When Is It Time to Let a Brand Ambassador Go?
Unless you’re a monster, letting people go is probably not your favorite part of the job. For many, the idea of letting a team member go gives them a nauseous feeling. But, ultimately, it’s important to your company and your team that every person gives 100%, including your brand ambassadors. In my experience, there’s no […]
5 Ways to Integrate Digital Marketing with Experiential
Should we invest in digital or in-person marketing events? The brands we work with are constantly asking themselves this question. They often come to us when they’ve decided to go all in with in-person events. But it doesn’t have to be all or nothing. Digital and experiential marketing can play nicely together. One can enhance […]
Remember – It’s Not About You: Putting Customers First in Experiential Marketing
We may be biased, but we believe in today’s marketing landscape, there is nothing as exciting as putting together an innovative, engaging experiential marketing campaign. When done well, creating unforgettable brand experiences is a win/win for the brand and the consumer. But here’s the thing: to truly connect with consumers, you need to put them […]
7 Tips for Brands Launching Retail Demo Programs
We work with brands of all sizes – from startups to category leaders. We love watching brands grow and evolve. Most emerging brands get into a smaller retailer, hoping to create a data story there that will compel larger retailers to bring in their products. In these cases, building a high ROI demo program is […]
Are Higher Traffic Events Always the Right Fit?
When we meet with an experiential marketing client about a new campaign, we always start by asking them what their goals are for the program. They almost always focus on a high number of engagements – handing out pallets of samples, capturing thousands of email addresses, or having an entire music festival walk through their […]
Incorporating Your Brand Story into Your Experiential Marketing
We all know it’s important to have a brand story, right? All founders have a reason why they started their businesses, but unless you share this with people, they’ll never know it! That’s a huge miss because consumers today want to connect with your “why.” The brand story is what makes people connect with your […]
The Secret to Success with Dry Demos
One of the most interesting things we learned during the pandemic was some of our brands didn’t find a decrease in sales at retail demos when they pivoted from product sampling to dry (non-sampling) demos. To us, this seemed counterintuitive. We had always believed that tasting or experiencing the product was imperative to closing the […]
How to Get the Best Brand Ambassadors at Big Events
Large experiential marketing events take months of work. Budgeting, negotiating, applying for permits, tracking shipments – it’s enough to drive anyone bonkers. And even if you nail all those logistics leading up to your event, there’s one piece of the puzzle that will make or break your event day: your staff. Today we’re sharing […]
Events or Retail Demos – Which is Right for Your CPG brand?
I’ve become a lifetime purchaser of several products I first tried at a product sampling. Beet Elite (now Superbeets) has been part of my running supplement regimen for years, after being educated about its effect on endurance at an event at my running group. Lupini Beans introduced themselves to my salads when I tried them […]
These Communication Tips Will Increase the ROI of Your Experiential Marketing Activation
We call ourselves an experiential marketing agency. Really, we are communicators – master communicators. When you work with 1,000 brand ambassadors, hundreds of stores, dozens of clients, and an internal team, you have a lot of opportunities to sharpen your communication skills. Based on feedback from brand ambassadors and clients, we’ve realized that our communication […]
7 Tips to Make the Most of Expo West
Is it just us, or does Natural Products Expo West feel more like a family reunion than a trade show? New products, old friends, early mornings, and late nights. Our team looks forward to this industry celebration every year. In our decade of attending this event, we’ve seen brands crush it at Expo and we’ve […]
How to Find the Perfect Brand Ambassador
One of the many questions I’m asked during new business meetings is “how does HFA find their brand ambassadors?” This is such a great question because how exactly do we find the “perfect” candidate for your unique brand when we work with a variety of brands? Let me tell you, it’s not a one size […]
What Goes Into the Perfect Training Deck?
