Photo booths have come a long way over the years. From mall kiosks to wedding staples. But the new-found ah-ha moment for photo booths is brand activation.
And it makes sense, people love to share photos of themselves on social media, so if you’re a business that needs to build an online presence, why not take advantage of the photo booth’s most modern capabilities.
1. What is Brand Activation?
Brand activation is a fairly new marketing term. Basically, it refers to getting your brand name out to the public. Think of brand activation as a kick-start to getting your business noticed, or re-branded.
In a sense, it’s similar to launching your business to the world. And if you’ve got something amazing to offer the world, no one will be buying it if they don’t know it exists.
What sets brand activation apart from a regular marketing campaign is the implementation of consumer engagement. In other words, your business is engaging directly with consumers, and using the experience as a branding activity.
And that’s where photo booths or video booths comes in.
2. How Does a Photo Booth & Video Booth Help With Brand Activation?
As we were saying, photo booths have a ton of features, bells, and whistles. One of the most attractive of these features is the ability for photos & videos to be shared instantly on social media.
And in an age of social media, you know what that means…everyone sees the amazing content, thus, your brand.
By utilizing a photo or video booth in your brand activation campaign, you are engaging your customers, igniting their interest in your brand, and creating a valuable relationship through the photos they take and share.
Plus, if the videos & images go viral, you’re in an even better situation to extend your reach and brand awareness around the world (or just locally if that’s more your jam).
3. Do I Need a Brand Activation Campaign?
Brand activations are perfect for new budding businesses that need to kickstart their brand awareness.
Again, if no one knows you’re out there, then your business will remain stagnant.
New businesses benefit greatly from brand activations because they are demonstrating that they’re interested in (and engaged with) their ideal audience.
On the other hand, seasoned businesses can also benefit from a brand activation and the publicity it can bring forth. Surprising current customers with something new, modern, and interactive can bring the spotlight back to a business that needs a tune-up.
4. Where Can I Activate my Brand?
One of the most popular ways to use a photo & video booth to activate your brand is to set one up right smack-dab in the middle of your business location (if applicable).
For example, a hot new pub may want to bring in a new crowd over the weekend, so, they set up a social photo booth, allow customers to engage with it. And, as usual, the photos, gif’s and boomerangs will be shared instantly to the social media following of the current customer base.
Hashtags and shares occur and friends of friends start showing up at the new pub…because that’s where the funs at (obviously)!
Other places to use a photo booth to activate your brand are:
- Trade Shows: Not only are trade shows great for networking with other businesses and potential customers, but they’re also a place to set up shop and get some pictures & videos of them in a natural environment.
- Conferences: Conferences can make your business look professional, engaged, and relevant in your industry. Having a booth set up to share amazing content with your brand on it (of other pros in your industry is) the icing on the cake.
- Product Launches: Product launches are a great way to showcase your customers using a new product. People love seeing others using something new, especially gadgets, and if they see photos of their friends using them, they may want to jump on the bandwagon too!
- In-Store – Or your clothing store! It’s hard to resist a photo op or a 360 video booth nowadays. So when your guests are shoping around for your novelties, your photo booth is the perfect opportunity for them to capture the moment, and then share online (showcasing your business!)
5. How Can I Create a Custom Experience with a Photo Booth?
Photo booths & Video Booths are the perfect option for brand activation campaigns because they are extremely customizable.
The point of brand activation is twofold:
- Boost brand awareness
- Engage with your customers
All our booths do that. By personalizing your photo booth or Video booth options with props, special backgrounds, or templates/designs, your customers feel like you know them…and understand them.
Customers participating in your campaign will have memories to share, both digitally and physically (printouts) and there’s nothing better than having a picture-perfect memory, a 180 degrees photo or an amazing 360 video of a good experience with your business.
And here’s the hidden gem when it comes to engagement:
Photo booths & Video booths collect data about your customers…like email addresses.
You see where we’re going here?
With this valuable information, you can nurture your audience, remain top of mind, and engage with them on a regular basis.
Win-Win.
6. Brand Activation Inspiration From Other Companies
In each of these examples, you’ll see that the brands are engaging their customers or potential customers in a mutually beneficial way.
Diamond Supply Company utilized pop-culture t-shirts in their brand activation campaign even though their actual company has very little to do with Space Jam and the NBA. Regardless, it is a genius way to engage their target audience.
Breville partners with a charity that engages consumers in a way that makes them feel emotional, and helpful about the cause they are contributing to.
This Toyota RAV4 billboard engaged onlookers in an extremely powerful way. Watching the rock climber and encouraging her was a natural way to incorporate the audience into the branding of this campaign.
As you can see, each of these companies utilized human nature to activate or reactivate their brands. It is quite clear that each also knew their audience extremely well, and how to engage them in their campaign. Whether it was by wearing a T-Shirt with their favorite cartoon character or by dropping a live personal challenge smack dab in the middle of Times Square.
And while these campaigns are extremely impressive, you can have the same effect on your audience on a smaller scale.
7. Tips for An Effective Brand Activation
Brand activation campaigns may sound simple because you’re actually putting some of the work on your customers (who also get something out of it). But the truth is, there are a few things you need to consider when planning your brand activation that will ensure it’s a success.
Know Your Audience
If you plan to use a photo booth or a video booth for your brand activation, your audience must be receptive to the vehicle. If your brand is geared toward millennials, for example, then a 360 Slow Motion Video Booth with social sharing options is most likely going to be a hit with the group.
When using a photo booth as a brand activation activity, consider both your business and your audience. And try not to put your business front and center.
It’s a delicate dance between being salesy and a friendly, helpful, business. You want to try your best to hit the sweet spot between the two, and part of it is knowing who you’re targeting.
Because they need to be the center of attention.
Understand Your Goals
When planning your brand activation activities, you should consider what you’d like the outcome of the campaign to be.
Ask yourself what image you’d like to portray, for example.
And if you’re using a photo booth for brand activation, match backgrounds, props, and templates to this image (with a 360 Spinner, you don’t even need any props). Think about brand colors, fonts, slogans, and hashtags.
These seemingly small things are extremely important in any kind of launch or marketing campaign because they have lasting effects on your audience.
Be Consistent
Brand activations may happen in a single day, or it could be a well-planned quarterly campaign. Either way, it’s important to continue to provide the same message, branding, and voice during each event, otherwise, it defeats the purpose.
Humanize Your Brand
One of the surest ways to connect with your audience is to relate to them…or be human. Always do your best to think like the customer and not the business owner. This will ensure you’re not being salesy and you are relatable.
If your ideal client can relate to you, or feel like you’re talking directly to them and their pain points, you’re going to have bigger wins with your brand activation.
With a video booth or photo booth, colors and branding that match your business are important, but perhaps providing props that merge your brand and your ideal customer are more natural rather than forcing the brand message on your brand activation customers.
Because consumers can smell sleazy sales a mile away.
And, by the way, what is more personal than a video or photo booth?
Many know that renting them can be costly, and they’ll be surprised that you’ve put the money into the rental for them to enjoy without a charge. It’s a nice surprise for your customers, and you’ll get the benefits of social sharing.
A perfect merging of benefits for you, and your customers.
Surprise Your Customers
If you’re in the middle of rebranding, or your business needs a jumpstart, the element of surprise is going to be your ace-in-the-hole.
Taking your customers off-guard by doing something unexpected will jolt them into engagement.
Especially if you have loyal customers that have gone stale
Don’t Overdo It
Remember how we said that customers can smell a sales pitch a mile away?
Well, that’s why you want to try to keep your campaign as natural, and customer-centered, as possible. It’s also why a social photo booth fits the bill; your customers are already taking selfies and sharing on social media. 360 video booths are a bit different. Just because of it’s new aspect of videos, everybody wants one.
In short, it blends seamlessly into their lives, and they see it as a fun perk..all while assisting you in your campaign!
8. Experiential Marketing is Here to Stay
Marketing to engage with your audience is one of the best ways to build customer loyalty. Interacting and involving your audience in your branding campaign creates memories and brings your customers back over and over again.
Actions and activities leave a longstanding mark on consumers, so when they are involved directly with your business, if done right, it can create a lasting relationship, and spill over into new relationships through referrals.
Ready to activate your brand with a Photo Booth or 360 Video Booth in Chicago or Nationwide? We offer long-term installment rentals of our booths for restaurants, or (short term) daily or weekly events . Lock in your photo booth rental and start your brand activation campaign today!
