EXPERIENTIAL MARKETING VEHICLE and Why It's The Move
Surprise-and-delight people with unique brand experiences
Experiential vehicles create activation spaces wherever you like
Put your experiential truck or trailer on a cross-country tour
Customize your vehicle with wraps, props, screens, activities, and installations
Generate a steady stream of content for Instagram Stories
Bring your brand promo vehicle to your community and influencers
Measure marketing impact via engagements, social shares, and sales
What is an experiential marketing vehicle?
Experiential marketing vehicles are trucks, trailers, vans, campers, Airstreams, and SUVs transformed into standout multi-sensory brand engagement platforms.
They offer the opportunity for brands to activate on city streets, outside stores, and inside festivals.
Experiential marketing vehicles are utilized for many things, from brand sampling to installations to performances.
They provide companies with high-quality brand impressions, memorable moments, and direct sales.
Top-level experiential vehicles serve as a platform to spark meaningful connections, transforming people into brand advocates.
Trucks, trailers, and campers often have ample interior space to host brand activities, showrooms, or popup shops.
Experiential vehicles are an investment to create and deploy.
Selecting the right vehicle and creating a go-to-market strategy is essential.
Experiential Vehicle Options
Mobile Showroom
A truck with see-through glass walls, perfect for outdoor city activations requiring a dedicated, enclosed brand experience space.
Step-Van
A food truck-style vehicle that is excellent for on-the-street deployments with ample sample prep and storage space. Ice cream trucks, new and vintage, are classified as step-vans. These vehicles create one of the most significant presences you can achieve in cities like New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles. They are a tried-and-true strategy for brand releases and advertising campaign kick-offs.
Airstream
This American classic, typically a trailer, is often deployed inside festivals due to size and setup time.
Camper
Campers are super cute and versatile. Activate them as a showroom, sampling station, or other creative ideas.
Piaggio Ape
This European-styled, three-wheel Piaggio Ape is excellent for smaller activations. They're somewhere between a mobile showroom and a pushcart. Perfect centerpiece for an elevated, brand-sponsored coffee, pastry, or flower giveaway on-the-street, at an event, or outside a shop.
Citroen H Van
A Citroen H Van is a vintage-style vehicle ideal for creating a compelling, upscale brand presence. Vehicles in the States are often replicas of the original and aren't street legal, so they are towed to and from activations. The interior space is just enough for a small walk-in brand showroom, although most companies utilize Citroen H Vans as walk-up to server window experiential or sampling station.
Sprinter Van
A Sprinter or similar-style van is a popular experiential vehicle. They're ideal for sampling, especially when the product is large or heavy, like ready-to-drink beverages. Roadworthiness is why they're attractive - Sprinters are the most reliable out of all the other experiential choices, excellent for a cross-country tour or a year-round sampling initiative.
SUV with Rooftop Installation
Most prevalent, as it provides a cost-effective way to create a noticeable on-the-street presence, versatile with on-the-street parking, plus storage for samples and swag for the day.
Experiential Vehicle Services
1.) Understanding your ideas and goals
2.) Providing recommendations
3.) Vehicle design, fabrication, and customization
3.) Activation planning, staffing, deployment, management, insurance, and reporting
All of our experiential offerings include templates for your design team to provide art for the exterior and interior of the vehicle.
Service includes activation; leasing or buying an experiential marketing vehicle is not offered.
Creating your experiential marketing vehicle can take one to three months.
Experiential Vehicle Insights
1.) Cities typically don't require permits to activate your experiential marketing vehicle
2.) Venue and parking permits are available if you desire to park on a specific city block
3.) Most brands enlist an agency to provide the vehicle, staff, and management (as they're cumbersome to own, maintain, and store)
4.) Assign a vehicle team for each region (e.g., Northeast, Southwest, West Coast, etc.) to reduce costly travel time
5.) Digital integrations, influencers, and social media are integral to leveraging your experiential vehicle investment
6.) Staff your mobile marketing vehicle with at least one brand ambassador and an onsite manager/driver
7.) Ensure to budget for overnight parking, daily cleaning, travel & lodging, and monthly maintenance
8.) Safety and contingency planning are essential with all experiential marketing vehicle activations
9.) Insurance covering your vehicle, staff, and the public is essential
Availability
Experiential marketing vehicle activations are available nationwide from New York City to Chicago to Los Angeles and every city in between.
Takeaway
Experiential vehicles do the heaving lifting regarding your marketing goals; reach new audiences, create a memorable presence, showcase the brand, provide experiences, create content, and drive sales.
Connect
Contact ALT TERRAIN for experiential marketing vehicle ideas, strategies, pricing, and company examples.
Hit the road!