Did you know there are four learning styles: Visual, Auditory, Reading/Writing, and Kinesthetic? Have you ever taken the time to explore your learning style? It may differ greatly from your best friend, sibling, co-worker, or spouse. When training new brand ambassadors for your experiential marketing activations, it’s extremely beneficial your brand training deck is aligned […]
3 Must – Ask Questions When Hiring a Brand Ambassador
How would you describe your ideal brand ambassador? Engaging? Knowledgeable?Passionate? Us too. We all agree that it’s critical the person representing your brand in face-to-face interactions embodies your brand’s personality. But how can you find this unicorn? It’s all about asking the right questions. Not sure what to ask? Try these! 1. What is something […]
How to Improve Brand Ambassador Retention
Turnover in the experiential marketing industry is high – very high. Most brand ambassadors have other primary commitments, like school, a full-time job, or auditioning for acting or dancing roles. When the demands of one of those roles increases, they’ll usually drop their side hustle like a hot potato. And this turnover is costly for […]
The Role That Saves Our Events…and Our Sanity
If you’ve worked in experiential marketing for more than a couple of minutes, you know it’s a wild ride. Inclement weather, shipping challenges, and brand ambassador callouts are always a possibility. And who are the brand ambassadors going to call when they need help figuring out what to do? Ghostbusters. No – at most experiential […]
2022: Our Best Year Yet
If the pandemic has taught us anything, it’s that you never know what’s just around the bend. Going into 2022, we honestly had almost no idea what to expect. We had some strong client partnerships and some big dreams, but the pandemic was still looming, and we didn’t have a crystal ball to know when […]
Tips for Relaunching Your Demo Program
While many people are enjoying eggnog and hot chocolate, many of our clients are busy plugging away at spreadsheets and finalizing budgets for the new year. Like many other health-minded brands, some of our clients took a break from demos during the holidays and are gearing up to relaunch their demo programs in January. If […]
Top 5 Tips for a Successful Retail Demo Program
Part of almost every CPG’s go-to-market strategy includes some sort of field marketing, most often product sampling at in-store demos. It’s a great way to show the retailer you are invested in making sure your product makes it at their store, and unlike many kinds of experiential marketing, demos provide at least a part of […]
Should You Demo Health-Minded Products During the Holidays?
While many experiential marketing agencies are busy during the holidays, the end of year is usually a slower time for us. Many health-minded CPG brands slow down their demo programs during the holidays. We understand – more people are buying pumpkin pie than protein shakes. They figure they’ll reserve their cash for January when people […]
Should Demo Reps be W-2?
The question, “Should Demo Reps and Brand Ambassadors be W-2 employees or 1099 contractors?” comes up often in the experiential marketing world. The answer to this question depends on who you ask. If you ask the state of California, it’s almost always W-2. If you ask a demo rep who doesn’t want to have taxes […]
Happy Thanksgiving! A Gratitude Blog
Caution. I’m not really a mushy girl (my team can attest), but this is a really mushy blog. I can’t help it. At this time of year, it’s hard for me to rein in my feelings about HFA and the team we have here. So, today, I’m giving myself a moment to step out of […]
Tips for Acing your Brand Ambassador Interview
Between all of our programs, our team probably interviews 30-50 brand ambassadors each week. We’ve seen it all. We had a woman who wouldn’t answer our interview questions because the FBI was listening in. We had an interviewee who answered every question with a single-word answer, and then would burst out laughing every couple of […]
How to Make Guerrilla Marketing Work for You
Guerrilla marketing, or street teams, can offer a cost-effective way to introduce hundreds, or even thousands of consumers to your product. But if you’re not planning properly, you may find yourself underwhelmed with the results of this style of experiential marketing. Today we’re going to give you insights on how guerrilla marketing can work for […]
The Devil’s in the Details
When you work in the experiential marketing world, there’s never a dull moment. Sometimes a hurricane rolls in on the day of your outdoor activation. Sometimes you use hay to soak up the water left behind by the hurricane rains, only to discover your tour manager is severely allergic to hay. Sometimes you are trying […]
