An experiential activation is a participatory experience designed to truly immerse your customers in your brand.
This immersion is achieved via various carefully planned touchpoints that facilitate direct participation. Rather than merely deliver a message, you’re providing memorable, interactive experiences at trade shows.
In simple terms, think of an experiential activation as a great teacher.
Rather than stand there lecturing students on complex topics for hours at a time, a great teacher will demonstrate how these concepts work in real life to make them fun and easier to understand.
That’s what experiential elements do for your prospects.
With that in mind, our article explains everything you need to know about experiential activations and looks at eight effective activations to include in your trade show booth.
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Why are experiential activations effective?
If your business operates in a niche market, explaining to the outside world what you do can be an uphill battle.
But it doesn’t need to be, thanks to experiential activations.
An experiential activation engages a potential consumer by reinforcing the brand's product or service while leaving a lasting impression.
It helps them understand your products better, making them more inclined to buy into them. More than 90% of customers confirmed they would feel more optimistic about a brand's product or service after actively participating in a brand activation or experience.
Here are some common examples of experiential activations:
- Product demonstrations
- Live events
- Try-before-you-buy
- Interactive experiences
- Gamification
- Photo opportunities
An experiential activation is an entirely different touchpoint from, say, print, radio, television, or social media.
Your audience is seeing and feeling your product up close and fully engaged with your brand.
This experience creates a powerful brand/consumer connection, leading to dramatically higher retention rates.
Furthermore, if you include an experiential activation in your trade show booth, it can significantly grow your online footprint, as people flock to capture photos or videos of it. An incredible 96% of millennials take pictures or videos at brand events.
Even if these people aren’t your ideal customers, if they post a picture on social media of them engaging with that product, one of your customers might see it and want it. We know that FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) drives many purchasing decisions.
Take Lipton Iced Tea, for example. They erected a giant yellow water slide in the middle of London to raise brand awareness and evoke FOMO.
Onlookers who stopped by to see the commotion were given free samples of Lipton products and urged to #beadaybreaker.
Crazy, right? But it worked!
Here are some other ideas that could work wonders for your business.
8 Experiential Elements for Trade Shows
Photo Booths
Photo booths, like the one above, allow your clients to connect with your brand on an emotional level. They also make them feel as though they’re part of a community.
Thanks to recent technological advances, you can also integrate AI-powered photo booths, which are a great way to break the ice.
Guests take a photo and choose from a character, effect, or photo style, and the AI gives them an instant image.
If their first impression of your business is when they were having fun and laughing while getting their photo taken, this first impression could go a long way.
Plus, not only are they actively engaging with your brand, but they’re also getting something tangible to take away with them.
And again, you just don’t know where they’re sharing this photo or which potential customer they’re sharing it with. The possibilities are endless.
Product Demos
This is one of the most important reasons people attend trade shows—because they want to experience your new products for themselves.
Sure, they can research them online or talk to one of your sales reps about them on the phone. But being able to touch, feel, and see these products in person gives you far more leverage.
Almost two-thirds (65%) of consumers say that product demos and live events helped them understand the product better than any other advertising method, according to surveys completed by Event Marketer.
Having displays of models or products for people to test live will bring in bigger crowds and generate more social media and press coverage for your business. It’s a no-brainer.
Virtual Reality
Millennials and Gen Z make up an increasing number of trade show attendees with each passing year.
A study by ASM Global found that 42% of attendees at conventions, meetings, and conferences were under the age of 40, with 18% of those being under the age of 25.
What did these people grow up with?
Interactive games. 3D experiences. Escapism.
VR provides all of this and more by transporting trade show attendees into virtual worlds in a way nothing else can.
They can explore products, visualize solutions, or participate in branded storytelling without physical constraints. This kind of deep dive makes your brand and message stick.
If you bring multiple headsets to your show, users can interact with each other. Not only does this create an added layer of fun, but it also allows them to discover certain features they may not have on their own.
Not only is VR a blast for users, but it's also a data goldmine for you. These applications can track how visitors interact with the environment, gathering insights into user preferences and behaviors.
