The Best Experiential Marketing Campaigns of 2022
E2 Marketing Solutions
February 15, 2024
Experiential Marketing has become an effective marketing channel for brand strategy, aiming to create memorable and immersive experiences for consumers. In 2022, hundreds of brands took this concept to new heights, delivering event-based campaigns that engaged audiences in unique and creative ways. Each year, innovation and imagination seem to climb to a whole new level, and we’re picking out our favorite campaigns from 2022.
The 21st Annual Ex Awards by Event Marketer
Each Spring, Event Marketer hosts the Ex Awards Gala to celebrate and recognize last year’s best experiential marketing campaigns. The Ex Awards is considered the oldest recognition program in the industry and has been showcasing innovative work since 2002. In May of 2023, brand executives, marketers, and experiential focused agencies made their way to Las Vegas to celebrate the 21st Annual Ex Awards event. The Oscar style night is one big party of recognition, with over 100 awards handed out covering 34 categories. Each category is awarded 3 winners in a first, second, and third place structure: Ex Award, Gold Finalist, and Silver Finalist.
We’ve reviewed the full breakdown of every Ex Award category, campaign, and award winners & finalists, and selected what we consider – the very best of the best.
The Best 5 Experiential Marketing Campaigns of 2022
Reviewing and researching over 100 different experiential marketing campaigns is a lot of work, but it’s also great practice for any marketing executive. Thoughtfulness, innovation, execution, and creativity on these campaigns can rub off and inspire new ideas for the brand you work on. It’s another form of marketing fuel, the stuff that really gets the mind juices flowing.
We’re dialing in our 5 favorite campaigns, ones that drove the most attendance, had the largest impact, most creativity, and more. Let’s dive in and spark some inspiration.
Biggest Impact - Experiential Marketing Campaign of 2022
You wouldn’t expect a massive global computer hardware and software company, Hewlett- Packard (HP), to mix well with Gen Z and Millennial audiences at the 6 day Coachella Festival, but boy did they pull it off.
HP’s goal was to spread the good word of sustainability through an immersive multi-sensory experience. Partnering with Infinity Marketing Team to lead the activation, a massive 11,000 square foot dome was erected in the desert. With an appearance like a giant igloo and perfectly suitable to attract attendees looking to escape the desert heat, the HP Antarctic Dome displayed a 360-degree visual and audio show above 500 inflatable planetarium style seats. Over 80,000 festival goers sat back and experienced a 5-minute trippy film named “REGEN” created by well-known digital artists and musicians.
After the show, fans exited into a sperate space where they could use HP products to create custom art pieces and interact with displays that promoted HP’s mission of sustainability. The event also had a “selfie-ready” green screen powered by 120 cameras which created 360-degree GIFs of festival goers within scenes of the film they just experienced.
The entire immersive dome experience was even minted into a Non-Fungible Token (NFT) and sold for $145,000 with proceeds donated to the Arbor Day Foundation supporting HP’s sustainability messaging.
Beyond the HP Antarctic Dome, the experience continued into the social media universe. HP promoted a TikTok challenge, #HPSustaintableSounds, where people meshed music with nature and shared their sustainable creations with the world. The challenge went extremely viral, with over 1.3 million posts that produced close to 11 billion social media impressions.
The HP REGEN at Coachella event drove the 7th largest number of attendees compared to other Ex Award experiential marketing winners plus drove almost 10 times more social media impressions than any other event, and that’s what we consider, the Biggest Impact.
HP REGEN at Coachella
Campaign Highlights
- Ex Award Winner - Best Omnichannel Event
- 80,000 Attendees
- 10.9 Billion Social Media Impressions
- $145,000 in Charitable Donations
Most Attended - Experiential Marketing Campaign of 2022
The character based powerhouse Marvel Entertainment was on the verge of launching their new mobile card game app, Marvel Snap, and they couldn’t have picked a more perfect location to make an intro to their fanbase than the October 2022 New York Comic-Con Convention.
Partnering with experiential marketing agency FG|PG, the objective was aimed to create an immersive experience around the new mobile game that drove buzz and excitement to future potential players. The result was a multi-media, tech infused explosion of interactive elements that escaped reality and transported fans into the Marvel Multiverse.
The team generated heavy traffic to the perimeter of the booth by erecting 2 story tall buildings resembling elements of the Marvel Universe and could be seen from over 200 feet away. The center of the experience showcased the main activation element, the Marvel Snap Collectors Cube, a 1000 cubic foot structure with over 2,000 fans per day stepping inside.
The Cube resembled a main component of the new game, Cosmic Cubes, and once attendees stepped inside, they found themselves surrounded by digital screens behind two-way mirrors that produced an infinite and levitating experience. On the display screens, fans could interact with original animated content and over 200 “Marvel Snap Cards” designed to introduce them to the new mobile app.
After exiting the Collectors Cube, convention goers scanned QR codes to preregister and play the game before its official release date. Once the game was released in late October, it curated over 5 Million downloads and ranked the #1 downloaded game within the Apple and Google App stores.
Over the course of the 4-day Comic-Con Convention, the Marvel Snap prelaunch event attracted 200,000+ engagements with over 40,000 attendees visiting the booth. Now that’s a superhero activation!
Marvel SNAP Launch
Campaign Highlights
- Ex Award Gold Finalist - Best Tradeshow Activation
- 200,000+ Engagements & 40,000+ Attendees in Booth
- 130 Million Social Media Impressions
- 5.4 Million Downloads
- #1 Downloaded Game in Apple and Google Store
Most Awarded - Experiential Marketing Campaign of 2022
Mega insurance company State Farm was on a mission to introduce their services to the next wave of potential customers. The challenge was huge, insurance as a topic of conversation can lose any consumers attention, but they needed an experience that captivated and engaged young minds.
State Farm tapped experiential marketing agency Infinity Marketing Team to focus their cross hairs on Gen Z and Millennial audiences, and what better way to do so than hosting a huge video game competition and connecting through social media outlets. Backed by the brand spokesperson “Jake from State Farm”, a five episode streaming video series known as the “Gamerhood Challenge” was created.
The reality TV style episodes featured 8 world-renowned gamers and streamers, competing for the ultimate grand prize while dodging “insurable” type obstacles thrown their way. State Farm used a 50,000 square foot space in Austin to build a visually captivating mock neighborhood with miniature houses erected on a suburban style cul-de-sac. Each gamer resided in charming tiny homes while they streamed the video game competition across Rooster Teeth and Twitch platforms.
During the live streamed episodes, State Farm mixed things up by launching random destructive events at the eSport contestants such as bursting water pipes and tornado blown out windows, all followed by clever “insurable moment” messaging. The first episode alone drove in 1.3 Million viewers whom watched the shenanigans unfold but also had an ability to engage with the event and win prizes through online trivia competitions and interactive games. The 5th Episode season finale awarded the “Key to the Gamerhood” to the top contestant as well as a $100,000 donation to Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals.
When it was all said and done, the streaming event generated over 1 Billion impressions and Millions of live streaming and on demand views, teeing them up for an upcoming sequel event in 2023. State Farm’s Gamerhood Challenge won two Ex Awards in sperate categories, not an easy feat, and receives our recognition for most Ex Awards on a single experiential marketing campaign!
Gamerhood Challenge
Campaign Highlights
- Ex Award Winner - Best eSports or Gaming Experience
- Ex Award Silver Finalist - Biggest Leap of Faith Award
- 1+ Billion Combined Impressions
- 5 Million Live Views on Twitch & Rooster Teeth
- 4.2 Million Video-On-Demand Views
- 57 Million P.R. Impressions
- $100,000 in Charitable Donations
Best Response Mechanism - Experiential Marketing Campaign of 2022
For months the relatively new streaming service Paramount+ had been promoting the debut of its newest video game based series Halo, but with just 2 weeks left until the premier on March 24th, they wanted to make one final out of this world impact.
The location was SXSW in Austin Texas, a musical, film, and tech festival ripe with attendees who resonate with the video game franchise. The plan was to light up the skies of Austin with a futuristic drone show depicting 300-foot-tall characters, vehicles, and other images from the Halo universe.