5 Tips to Make the Most of Your Sponsorship Activation
Whether it’s a major event like the Boston Marathon or your local weenie dog race, when you sponsor an event, your hope is to get an ROI on your investment. But how do you make sure your sponsorship is successful? Today we are sharing some tips on how you can make the most of the […]
How to Select Your Product Sampling Store List
When we get a new client, one of the first things we help them with is finalizing a store list. Which stores will receive product sampling demos and how often? This may sound like a simple task but it’s actually quite nuanced. Usually, our clients start off with a wish list – a list of […]
Lessons We’ve Learned in 10 Years
This year, Health and Fitness Activations is celebrating our 10-year anniversary! 10 years! We’ve gone from a one-person venture to a team of 9, and our company is the strongest it’s ever been. During the last decade we’ve learned some things – some the easy way, and some the hard way! Today we’re sharing our […]
How to Successfully Engage with Runners
For those of us that know our Health and Fitness Activations story, you know that I am really into running – 4:45am alarms, missing toenails, and stress fractures kind of into running. I ran my first marathon at 17 years old, and now I’ve got more than 20 years in the sport as a participant. […]
8 Ideas to Spruce Up Your Demo Display
One thing we’ve learned by helping companies launch their retail demo programs is that brands almost always underestimate the importance of having a first-rate demo display. Product sampling is almost always the goal, but that can’t happen if customers are unwilling to approach your table. So, how do you make your demo display inviting and […]
Trade shows: 4 tips to plan
Trade shows have returned. Are you ready? Working business development for Health and Fitness Activations, I have the pleasure of conversing with many companies about their go-to-market strategy. Occasionally companies will have ideas already fleshed out and only need Health and Fitness Activations to bring the ideas they have on paper to life. More often, […]
The Benefit We’ve Been Working Toward for 10 Years!
Our social media manager, Jacquelyn, is on parental leave. For people who work at larger companies, this is likely unremarkable. But for us at Health and Fitness Activations, this is monumental. This is something we’ve been working toward for a long, long time. I remember talking about parental leave 10 years ago and putting it […]
The Key to a Successful Experiential Marketing Event
Diving into experiential marketing can be scary. Often, the price tags are large and at big events, you don’t have time for a learning curve – you’ve got one shot to nail it. So, how can you ensure your activation will be successful? It really all comes down to one question, “What’s in it for […]
How to Make Sure Your Application Stands Out
We hire 200-300 brand ambassadors every year. So, we’ve become very efficient at reviewing resumes and applications. Sometimes we get over 100 applications for a single position. Most only get a first glance before we dismiss them. How can you make sure your application makes it to the short stack? Here are some tips! 1. […]
3 Cost-Effective Ways to Engage at Music Festivals
The positive energy of the crowd, the tunes in the air, and the massive amounts of people – music festivals offer a unique and fun opportunity for experiential marketing. But with sponsorship price tags in the 5, 6, or even 7 figure range, where does a smaller brand even begin? The good news is that […]
3 Keys to Successful Recruiting: Pandemic Style
Recruiting reliable, passionate BAs can be difficult during any season, but the one we are in takes the cake. If you decide to recruit your own brand ambassadors during this pandemic, here are a few challenges you may not have thought through: 1. Fewer applicants If you’re used to recruiting through Facebook groups, Trusted Herd, […]
“Into the Unknown:” HFA’s 2021 Goals
When I look at our goals for 2020, I can’t help but chuckle (ok – maybe also cry a little) at my naïve 2019 self. Of course, no one saw the freight train of 2020 coming, right? Just for good humor, let’s recap the goals we shared last year as we rang in the new […]
7 Important Things to Think About When Launching a Brand
When we updated our website, I got a few questions about the new services we’ve added, mainly the Go-To-Market Strategy Consulting. I think it might have come as a surprise to some of our followers, who are made up of about half brand ambassadors and half health food brands (and a few agencies who spy […]
