09 November 2022 Wednesday
Emerging Marketing Trend: Phygital Marketing
Along with economic, technological, social, etc. changes, consumer needs and therefore their behaviors are also changing day by day. These changing consumer behaviors require marketing professionals to find different and creative ways to reach consumers. In this context, the most popular type of marketing used by experts in recent years has started to be phygital marketing. The word phygital is made up of the words physical and digital. Phygital marketing, on the other hand, is a new generation marketing method aimed at establishing both a physical and digital bridge between consumers, products and brands.
In the phygital marketing method, everything from digital sales points, websites and mobile applications to the experiences of traditional marketing is combined. In this way, brands are developing different and new ways to encourage consumers to interact with them. Customers gathered around the common experience build a stronger relationship with the brand that offers this experience.
PwC's current research from August 2022 says that almost 80% of consumers make their purchasing decisions based on their experiences, independent of price, and the numbers support this. This paves the way for marketers to frequently turn to phygital marketing to create a customer experience. This marketing method is very useful for products that often come together with consumers in physical areas such as restaurants, markets, stores or hotels.
McDonald's used the phygital marketing method for the first time. The famous brand organized an interactive outdoor campaign called Pick N Play in its Stockholm store. In this campaign, McDonald's combined the traditional marketing method, outdoor signage, with digital technologies. While the customers won prizes by playing the games appearing on the billboards with their smartphones, they were also informed about the brand's campaigns.
This method, which is increasingly used today, is very useful in terms of enabling brands to interact more with their users. Phygital marketing approach, where digital elements meet with physical elements, inspired by life and art, including the environment and sustainability, is a marketing method that we will continue to see in Turkey in the future, as it increases the awareness of brands and increases their turnover while being appreciated by customers.