Augmented Reality
AR is one of the most effective ‘try before you buy’ strategies at trade shows.
A study from Shopify indicates that using AR in the shopping process boosts sales conversions by 94%.
For the uninitiated, it’s a form of technology that enhances a real-world environment by overlaying computer-generated information, such as images, videos, sounds, and text. Think 3D models, virtual showrooms, and so forth.
The user can view this information via devices such as smartphones, tablets, or smart glasses.
If you’re looking to visualize complex concepts in an easily digestible format and allow people to see how your product works in a real-world environment, this type of activation is perfect.
Special Demonstration Pods
This activation is different from the others we’ve featured so far in that it’s more of a personal, uninterrupted experience.
Special demonstration pods allow your customers to test your product in a closed-off environment, which has several distinct benefits.
Firstly, it makes them feel special and part of an exclusive experience. This feeling enhances emotional connection, trust, and perceived value, leading to a greater likelihood of a purchase.
Secondly, it allows them to delve deeper into your product and ask certain questions they may not have had time to cover in a crowded, busy environment.
Thirdly, these pods are ideal for attendees who find stimuli such as bright lights and loud noises overwhelming. For example, people with autism or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), or people who suffer from migraines. They may want the opportunity to experience a brand away from sensory distractions, which is what these pods can provide.
Multi-Touch Screens
The multi-touch digital device market continues to be in high demand, with this market expected to grow by USD at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 15% by 2030.
Much of this demand is coming from industries such as consumer electronics, automotive, education, and healthcare.
Take healthcare as an example. Multi-touch screens are perfect for this industry, as they allow exhibitors to present complex information and medical images in a visual and interactive manner, moving beyond the limitations of verbal explanations.
They also rely on infrared imaging, which enables precise touch detection. This allows attendees to explore a product or service in intimate detail and see how it can help them overcome whatever challenge(s) they’re facing.
If your industry lends itself to something more fun or lighthearted, you can create touchscreen engagements that make the user feel like they’re in an arcade and present them with different games that they can play. These games can link to your product or service and allow people to learn without even realizing they’re learning.
Motion Graphics
Motion graphics bring your offering to life and help attendees retain information in ways they may not have done through other activations.
These graphics can easily be updated and customized for each event and are fantastic for appealing to audiences with shorter attention spans.
From short animated sequences showcasing your products to rotating video tiles, there are countless opportunities to introduce motion graphics into your exhibit.
By doing this, you’re creating an attractor—something that captivates passersby.
You’re also spoon-feeding bite-sized chunks to the viewer in quickfire succession. You can condense the most important points about your product or service into one, two, or three words at a time. As a result, your ideal customers are better placed to absorb a lot of information and will be more inclined to learn more.
The use of motion graphics in social media marketing is expected to increase by 40% by 2027 due to its positive impact on conversions.
LED Interactive showcase
LED video walls for trade shows are must-have visual centerpieces for many exhibitors.
Their brightness, contrast, and dynamic motion make them impossible to ignore, helping exhibitors cut through the noise of the trade show floor.
You can use them to display products, animations, 3D renderings, overlays, infographics, video demos, and social media updates. You name it—these LED walls can capture just about anything.
They come in all shapes and sizes too, so they can be configured and adapted to your exact requirements.
LED walls have gone from novelty to necessity, and if recent stats are anything to go by, they’re not going away any time soon. The global interactive video wall market size was valued at $18.33 billion in 2024 and is projected to grow at a CAGR of 14% from 2025 to 2030, illustrating the growing need for immersive customer experiences.
Bring experiential activations to your next show with The Trade Group
Is your appetite whetted yet? We thought it might be.
If you want to include any of these activations in your next trade show exhibit, we’ll help you do this. All of the examples we’ve included in this article are activations we’ve successfully delivered for our clients.
The Trade Group is a full-service trade show and event marketing company and our team specializes in creating immersive, storytelling experiences that bring you qualified leads, not just foot traffic.
