Robbie Thain
Founder, CEO
AI-generated illustrative image. Not an official campaign image.
Spiro's EMIR report shows that knowledgeable staff, clear messaging, and hands-on trial drive purchase intent. Learn how brands can optimize field execution.
On September 24, 2026, Spiro released EMIR: The Deeper Dive, identifying it as the second wave of its Experiential Marketing Impact Report. The new research draws on responses from 2,000 additional B2B and B2C live-event attendees. This latest report moves past simply asking whether live experiences work. Instead, it examines which specific design choices drive consumer trust, connection, and purchase intent.
Spiro describes this recent shift in focus as the "Effectiveness Era." The conversation is actively moving from proving that physical brand experiences function toward understanding why they succeed. The EMIR findings highlight specific, measurable attributes that marketing operators can test. Spiro reports that 43% of attendees said knowledgeable staff increased their trust in the brand.
Separately, 54% engaged by talking with a real person. This reinforces the absolute necessity of human interaction in physical spaces. Messaging clarity is another critical factor isolated by the study.
According to the research, 40% of respondents said a clear, easy-to-understand benefit made an experience worth their time. This points to the importance of communicating the consumer value proposition quickly. Spectacle alone is rarely enough to sustain attention. Finally, Spiro reports that hands-on participation was associated with higher purchase intent.
The data shows that 85% of deeply engaged attendees said they were more likely to purchase. To help experiential teams make stronger internal investment cases, the company says its EMIR toolkit includes a Maturity Assessment Workbook and a Finance Conversation Guide.
For consumer packaged goods and beverage brands, these findings confirm a reality we see daily in the field. Attendance is an exposure metric, not a business outcome. Live experiences must convert fleeting consumer interactions into qualified demand. Measuring Return on Investment by badge scans or general foot traffic leaves marketing leaders guessing about actual performance.
Instead, brands need to treat retail locations and event floors as interconnected ecosystems designed for active participation. Makai creates high impact experiential marketing campaigns and trade show activations that turn fleeting consumer interactions into qualified leads for premium CPG brands. We deliver carefully executed, face-to-face marketing experiences designed to capture attention and generate measurable sales pipeline. Live product trials pull people out of the passive browsing mindset.
By focusing on hands-on participation, teams can track how attendees interact with a product rather than just counting how many people walked past a booth. The broader market data supports this push toward active, physical engagement. The Out of Home Advertising Association of America and The Harris Poll conducted an online U.S. survey on August 4 and 5, 2026, among 2,015 adults ages 18 and older.
In that OAAA and Harris Poll research, 80% of respondents said live product or retailer events made them more likely to remember a brand. Another 80% said experiencing a product in person made them more likely to consider it. We know from building the return of touch in person brand experiences that physical memory drives future consideration. Through our Experiential Marketing capability, we create hands on brand moments that connect emotionally and turn customers into ambassadors.
Across our history, we have delivered more than 1,000 campaigns in all 50 states for more than 200 brands. That range has given us experience across different products, audiences, retail settings, events, and market conditions. This operational background proves that measurable design attributes are what separate successful deployments from costly theater.
These findings force a hard look at field staffing and trade show footprint flow. If knowledgeable staff build trust for 43% of attendees, treating brand ambassadors as a basic labor line item is a strategic mistake. Staffing must become an operational input backed by rigorous product training and clear objectives. Operational reporting should distinguish between simple staffing presence and true conversational effectiveness.
When training field staff for consistent brand experiences, our teams track meaningful conversations, qualified leads, and product samples distributed. This measures the true impact of human interaction on the floor. Through our Retail Demonstrations capability, trained brand ambassadors drive in store sales through real conversations and product trials. We manage end to end Costco roadshows that bring brands to shoppers through live demos, real conversations, and measurable sales impact.
Footprint flow must also adapt to the demand for clarity. Because a clear benefit makes an experience worth the time for 40% of attendees, brands must test their opening messages. The physical layout must immediately communicate the product value proposition. If a visitor cannot explain the benefit in their own words after a short interaction, the messaging has failed.
Finally, operations teams must build measurement chains that extend past the event day. In the OAAA and Harris Poll study, 40% of live-event attendees reported making a purchase, while 38% tried a product sample. Furthermore, 35% visited a website, and 33% posted about the experience on social media. The same research found that 30% of respondents searched for more information later.
Additionally, 30% looked for the product in stores, and 27% purchased the product later after a memorable live brand experience. These figures prove that live engagements create delayed behavioral shifts that demand long-term tracking.
Carley Faircloth-Kilmurray serves as Spiro’s Global Chief Marketing, Strategy & Brand Experiences Officer. She noted that marketers already understand a strong experience can be powerful. However, the more difficult questions are why it worked, what mattered, and whether it can be repeated. Beki Winchel is Spiro’s VP of Marketing. She added that the research gives teams a stronger basis for deciding what to prioritize, measure, and change in future activations.
This focus on verifiable attributes aligns perfectly with our drive to turn audiences into active participants. A Director of Brand Strategy in the CPG snack division shared: "The Makai team turned our product launch into a sensory event that shoppers still talk about. From creative storytelling to flawless in-store execution, they made snack time unforgettable. We couldn't have asked for a stronger partner."
We provide clear reporting on reach, trials, leads, and sales to guide next steps in campaign optimization. Our measurement approach tracks awareness, engagement, and conversion, turning brand moments into actionable data that demonstrates business impact. We build festival zones, premieres, and pop-ups that turn viewers into fans and fans into advocates. We design moments people want to share, using music tie-ins, screenings, and live stunts to bring stories to life while our crews manage execution and track reach and response metrics.
This strict attention to detail is how a field execution playbook for brand experiences at scale turns chaotic events into predictable pipeline generation. Our Mobile Sampling Tours deliver your brand directly to audiences through on the go experiences that drive trial and awareness. Behind the scenes, our Storage & Logistics capability means we store your sampling product and event gear, then ship, track, and coordinate delivery nationwide. This ensures every carefully designed activation stays on schedule.
Spiro’s EMIR release on September 24 draws a strict line between passive spectacles and measurable design choices. The data points directly to knowledgeable human interaction, clear messaging, and hands-on trial as the structural elements of success. Attendance numbers might look good on a recap slide, but active participation is what actually drives the commercial engine. The conversation has officially moved past asking if physical marketing works.
As you evaluate your operations against these new findings, ask yourself one critical question. Are you designing your next activation to maximize general attendance, or are you building a controlled environment to measure specific consumer behaviors?
After marketing teams define the measurable design attributes for a new campaign, executing those precise interactions consistently across multiple markets becomes the next operational hurdle. When navigating complex event logistics, permits, and staffing threatens your schedule, