blog\/challenges-activating-event-10000-people\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/switch.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/powerade.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/switch.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/powerade.jpg","width":1280,"height":575,"caption":"large-venue-activations"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/switch.us\/blog\/challenges-activating-event-10000-people\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/switch.us\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Experiential","item":"https:\/\/switch.us\/blog\/category\/experiential\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Challenges of Activating at an Event with 100,000+ People"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/switch.us\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/switch.us\/blog\/","name":"sw:tch blog","description":"sw:tch board","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/switch.us\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/switch.us\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/3faa6a5ff850b9c26f73be6015a7367c","name":"Switch Marketing Team","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c4ce5dddb626bbcc8dec5cc96b438437ae47f1530f70a3fe6cb428480a662909?s=96&d=https%3A%2F%2Fswitch.us%2Fblog%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2025%2F07%2Fcropped-dots-150x150.jpg&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c4ce5dddb626bbcc8dec5cc96b438437ae47f1530f70a3fe6cb428480a662909?s=96&d=https%3A%2F%2Fswitch.us%2Fblog%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2025%2F07%2Fcropped-dots-150x150.jpg&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c4ce5dddb626bbcc8dec5cc96b438437ae47f1530f70a3fe6cb428480a662909?s=96&d=https%3A%2F%2Fswitch.us%2Fblog%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2025%2F07%2Fcropped-dots-150x150.jpg&r=g","caption":"Switch Marketing Team"},"url":"https:\/\/switch.us\/blog\/author\/switch\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/switch.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1917","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/switch.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/switch.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/switch.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/switch.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1917"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/switch.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1917\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1972,"href":"https:\/\/switch.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1917\/revisions\/1972"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/switch.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1918"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/switch.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1917"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/switch.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1917"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/switch.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1917"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}