Consumers are surrounded by advertising. Breaking through the noise is no longer just about reaching people. It’s about giving them something meaningful to engage with.
That challenge is especially important as consumers increasingly seek brands that show up in ways that feel relevant to their lives, interests, and communities. In fact, 54% of Gen Z consumers reserve their attention for brands that deliver offline emotional and cultural relevance.
At the same time, experiential marketing is seeing some of the fastest growth in marketers’ media investments, with 41% of U.S. ad buyers expected to increase spending in the category over the year.
The reason is simple: experiences create connections that traditional media alone cannot.
But the strongest experiential programs do more than create memorable moments. They create opportunities for brands to turn awareness into action.
That’s where local activation becomes essential. National sponsorships generate visibility. Experiential marketing gives consumers a chance to engage with those brands in a more personal way, bringing campaigns into communities where people can interact with products, ask questions, participate, and ultimately make purchase decisions. Research suggests 85% of consumers are likely to purchase after participating in an experiential event, making the channel a powerful bridge between brand building and business outcomes.
For marketers, the opportunity isn’t simply creating an event. It’s creating experiences that connect cultural relevance, community engagement, and commerce.
Bringing national campaigns to life through local experiences
For years, marketers have relied on sponsorships to build awareness and association. But as media audiences become increasingly fragmented, visibility alone is no longer enough. A logo on a sign or a mention during a broadcast can create recognition, but it doesn’t necessarily create engagement.
Some of the strongest activations happen when a national sponsorship intersects with a local occasion.
At CVS Media Exchange (CMX), experiential marketing is considered an extension of a brand’s broader media strategy. While sponsorships and national campaigns build awareness at scale, experiential marketing creates an opportunity to bring those investments to life in the communities where consumers live, shop, and engage every day. Supported by the extensive retail footprint and trusted community presence of CVS, CMX helps brands translate large-scale campaigns into locally relevant experiences that feel authentic to the moment and useful to consumers.
Take Xyzal’s role as the Official Allergy Sponsor of the Boston Marathon. Rather than simply appearing alongside the event, the brand became part of the marathon weekend. Outside a CVS store across from the expo, fans and supporters participated in sign-making, games, giveaways, and photo experiences that transformed the location into a destination within one of Boston’s most iconic community moments.
The event drew 650 attendees and was associated with a 38% year-over-year sales increase in the weeks following the event at the store.
While the events themselves were different, both demonstrate the same truth: experiential marketing is most effective when brands connect with consumers through moments that already carry emotional, cultural, or community significance.
Extending engagement beyond the store
Experiential marketing is expanding beyond traditional retail settings, bringing brands into communities through educational and hands-on experiences.
The upcoming Stay Well With CVS Mobile Tour is one example. Designed to reach older adults in the community settings they already gather, the tour provides education and raises awareness about over-the-counter (OTC) benefits. Attendees can learn more about OTC benefits and the health and wellness product categories they may help cover, and are encouraged to contact their health plan for information specific to their coverage.
Participating brands will have opportunities to connect with consumers through education, product engagement, and trusted conversations that make information more accessible and actionable.
The program reflects a broader evolution in experiential marketing. Through programs such as the CVS mobile wellness tour, organizations can support consumer education by helping make information more accessible and easier to understand. Today’s most effective activations aren’t confined to a single venue or event. They’re designed to meet consumers where they are, creating value through relevance, convenience, and service.
For brands, that means new opportunities to build trust while reaching audiences in meaningful ways.
From memorable moments to measurable outcomes
Experiential marketing has become an increasingly valuable part of the modern media mix because it connects emotional engagement with business performance.
When thoughtfully executed, it can transform a national sponsorship into a local experience, create stronger connections with consumers, and establish clearer pathways to purchase.
That means helping brands identify the right audiences, communities, and moments while connecting media, retail, merchandising, and measurement into a single strategy.
The goal is not simply to create an event people remember.
It’s to create experiences that deepen brand connection, strengthen community relevance, and deliver measurable results long after the activation ends.
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Kristen DiCorleto is head of marketing at CVS Media Exchange (CMX), now nationally recognized as the leading health and wellness retail media network. She helped pioneer CMX five years ago as a founding member.