The Success of A Brand Activation

We’ve done a good share of events in Q2 and something we always discuss is how important the team is for the success of large brand activations. The amount of production varies when there is someone exclusively in charge of supporting the calligraphers with crowd control versus the calligraphers having to do both crowd control and calligraphy.

I recently worked the ULTA Expo in San Antonio alongside Stacy from Unlostcalligraphy and that was an awesome experience. Walking into the Henry B. González Convention Center for the expo was surreal. There were countless beauty brand booths from Real Techniques to Orly, Benefit, and Coach, to name but a few. Each booth had their own brand ambassadors, lights, giveaways, monitors and overall vibe going for them.

At Real Techniques we were, one of the only booths in the entire expo who were engraving on their liquid foundation blending brushes. Clients never failed to say something like “oh my gosh, they are engraving on the brushes here!” They said this even when they came to the booth with bags loaded with products already. It left a lasting impression on them because of the personalization, especially when they were gifting them to their daughters. Yes, of course, we engraved a brush for each of a client’s daughters when they had more than one. We didn’t want to start a family feud.

With two calligraphers at the Real Techniques booth for the day we came away having engraved around 400 brushes. Needless to say we were a bit zoned in during the expo, but the staff at Real Techniques did an incredible job running crowd control! They were engaging with clients, educating them on their new product, having them fill out the form for what they wanted written on the brush, taking brushes out of the box for us to write on them, and then putting them back in the box, all this so the calligraphers could just focus on what they were there to do — engrave on brushes.

The event was a great success because of the overall environment the team was able to produce by executing their specific role to the highest level. If you are a brand looking to have a large scale event, remember, having staff or brand ambassadors that are engaging and know how to usher a crowd will add to the elevation of your brand having your products engraved and leaving a long lasting memory with your clients. Talk about ROI.