Something that has disappointed me over the years is the common use of the word “promoters” when referring to the services provided by agencies and coordinators who supply brand promoters, to experiential and event marketing agencies. However, I am certain that agencies planning for a flawless execution, do not wish to entrust this core job of providing Brand Ambassadors to a team that views this service simply as filling in numbers.
Arguably, the field personnel in any experiential marketing program are the most vital components. After all, no matter how innovative your concept or how perfect your strategy may be, just filling in brand ambassadors for numbers can get any activation to hit disaster fast. There are certain crucial points every experiential agency must pay detailed attention to , as most often the brand promoters identification and selection is being done at the 11th hour, when there are more crucial issues the agency is facing on last minuite creative changes, production issues, logistics being chalked out for a national rollout , there is very little time and attention paid to the selection of the right brand ambassadors.
A few points that agencies need to keep in mind
A poorly screened brand ambassador can potentially ruin the brand’s reputation and value.
Training the brand ambassador on all they need to know about the brand, remember only the essentials , this is not a PHD course where they will not comprehend the core facts they need to know due to an excess information overload.
A dummy run of the entire process is essential to let them know and understand their role play and the objective of their presence
Finally they must also be professionally managed during the course of the execution, preferably by a team of people who are experienced marketers.
Words of advice to brands and their agency partners – make sure that a realistic budget is allocated in order to ensure that only the best people are selected to represent the brand in the field. Anything less can unnecessarily place both the brand and program at risk.