Paramount formed a three Agency collaboration between Giant Spoon who coordinated the entire stunt, Sky Elements who supplied the drones, and Drone Dudes who handled the capture of the event from afar.
More than 400 drones spanning over 600 feet across displayed branded Halo and Paramount+ logos, but the star of the show was a scannable QR code that took viewers to a landing page to access the Halo TV Series trailer. Multiple local news outlets covered the event and Halo hashtags on social media exploded. Paramount+ also reported that once the series premiered in late March, it held the #1 Sci-Fi position for weeks and was their biggest domestic and global premier on their platform to date.
The SXSW event attracted over 250,000 people, and the Halo drone show flew a total of 6 times over two sperate evenings. Data was not available on how many people scanned the QR code but based on the attendance numbers and the success of the series launch, you can bet it was off the charts. Now that is one galactic response mechanism!
Halo Drone Activation at SXSW
Campaign Highlights
- Ex Award Gold Finalist - Best P.R. Stunt
- Biggest Domestic & Global Premier for Paramount+
- #1 Streaming Sci-Fi Series
Most Creative - Experiential Marketing Campaign of 2022
Halo wasn’t the only star of the 2022 SXSW festival, a popular NFT (non-fungible token) entertainment company, Doodles also put together a crowd stopping activation in Austin. Next up, Doodles trained their sights on the NFT.NYC event in New York to promote their newest NFT collection, Doodles 2.
Doodles creates and distributes live digital experiences and has also developed a community driven NFT collectibles platform which consists of colorful avatar style characters and accessories. These digital assets hold major value, impressively over $500 million in sales to date with an average sale price over $5,000 per Doodle. The unique charm of the Doodles ecosystem has attracted celebrity collectors such as Justin Beiber, Eminem, Marshmello, Snoop Dogg, and even Pharell Williams was recently tapped to be the company’s Chief Brand Officer.
Doodles brought on experiential marketing agency Deeplocal to create a colorful and immersive experience named the “Genesis Factory”. Attendees stepped into the pastel color palate factory and were immediately greeted by familiar characters of the Doodle universe and an interactive “Doodlebot”. The main activation element was 3 interactive “Minting Machines” where fans swiped their credentials, tapped touchscreens, pulled levers and cranks to create their own custom “Genesis Boxes”.
The Genesis Boxes gave the Doodle NFT owners 2 new wearable accessories for their avatar and early access to the upcoming Doodles 2 ecosystem. Over 1400 Genesis Boxes were sold on site for $123 each and fans could also print their new artwork on t-shirts in real time at the “Doodles-Press”.
The activation was a huge success for the brand, not only producing on-site sales, but gaining a ton of social media attention. The buzz around the launch of Doodles 2 also produced major online traffic, surging online sales over 1000% with a value of $3.2 Million. Now that’s a colorfully creative experience with numbers to back it up.
Doodles Genesis Factory NFT.NYC
Campaign Highlights
- Ex Award Gold Finalist - Best Use of Technology (Consumer)
- 150,000 Social Media Views
- Over $170,000 in On-Site Sales
- 1000% Increase to Online Sales Valued at $3.2 Million
Summing it Up
The 21st Ex Awards event showcased and awarded over 100 unique and creative Experiential Marketing campaigns of 2022. Sifting through the list and selecting our favorites is no easy task, and every activation deserves considerable credit. Clients like Prime Video who won 5 Ex Awards on 5 separate campaigns, and 3-time winner American Express deserve credit as well to say the least. The talent, effort, and execution and last year’s event-based events were immeasurable.
Connecting with your customers through Experiential Marketing is one of the most effective ways to build brand awareness, engagement, and loyalty. It’s an opportunity to show the true personality of your brand and make a deep-rooted impact, and it’s also just downright fun.
Looking to learn more about what you can do for your brand through unique and engaging event marketing? Jamie of E2 Marketing Solutions has launched several experiential marketing campaigns and has even won 3 Ex Awards herself. Contact us today to learn more and take your brand to the next level!