Robbie Thain
Founder, CEO
AI-generated illustrative image. Not an official campaign image.
One10’s four dimensions of return offer CPG teams a planning lens for staffing, event flow and measurement tied to qualified pipeline.
On October 21, 2026, One10 published “Eight Incentive Trends Reshaping Programs in 2026”, describing its Xperience Index as a framework for evaluating incentive-program return. The article addressed incentive travel, rewards and recognition rather than consumer product activations.
One10 says its Xperience Index evaluates four dimensions of return: emotional, behavioral, relational and brand. In its incentive-program context, those dimensions ask distinct questions:
The framework is meant to complement participation and satisfaction measures, according to One10. The article recommends defining the desired change and establishing benchmarks. It also recommends collecting feedback at intentional moments and tracking priority behaviors after the program.
One10 presents a vendor-described framework for incentive programs. The article provides no technical scoring method or evidence that the index predicts sales, and it does not establish validation for consumer sampling or retail sell-through. Treat its categories as prompts for defining measures rather than as a proven attribution model.
For a CPG team, this is a planning lens rather than a new field requirement. The practical shift is to put attendance beside questions about participant response and subsequent action. That changes what belongs in the brief without discarding the basic count of who showed up.
At Makai, we welcome measurement that makes room for human response without giving commercial accountability a pass. Aloha belongs in the interaction. Discipline belongs in what the team intends to learn and what it can report afterward.
We create experiential marketing programs built to connect emotion with action. Our work blends creativity, strategy and data. We design experiences that engage all five senses, with the goal of turning a brand moment into a meaningful business outcome.
That perspective comes from delivering more than 1,000 campaigns in all 50 states for more than 200 brands. That range spans different products and audiences as well as retail settings and events. In our experience, a measurement brief should respect those differences instead of treating every consumer interaction as the same result.
For a beverage activation, participant response and qualified interest answer different questions. The point is to connect them through the objective rather than merge them into a single optimistic total. A favorable reaction deserves a place in reporting without automatically becoming a sales opportunity.
We see connecting experience measures to business outcomes as a briefing issue before it becomes a reporting issue. Our positioning centers on face-to-face experiences designed to capture attention and generate measurable sales pipeline. A broader framework earns its place when it helps explain that connection.
That does not mean every activation needs equal focus across all four categories. One10’s recommendation to define desired change provides a practical starting point. Our view is that a trial objective and a relationship-building objective deserve different priorities. The common discipline is choosing the link to business value before reporting begins.
Our operational reading is that broader measurement makes decisions about staffing, space and capture more explicit. If the brief asks for a different kind of evidence, the execution plan needs to account for collecting it. That is a planning decision, not an automatic argument for a larger footprint or a bigger crew.
Makai’s retail demonstrations use trained brand ambassadors to drive in-store sales through real conversations and product trials. That capability puts the consumer conversation at the center of execution. From our perspective, measurement should support that conversation rather than turn it into a survey exercise.
One10’s recommendation to collect feedback at intentional moments is useful here. For consumer activations, we would translate that into agreeing what the interaction is meant to reveal before assigning capture responsibilities. The staffing discussion can then distinguish product engagement from collecting the evidence needed to evaluate it.
Adding a relational measure to a brief means little until the team defines a valuable connection for that program. The same applies to behavioral return. The objective should establish which action matters so that staff are working toward a shared definition rather than interpreting success individually.
For us, the practical question is ownership. The plan should make clear who supports the product interaction and who is responsible for the intended measurement. Those responsibilities need to fit the experience rather than compete with it.
We plan and manage trade show spaces intended to attract attention, start conversations and convert visitors into customers. We also build festival zones, premieres and pop-ups. Those formats give us different ways to connect a live experience with a business goal.
Our view is that the footprint should reflect the intended outcome. If the objective includes a qualified conversation, that conversation needs a place in the experience. If participant feedback matters, its collection moment should fit the visitor journey rather than become a separate obstacle.
Our entertainment work includes music tie-ins and live stunts while crews manage execution and track reach and response metrics. The operational lesson we draw is to connect the chosen experience with the evidence it is meant to produce. The attraction and the measurement should serve the same objective.
That is also the question behind designing booth flow around conversion. A footprint should support the next meaningful interaction, not merely hold a crowd. For a lead-focused program, we believe space for a relevant conversation deserves attention alongside the attention-getting feature.
One10 recommends establishing benchmarks and collecting feedback deliberately. For a CPG activation, our interpretation is to settle the purpose of each measure before deciding how to collect it. The emotional dimension calls for evidence of participant response. The behavioral dimension calls for clarity about the action being evaluated.
The same discipline applies to relationship-building and brand perception. Those categories need definitions that fit the activation’s objective. A brand team should be able to explain what each measure contributes to its understanding of the event rather than collecting information simply because the framework names a category.
Makai’s integrated services extend from permitting to CRM reporting. That scope informs our view that capture and documentation belong in the activation plan, not only in the recap. The evidence a team wants to report should have an operational owner before the event begins.
For Return on Investment reporting, our stance is to keep experience evidence connected to the brand’s appropriate commercial outcomes. A participant-response measure and a qualified lead measure can sit alongside each other. Their definitions should remain clear enough that leadership knows what each result represents.
One10’s call to track priority behaviors after a program moves measurement beyond the event date. For a CPG activation, our view is that follow-up should match the commercial purpose. Trial programs and trade show lead programs do not need identical measures simply because both involve face-to-face engagement.
The follow-up discussion should therefore begin with the desired change. What happens next should reflect the objective established before the experience. For a pipeline-focused activation, we believe the relevant question is whether captured interest progresses toward the commercial outcome the brand selected.
This also changes how we think about the recap. A useful report should distinguish the quality of the experience from progress toward qualified pipeline. Keeping those views connected gives the next planning discussion more substance than an attendance total alone.
Before approving your next activation, will you ask your field lead today to connect its experience measures to the commercial outcome your team needs to prove?
Field marketing directors own the link between consumer-event engagement and lead quality; when Makai runs the experience, its design centers on interaction and emotional connection. For CPG teams facing low-quality leads at crowded trade shows, Makai connects live consumer engagement with the goal of generating qualified interest.
30 Years Experiential & Retail Activation Partner for CPG & Beverage Brands | Multi-Market Demos, Roadshows & Costco/Club Programs That Actually Sell
