As event marketers, we tend to focus on the high-profile, profit-driving initiatives first: invites, ticket sales, sponsorship campaigns, and the main program. While these are all critical parts of the event planning process, there is one powerful area at events that many marketers unintentionally ignore: the concourse.
This space, whether it’s the wrap-around walkway of an arena or just the hallway outside of the main presentation space at a conference, sees an incredible amount of action during events. From networking to meetings to entertainment, the concourse is where people actively go to talk to others, do business, and spend money. For marketers, the concourse presents an extremely lucrative activation opportunity to take advantage of an oft-used space to drive fan engagement and truly elevate the common concourse experience.
One activation strategy is sports sponsorship activation. This is a strategy used by brands to leverage their association with a particular sports event, team, or athlete to engage with their target audience more effectively. It involves executing various marketing and promotional activities that go beyond merely displaying a brand’s logo at an event, such as digital campaigns, social media contests, and exclusive content creation, to on-site experiences, product demonstrations, and direct fan engagement opportunities.
The goal of this experiential marketing is to create a memorable experience that resonates with the audience, enhancing brand awareness, building brand loyalty, and ultimately driving sales. Effective sponsorship activation capitalizes on the emotional connection the fan base has with their favorite sports, using this passion to foster a deeper connection between the brand and consumers.
Bringing the concourse into the larger story of your event
Whether you’re hosting a corporate event, trade show, sporting event, or just want to spread your brand message, activating the concourse can help elevate your efforts.
Leveraging LEDs
One exciting way to do this is by using LED to turn an empty concourse into a visual canvas of movement and excitement. From creating multi-screen video walls to covering the ceiling in interactive tiles that light up when people move underneath them, there is no shortage of creative possibilities with LEDs.
Optimizing Concourse Design
If you’re working with sponsors and other teams on your concourse design, think about collaborating on custom installations that reflect the partnership between your organization, your sponsor, and the larger audience. Your sponsors will appreciate the effort you’re giving to the partnership, and your audience will have a better grasp of why this partnership matters to them. It provides exposure for the sponsor and offers attendees more unique event experiences.
Creating Unique Experiences
Another way to activate the concourse is to leverage interactives to create unique branded experiences. This could be as simple as touch-enabled or social media content to re-engage visitors or a much more involved branded game or interactive art exhibit. Including socially-driven content or campaigns — such as a selfie wall or a hashtag aggregation station — brings together audience members and visitors to increase engagement and brand influence between them.
Leveraging the concourse space can help re-introduce your audience to the main concept of your brand and help to keep them focused during the event.
How one leading brand brought their concourse to life
When the Olympia Entertainment team set out to design the new Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, they knew that the overall design and creative aesthetic of the building had to be engaging enough for the newest generation of sports fans — a younger generation of experience seekers. And, by activating every inch of the concourse, they created a stadium like no other.
The new Little Caesars arena has over a dozen LED screens throughout the concourse to deliver engaging, creative content in new and exciting ways. The concourse is also home to multiple major sponsorship activations, which all leverage custom physical builds and tightly integrated tech. By leveraging innovative, immersive technology throughout the entire concourse, the Olympia Entertainment team has created a space where the event, sponsors, and outbound messaging are more compelling and more memorable to visitors.
By thinking outside of the box — or outside the main stage — your team can successfully bring the concourse into your overall event plan. Whether you’re working with a short stretch of hallway in a hotel conference center or an industry-leading multi-sport arena, including the concourse in your planning is something you cannot miss out on.
If you want to elevate the concourse at your next event, let’s chat. From subtle additions to the space to major activations, there are plenty of creative ways to bring this space into the mix. Hit the link below to contact us!
One Comment