‘It gets difficult to quantify ROI in the creative space’

Marketers often wonder why it is difficult to quantify the ROI of experiential marketing campaigns. Delving deep into this riddling topic were Aparajita Parashar, Founder, Made of Honour Weddings and Events and Naveen Gupta, Co-Founder, Spalba at the e4m Red Carpet Experiential Marketing Summit.

In a conversation with Shantanu David, Senior Correspondent, exchange4media group, the founders discussed ‘Measuring ROI in Experiential Marketing Campaigns: Metrics, Analytics and Success Stories’. 

“Being a wedding designer, I often introduce myself as an artist. Coming from that creative space, sometimes it gets difficult to quantify where the ROI is coming from. The nature of the business here is very emotional. You are getting someone’s daughter and someone’s son married. To think and analyse how to categorise this becomes very difficult,” said Prashar.

She further explained, “There are various touchpoints. For me, I can find my potential client at an airport, a restaurant, a cafe or at this event! How do I quantify this? Of course, mediums are there. We are following the methods of categorising, following up, keeping in touch, and recording the footprints.”

“We can use the standard procedures but we can’t commercialise the wedding with surveys and links. Sometimes, we are not even allowed to touch base with the guests who have come to the wedding. When you are operating within families, you become one. You can’t blur the lines or overstep the boundaries,” she added. 

Gupta added to it by speaking about Personally Identifiable Information, which safeguards event attendees from sharing sensitive user information and hence being identifiable in the data that’s collected from the events. It’s crucial to protect the privacy of the attendees. 

The organisers usually have access to bits and pieces of the data, basis the actions taken by the attendees, such as scanning a QR code and consenting to share specific information with the organisers. This is where organisers can creatively add questions that give them insights into the needs of the attendees, bringing them into the fold — and potentially creating pathways that would result in feedback, more conversations and business opportunities.  

“The events team shares the leads with the sales teams. It’s the sales team’s job to convert those leads, which then get converted into business. The business you get decides the amount for the next event. It’s a complete feedback loop that works on ROI. However, we, as an agency, do not get a chance to be a part of that ROI process or understanding,” shared Gupta, highlighting that clients do have objectives and KPIs from each event.