Photo via LHS Magpie
A brand strategy case study
The case for experiential
Ads get skipped. Experiences get remembered.
How many ads have you seen today?
How many can you name?
Probably dozens, maybe hundreds. And you can probably name two or three. We're surrounded by ads, and almost none of them stick. This case study looks at why brands that want real attention now have to earn it in person: why ads stopped working, how big the experiential market is, where the smartest brands show up, and what's holding everyone else back.
The problem
81%
of consumers actively try to tune out ads
And 52% take real steps to block them, from ad-free subscriptions to ad blockers and VPNs.
I'm one of them. I swipe past ads on Instagram without registering what I saw. I'm in the room when the commercial plays, but I don't take it in. Brands are paying to be seen and still not being remembered.
Source: Gartner consumer surveys, 2025 (published April 2026)
From captive to chosen
Advertising has moved through three eras. Each one gave people more control over their attention.
Photo via Rare Historical Photos
01
Captive
TV and radio played the ad whether you wanted it or not. You just had to sit there.
Photo: CNET
02
Skip
Skip buttons, swipes and ad-free tiers. Streaming is now 48.6% of all TV viewing, and we've all learned to tune out.
Photo via ArchiDesiign
03
Invited
If brands can't force attention, they have to earn it by giving people something worth showing up for.
Source: Nielsen, The Gauge (May 2026)
The market
A $139 billion market, growing faster than ads
$139B
Global experiential marketing market in 2025, up 8.3%
$64B
U.S. market, the largest in the world, up 9%
+11.8%
Forecast U.S. growth in 2026
Experiential is still a slice of total advertising. But it's one of the fastest-growing slices, and the money is following attention.
Sources: PQ Media, Global Experiential Marketing Forecast (2026); WPP Media, This Year Next Year midyear forecast (June 2026)
Photo via Tiffany Giles, LinkedIn
It works
61%
of consumers are more inclined to buy after a brand event (EventTrack 2026)
98%
of brands say event ROI held steady or improved (EventTrack 2026)
2x
Emotionally connected customers are more than twice as valuable as satisfied ones (Harvard Business Review)
An ad can make you aware. An experience can make you feel something. That's the difference.
It pays twice
There's the activation itself, then there's everyone who sees people post about it. That second wave is earned media: publicity the brand didn't have to buy.
Photo: TODAY
01
The activation
738,459 Honey Deuces sold at the 2025 US Open, up 32%. At $23 each, that's about $17 million from one drink.
Screenshots from Instagram and TikTok
02
The posts
Fans post the drink every year. Grey Goose designed it to be “visually really attractive,” and it has become the tournament's unofficial mascot.
The posts do something a studio ad can't. Real photos from real people give a brand texture. You get to see what it actually looks like in real life.
Sources: Sportico (2025); Marketing Brew (2026)
Where brands show up
Brands don't have to build the crowd. They go where it already is. The first four stages are borrowed. The fifth is where brands got so good at this that they built their own.
- 01Sports moments
- 02Entertainment
- 03Art & fashion
- 04Out in public
- 05Permanent destinations
01 / Sports moments
The $10M ad is only half the game
A 30-second Super Bowl ad cost a record $10 million this year, and brands still built in-person experiences around the game. As one VaynerX executive put it, “The spot is only half the game.”
Photo via Event Marketer (2019 pop-up)
Super Bowl
Rao's
A five-night pop-up restaurant, 200 guests a night
Photo: Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff
World Cup 2026
Bank of America
Free custom bracelets in 11 cities. Lines ran for hours.
Photo via Event Marketer
US Open 2026
American Express
Fan experiences for everyone, plus premium spaces for cardmembers
Photo via Olympics.com
Milano Cortina 2026
Airbnb
A brand house plus 26 bookable athlete-led experiences
Sources: ABC News; Event Marketer; American Express; The Drum (2026)
02 / Entertainment
The festival is the media plan
At festivals, award shows and galas, everyone is posting. For these brands, the event isn't just a sponsorship. It's the media plan.
Photo via Instagram
Coachella 2026
Rhode
Games, touch-up rooms and cocktails that took over social feeds
Photo via The Drum
Coachella 2026
Barbie
A pink pop-up with a free charm bar
Photo: Audible (2025)
Sundance 2025
Audible
A heated listening lodge on Main Street
Photo via Instagram
Grammy Week
TikTok
A nominee party built around viral food trends
Sources: PR Week; Event Marketer; BizBash (2026)
03 / Art & fashion
CPG brands are walking the runway
What surprised me most is how many consumer brands show up at fashion and art events, far from anything they actually sell.
Photo: Burger King
NYFW, Sept 2026
Burger King
$3.99 nugget micro-bags that sold out in seconds
Courtesy of Cherry Bombe
NYFW, Sept 2026
Barilla
A hand-stitched dress made of pasta
Photo via Instagram (2022)
Met Gala, May 2026
The Met Gala
A record $42M raised; $350K tables bought by OpenAI, Meta and Snapchat
Photo via Glamour
Art Basel Miami 2025
Chase Sapphire
A Francis Mallmann dinner and a Jamie xx sunset set
Sources: Event Marketer (2026); Forbes (2026); BizBash (2025)
04 / Out in public
The last captive audience
Train stations, airports and malls are the last places where people truly can't skip. The old playbook was a billboard. The new one is making the wait better.
Photo via Beauty Packaging
Grand Central, 2026
K18
A hair-flip world record attempt: 1.9M impressions
Photo via PR Week
Penn Station, 2026
GoGo squeeZ
Free snacks for commuters during the World Cup
Courtesy of Pinterest
Century City, 2026
NYX Makeup
A gummy-themed pop-up with charm bracelet-making
Photo: TCL
Milano Centrale, 2026
TCL
An Olympic installation inside a train station
Sources: BeautyMatter; Event Marketer; The Drum (2026)
05 / Permanent destinations
Some brands stopped borrowing the stage
Netflix, the company that helped teach us to skip ads, built its own venue. Its CMO says the goal isn't revenue. It's fan connection. And this isn't new: Guinness has run its own brand destination in Dublin since 2000.
Photo: Netflix
Philadelphia & Dallas
Netflix House
100,000 sq ft of escape rooms, games and dining; Las Vegas in 2027
Photo: American Express
Amex, Chase & more
Airport lounges
About 70 new lounge projects in the pipeline
Rendering: VAI Resort
Coming soon
Mattel
Barbie and Hot Wheels water parks in development
Photo via Perfect Dublin
Dublin, since 2000
Guinness Storehouse
Seven floors of brand story, ending with a pint in the rooftop Gravity Bar
Sources: Marketing Brew (2025); View from the Wing (2026); Blooloop (2026); Guinness Storehouse
So why isn't every brand doing more?
59%
of marketers say they lack the team to do it
33%
say they lack the budget
54%
of B2B marketers haven't measured its impact on sales, or aren't sure
The barrier isn't proof. It's people, budget and measurement.
And those are solvable problems.
Sources: Business Research Insights and Content Marketing Institute, via Cvent (2026)
The case, in three moves
01
Go where the crowd is
Borrow the stage before you build one: games, festivals, fashion weeks, stations.
02
Design for the post
The activation reaches the room. The posts reach everyone else. Every activation needs a photo moment and a reason to share it.
03
Measure it like media
Track earned impressions, sign-ups and sales lift, not just attendance. That's how you solve the measurement problem and win the budget.
Photo via The New York Times
An ad tells you what a brand wants you to think. An experience shows you who the brand is.
Sources & credits
- Gartner: 81% of consumers tune out ads (April 2026)
- Nielsen: The Gauge, May 2026
- PQ Media: Global Experiential Marketing Forecast
- WPP Media: This Year Next Year, midyear 2026
- Event Marketer: EventTrack 2026
- Sportico: 2025 US Open Honey Deuce sales
- Marketing Brew: Have we reached peak Honey Deuce?
- ABC News: Brands increase in-person experiences for Super Bowl LX
- Event Marketer: FIFA World Cup 2026 activations
- The Drum: Brand houses at Milano Cortina 2026
- PR Week: Coachella 2026 activations
- Event Marketer: NYFW September 2026
- Forbes: The 2026 Met Gala
- BeautyMatter: Best beauty pop-ups of 2026
- Marketing Brew: Netflix House
- View from the Wing: 70 new airport lounges
- Cvent: Experiential marketing statistics (2026)
- Guinness Storehouse
- Photos are from the brands and press coverage cited above and are used here for commentary.