News, advice and ideas from the minds at MAG.

At EventTech 2017, we saw the nation’s leading experiential marketing specialists offer their insights into how the new year — 2018 — will change the industry. Naturally, our own Erin Mills was a featured speaker.

In her presentation, Erin demonstrated that experiential marketing firms are going to spend 2018 leveraging new and developing technologies to generate B-to-B conference and event content that’s more democratic and more responsive than it’s ever been before.

Here’s how…

Ah, yes, Generation X.

Born between 1965 and 1984, this crew came of age through two great economic disasters, the housing crash, the death of job security, and the rise of divorce. They grew up during America’s longest war and, in their adulthood, have seen the emergence of an even longer one. Sandwiched between the black-and-white Baby Boomers and Millennials, Gen X is a wash of gray — neither hippies nor hipsters, neither tech natives nor old fogies. The Boomer worldview was defined by the end of WWII; the Millennial worldview by 9/11 and the digital revolution. But what defined Gen X?

Back in March, we talked about the how and why of data capture for experiential marketing agencies. We explored the importance of things like generating leads and demonstrating ROI while we also discussed particular data collecting strategies that we’ve developed over time. Now we’re back, as promised, to share of a few of our favorite experiential marketing technologies that will help you capture data from pre-game to post so that you can deliver better experiences to consumers and better results to clients.

There’s a lie that people have been telling for a long time. A devastating, pernicious lie. A lie that betrays youth and deeply detracts from the happiness of adults.

That it’s wrong to play with your food.

After much internal debating, we at MAG have decided to come clean, and tell the world the truth about playing with your food. That it’s fun. That it’s delicious. And that people will love you for letting them do it.

Welcome to our three part series on pitch ideation. During this trilogy, we’ll walk through the ways in which experiential marketers can work as a team to cook up inventive solutions to client challenges. Later on, we’ll explore techniques for brainstorming, but before we get to that, we’ll begin with the prep. Here are our top 10 steps for researching an incoming RFP.

Welcome to installment number two in our series exploring event marketing upgrades, where we focus on small changes that make big gains. In this edition, we’re diving into the world of promotional products and highlighting the go-to swag consumers love.

It sounds oxymoronic to describe live events as being accessible anywhere at anytime by anyone, but, with live streaming, they really are.

Products like Facebook Live, Youtube Live, and Periscope make it possible to grow event audiences exponentially via web promotion. By streaming video live, they empower us to maintain of-the-moment urgency, and, by incorporating feedback features, they enable us to interact with absent audiences as immediately as we interact with in-person attendees.

Virtual, Augmented, and Mixed Reality technologies are quickly gaining technical and popular momentum, as is 360° Video. And while the law of accelerating returns would suggest that ubiquity can’t be far off, these technologies still have the novelty to attract and wow consumers.

So if a brand wants to draw focus, align itself with innovation, and give consumers first-hand experiences that literally defy reality, they need to begin by picking the right alternate reality to work with.

While we should of course aim to be thankful throughout the year, the holidays are almost like an outlook meeting reminder in case we find ourselves slacking. This holiday season brings an unusually profound reminder as MAG celebrates 15 years in business. As I look back on these remarkable 15 years, here’s what I’m particularly thankful for.

I have an admission to make. I was once an anti female-bossian. For those already confused, this is a (potentially grammatically incorrect) term I’ve coined for people who are opposed to female bosses. Based on a paltry two experiences at former companies, I had decided that female bosses are mercurial, illogical and (in some instances) […]

“Fresh & Profesh” is one of those lesser known mantras, but one you can hear often in the halls of MAG. We do experiential marketing, which means we are challenged to consistently be creative…or “fresh,” if you will. We have to be on the cutting edge, leveraging the newest emerging technologies, and consistently conjuring up […]

Similar to Buddy the Elf, the michael alan group is a big fan of celebrating the holiday season. Throughout the years, the MAG team has found this time of year to be exciting and special for targeting consumers. There seems to be an extra bit of jingle and happiness in the air making activations and […]

The M word. In today’s marketing landscape, everyone is trying to crack the code to reach the coveted millennial audience, a group that comprises ¼ of our entire US population. Millennials continue to mystify brand marketers and agencies alike as they defy conventional consumer behaviors of preceding generations. Their media consumption habits (aka cord cutting!) […]

What you may be surprised to learn is just how many companies are turning to experiential for their B2B marketing objectives. Companies are really valuing its role in introducing, strengthening or repositioning a brand among their clients (retailers, media buyers, distributors, etc) not just their consumer base. In looking at the evolution of experiential marketing, […]