Created a Community for Experiential Executives that Drove Enterprise Growth
THE NEED
AnyRoad supports brands in the CPG and retail spaces, and time and time again we would get asked the same questions around experiential strategy. At the same time, we were looking to invest in events to more effectively reach Enterpise buyers. While there are many events relevant for B2B experiential professionals, it became clear that there was a gap in events and resources for experiential leaders at consumer brands.
So, AnyRoad introduced an owned event to fill the gap in the market and create a community for experiential leaders at CPG and retail brands. Our CMO took to planning event logistics and tasked me with coordinating our agenda, speakers, and guest list.
THE SOLUTION
AnyRoad's Ignite Executive Experiential Summit aims to foster community among experiential leaders – empowering them share best practices, discuss the latest trends, and drive the experiential marketing discipline forward together. With a large segment of our customers based in Europe, we planned our first Summit in EMEA and following our initial success expanded to the U.S. 6 months later. Since its inception, we've hosted 2 Summits in each year to effectively reach accounts in both EMEA and the US with tailored experiences.
I worked with our executive leadership and sales team to identify target accounts and contacts at Enterprise Alcohol, CPG, and retail brands are invited. Given the enterprise nature of the event, I worked with the team on 1:1 outreach inviting our tier one targets. We intentionally created an intimate, invite-only environment that typically includes 50-60 total attendees to foster better discussions and more opportunities for connections among our attendees.
I planned the agenda around the topics that experiential leaders care about most and sessions that would inspire attendees to elevate their experiential strategy. None of our sessions focused on AnyRoad or our product – this was a long-term play to build credibility for AnyRoad and position our team as strategic partners to these enterprises. I worked with our executive team to identify a list of speakers and coordinated all outreach, communication, and session prep. Some of my favorite sessions included:
- Partnering Across Your Organization to Elevate Experiential Impact – Under Armour: Head of Experiential Marketing, Global Events & Brand Partnerships (Milan 2024)
- Leveraging Experiences to Build a Loyal Community of Brand Enthusiasts – Amazon Music: Head of Global Brand & Integrated Marketing (NYC 2023)
- Imagining Tomorrow: Exploring the Top Trends in the Future of Brand Experiences – Diageo: Head of Marketing for Johnnie Walker and Pernod Ricard: Global Head of Brand Homes (Edinburgh 2023)
RESULTS
Our Executive Experiential Summit Event Series quickly became the top-performing marketing channel, delivering 403% ROI after just 3 events and consistently earning an NPS score of 90+. We broke into major accounts including LVMH, Heineken, and Westfield through this event series.
In addition to contributing significantly to pipeline, the community that we built in delivering these events has helped AnyRoad:
- Elevate the conversations the industry was having about the impact of experiential marketing for CPG and retail brands, helping our champions make the case internally for greater investment in events and brand experiences
- Build relationships higher up within our target accounts by delivering an exclusive, invite-only event for executives
- Expand our reach, with past attendees requesting invitations for peers in their network that hadn't engaged with AnyRoad previously
Here's what some of our attendees had to say about the event:
This event was much more than just sitting and listening to panel discussions or presentations. It was about connecting with people, learning from peers in different industries, and creating a real sense of community. Head of Brand Experiences at Heineken
The format was strong, the time commitment was ideal, and the connections & networking were great. Chief Partnerships Officer at SXSW
