Robbie Thain
Founder, CEO
AI-generated illustrative image. Not an official campaign image.
Omnicom’s Q3 experiential results offer a demand signal for CPG teams. Translate it into staffing, logistics, measurement, and repeatable field plans.
On October 23, 2026, trade coverage of Omnicom Group’s Q3 2026 results reported strong double-digit growth in its combined Experiential and Other category. The report cited FIFA World Cup-related activations as a contributor.
The change was in reported business performance, not in a field operating rule. For CPG and beverage marketers, the practical task is interpreting that company-specific demand signal before translating it into budgets and operating commitments.
The same report put Omnicom’s combined Experiential and Other revenue at $644.3 million, representing 10.7% of Core Operations revenue. It also reported 7.2% organic revenue growth in Core Operations in Q3 2026. Those figures establish the commercial scale of the combined category within this company.
The accounting boundary matters. Experiential and Other combines services rather than isolating experiential-only revenue or growth. The cited coverage also does not disclose activation formats or market-level operations, nor does it provide event-level lead capture or sales outcomes. It therefore does not establish Return on Investment (ROI) for the World Cup-related work.
The outlook adds a planning constraint. Zacks reported that management did not expect Experiential & Other to grow in Q4. That is a reason to separate event-linked demand from the recurring activity a brand expects to support beyond a major event.
For a marketing budget discussion, the useful interpretation is narrow: event-related work contributed to growth in one company’s combined services category. The next decision is whether a proposed activation has a clear commercial purpose and an operating plan that supports it.
Our reaction at Makai is straightforward: welcome the attention on live marketing, then ask what the field program is designed to accomplish. A warm welcome and a disciplined operating plan belong together. A product interaction should feel human without leaving its business purpose undefined.
We create experiential programs built to connect emotion with action. Our work combines creativity with strategy and data, including experiences that engage all five senses. For us, connecting participation with business action means treating the consumer experience and its intended outcome as parts of the same assignment.
That distinction matters for CPG and beverage brands. Product trial can be the immediate objective of a consumer activation. Qualified leads may be the objective of a trade show conversation. We believe those goals deserve different execution choices rather than being folded into a single count of people who passed through.
Our four-week Dole Whip summer sampling program covered San Francisco, Boston, Tampa, and Orlando. The activations distributed more than 64,000 servings. Our team also built the creative assets so the concept could be reused in future campaigns.
The planning lesson is not that every activation should pursue the same volume. It is that immediate delivery and future reuse can be separate objectives within one program. When event demand draws budget attention, both deserve a place in the discussion before the team commits resources.
Our operational recommendation is to turn the commercial objective into a visible field scope. Staffing coverage and product trial belong in that scope alongside lead quality and retail follow-through. These are planning recommendations, not a description of how Omnicom executed its World Cup-related work.
The downstream effects start with deciding which commitments belong to the specific event and which belong to a repeatable program.
An attendance target is not a staffing plan. For a sampling activation, the operating discussion should connect ambassador coverage with the product interaction the brand wants people to have. For a trade show, it should connect staff responsibilities with the quality of the conversations the brand wants to generate.
Makai’s retail demonstrations use trained brand ambassadors to support in-store sales through conversations and product trials. That first-party capability informs our view: the ambassador’s role should remain connected to the commercial objective, not become a generic instruction to keep the space busy.
A useful field staffing structure gives those responsibilities a clear home. The planning priority is coverage that supports the intended experience, with reporting that shows what the team delivered. Major-event visibility should not substitute for that operating definition.
Permitting belongs in the event-specific operating scope. The earnings headline is not a reason to assume one location’s plan can be carried unchanged into another. The practical question is which approvals and logistics belong to the proposed activation, rather than to an assumed national template.
Makai’s capabilities span permitting through CRM reporting. We also store sampling product and event gear, then coordinate shipment and tracking nationwide. Those services sit between the creative concept and the moment a field team can put that concept to work.
Our history includes more than 1,000 campaigns across all 50 states for more than 200 brands. We see that range as a reason to respect differences between settings. Repeatability should mean carrying forward a useful concept while keeping location-specific operating work visible.
For trade show planning, our recommendation is to evaluate the footprint against the interaction it must support. A space intended for product trial has a different purpose from a space intended for a qualified buyer conversation. If both purposes matter, the plan should show how each receives attention.
Makai plans and manages trade show spaces to attract attention and start conversations that can lead to customers. From that position, we believe footprint decisions should follow the intended interaction. Size and visual presence are inputs, not a definition of success.
For CPG teams, this means reviewing the relationship between participation and follow-through before approving the layout. A busy sampling area and a productive buyer discussion are distinct operating tasks. The plan should make both legible rather than expecting the same activity to serve every audience and objective.
Measurement should be established before launch. The research’s practical implication is to track exposure and participation alongside attributable outcomes such as product trial or qualified leads. Retail redemption and subsequent sales can also be relevant when the program supports those measures.
Our team integrates QR codes and mobile technology across retail, event, and tour experiences. We apply these tools as a connected layer within experiential work. Their purpose is to connect physical participation with digital action, rather than add another disconnected feature to the activation.
The commercial question comes first. A product trial measure describes participation with the product. A qualified-lead measure describes a different outcome. Our recommendation is to keep those categories distinct so a high interaction count does not become shorthand for pipeline.
That distinction also supports reporting built for retail follow-through. The report should carry the objective established before launch into the review afterward. Otherwise, the team risks evaluating whatever was easiest to count instead of what the activation was funded to achieve.
A major-event activation and a recurring field program should have separate planning assumptions. Our recommendation is to identify the staffing and logistics tied to the event itself. Then identify which creative assets or experience elements have a useful role in future activity.
The Dole Whip program provides a concrete first-party example of reusable creative assets. It does not require treating every part of a campaign as permanent. That distinction gives marketing leaders a clearer basis for discussing what to retain after an event-linked program ends.
For forecasting, keep the event-specific opportunity visible rather than burying it inside a general growth expectation. This preserves room for ambitious live work without asking the recurring operating plan to absorb every temporary commitment. It also gives the next campaign a cleaner starting point.
CMOs and VPs: which upcoming activation will you review today to separate event-specific operating commitments from the field program you expect to repeat next quarter?
Product trial gives event-linked spending a tangible consumer objective, while qualified leads give CPG marketing teams a measurable business outcome to pursue beyond the visibility of a busy activation. Makai brings brands directly to audiences through mobile sampling tours that drive trial and awareness.
30 Years Experiential & Retail Activation Partner for CPG & Beverage Brands | Multi-Market Demos, Roadshows & Costco/Club Programs That Actually Sell
