Sledge marketing director Ian Irving was a self-confessed joker at school. The phrase 'easily distracted' could often be found on his report card and playing the clown would usually take precedence over hard graft. Now, aged 37 and a major player in a brand experience agency turning over £12m a year, he retains two attributes from his clowning days - the ability to befriend almost anyone and the knack of keeping numerous plates spinning in the air at the same time.
In nine years Sledge has developed a reputation for innovative consumer-facing experiential campaigns, often at summer festivals. During the past month Irving has been juggling the Blue Room and VIP area on behalf of O2 at the Wireless festivals in London and Leeds, a dance arena at Glastonbury for Red Bull, the Innocent Village Fete tour, the opening of the O2 in Greenwich and two roadshows, one for The Natural Confectionery Company's launch into the UK and the other for Sagatiba, a Brazilian spirit brand used to make the Caipirinha cocktail.
Measurement mechanics
He says: "Brand experience is the buzz word of the moment and rich memorable content will always ensure that consumers have something they can walk away with and then advocate to others. It is much more measurable and researched than sampling or other forms of marketing. At Wireless, there are various measurement mechanics that go into the Blue Room activity. We already know that 8,000 people a day passed through it in Hyde Park this year and experienced factors that will have created envy amongst non-O2 customers."
Rich, memorable content, communicated to others via brand advocacy, occurs throughout Sledge campaigns. The Innocent Village Fete tour, which debuted at Taste of London in Regent's Park from 21-24 June, sees visitors playing traditional games such as 'smack the rat' and 'ball in the bucket' while sampling the smoothie product. And during the summer tour, now visiting community fetes across the UK, Innocent's sales are contributing directly to local charities.
In devising a roadshow for Sagatiba, Irving moved the brand away from basic sampling tactics. He says: "We researched the brand qualities and its culture but left out the cliches that often come with Brazilian campaigns. We've carefully selected style bars that fit the brand and employed true Brazilian girls and boys that know how to make a true Caipirinha. The first time we did this tour was at the end of last year and the Brazilians argued with the mixologists over the correct way to make the cocktail. This is what we mean by experiential marketing - carried out by people that live and breathe the culture and thoroughly researched and evaluated."
Sense of belonging
Sledge has also had enquiries for more internal communication experiences. "It's so important to engage staff because if they believe in the brand then it creates a sense of belonging that will help them to sell it to the consumer."
Irving is a true advocate of experience marketing and his passion for the subject is matched only by the passion he felt after the recent birth of his son Jasper. Even though he claims his clowning days are behind him, the story of his son's naming suggests otherwise. "My partner and I argued over names, with her preferring Ethan and me liking Donovan. We settled on Jasper but when it came to registering the name, they asked for any middle names. The result is that Jasper Ethan Donovan Irving will now grow up as a fully fledged JEDI."
IRVING ON ...
Claims that Sledge can produce campaigns for 1,000 to 800,000 people ... It's true, thanks to the value that O2's former head of sponsorship Paul Samuels leveraged after England's Rugby World Cup win. There was no sponsor branding allowed on the shirts so in order to tell people of O2's involvement we created the victory parade. Astonishingly, 800,000 people turned up to experience it.
Sampling versus brand experience ... In the past two years it has been frustrating that so many people challenge the discipline by saying it's simply sampling. If other agencies are sampling and calling it brand experience, then they are doing it wrong. What we do is engaging - it has to attract hearts and minds.
The Sledge website ... Being based in Shepherd's Bush, visitors would always comment on the characters of the local area. We decided to make them stars of our web presence. There's the multi-millionaire who runs a sewing shop, the lady from the launderette and the woman from the local cafe who baked us a cake. Its message is that we recruit first and foremost on personality.