Robbie Thain
Founder, CEO
AI-generated illustrative image. Not an official campaign image.
Plan experiential product launches with clear retail availability, trained ambassadors, accountable CRM handoffs and measurement beyond trial.
In a survey summarized by Quad, 71% of respondents said in-store brand experiences deepen their connection and loyalty to a brand. That reported sentiment gives launch teams a reason to take physical product experiences seriously. It does not establish that sampling causes repeat purchase.
The practical answer is to build the launch around a defined buyer, confirmed product availability and accountable follow-up. Make the product easy to try and explain where someone can buy it next. Then measure trial separately from purchases and subsequent purchasing behavior.
At Makai, we specialize in retail demos, product sampling programs and roadshows that bring brands face to face with their audiences. Our programs are designed to drive trial and build consumer relationships across multiple locations. The planning question is how that live interaction connects with the next buying opportunity.
That connection belongs in the operating brief before the creative concept is approved. Audience selection and experience design need to sit alongside staffing and logistics. Follow-up and measurement need an owner rather than a place on the post-event wish list.
An agency planning guide recommends defining the objective and audience alongside the market and desired interaction. It also calls for operating requirements and budget, plus measures and follow-up ownership. These are practitioner recommendations rather than a validated universal protocol.
Use that brief to resolve three connected decisions:
Operations should enter this discussion early. The same planning guidance includes staffing and setup, inventory and venue requirements, plus transport and local conditions. Permitting belongs within that preparation: establish the requirements for the selected setting rather than applying an invented universal permit checklist. The guidance does not specify individual permit approvals or a technical CRM integration.
A recent example illustrates why responsibility needs to be explicit. In September 2026, New Hope Network reported that Crave’s first large University of Pennsylvania event brought together more than 50 brands and hundreds of students. Participating brands supplied products and point-of-sale materials, while Crave arranged storage and transportation along with event staffing.
That example offers a defined audience setting and a clear division of work. It is not a reason to assume a campus is the right setting for every launch. For broader preparation, connect the operating brief with the decisions covered in planning the physical experience.
Training should connect the product explanation with the intended interaction and the next purchase opportunity. The research supports assigning operational responsibilities before the event and preparing staff to explain the product. It also supports directing people toward an available purchase location.
Makai’s retail demonstrations put trained brand ambassadors into real conversations and product trials designed to drive in-store sales. We also design mobile activations and roadshows to accelerate consumer trial and build trust. Those capabilities put the human interaction at the center of the launch rather than treating staff as an accessory to the build.
For us, aloha means approachability and respect for the person in front of the brand. We believe a useful product conversation deserves more attention than pressure to complete a scan. That is a service value, not a claim that one conversational style guarantees conversion.
The training brief should answer practical questions:
These questions keep product knowledge connected to the campaign objective. They also give the team a common basis for explaining the experience without scripting an unsupported product claim. A useful next planning resource is connecting field training with business outcomes.
Start by deciding what the record represents. An agency measurement guide recommends matching measures to the campaign objective. Its options include qualified interactions and product trial, along with sales and sign-ups.
For a trial program, trial is a relevant measure. For a conversion program, purchases or leads are more closely aligned with the stated objective. A crowded activation should not change the definition halfway through reporting.
For planning, keep the physical-to-CRM handoff explicit:
This describes the ownership handoff rather than prescribing software fields or an integration workflow. Makai’s integrated services span permitting through CRM reporting, but a campaign brief still needs to state what the intended interaction means for follow-up.
To learn beyond launch day, request post-event retail or redemption data where available. Use those observations to investigate purchasing after the activation. Describe repeat behavior only when the underlying data actually documents it.
Observed sales and causal sales lift also need separate treatment. The measurement discussion should state what was recorded and what remains an interpretation. For that next layer of planning, review ways to compare attribution approaches before deciding how strongly to credit the launch.
The practitioner planning guidance explicitly includes contingencies. The field lead’s planning task is to connect each failure with the relevant operating responsibility and campaign objective. A contingency discussion should produce decisions rather than a vague promise to adapt.
Use the brief to work through the worst cases:
These are planning decisions, not a substitute for an equipment-specific recovery procedure. The evidence supports contingency ownership but does not supply a validated device-repair protocol or replacement-staffing formula.
The reporting consequence matters as much as the operating response. If trial continued but sign-up capture stopped, those are different outcomes. Keep that distinction visible rather than filling the gap with an estimated lead count.
We believe disciplined execution includes an honest account of what the team delivered. A useful field report gives the follow-up owner a reliable starting point and gives the next launch a specific planning problem to solve.
The next phase of planning should test whether the proposed experience connects with a real buying opportunity. Compare the intended audience with the venue and confirmed availability. Then review the staff explanation and follow-up ownership against the same objective.
Resolve the measurement question at the same time. Identify which activity data the event can capture and which post-event purchase data may be available. Agree on what would count as evidence of subsequent purchasing before describing the launch as a repeat-purchase program.
Only then compare creative formats. The strongest planning choice is the one that fits the product and operating conditions while leaving a clear path from trial to the next purchase.
Product launch teams have to connect approachable trial with accountable follow-up, and Makai works across retail demonstrations and experiential campaigns within that challenge. Its trained brand ambassadors use conversation and product trials to drive in-store sales, while its experiential work addresses inefficient post-event follow-up and CRM routing through campaigns designed to generate qualified leads for premium CPG brands.
30 Years Experiential & Retail Activation Partner for CPG & Beverage Brands | Multi-Market Demos, Roadshows & Costco/Club Programs That Actually Sell
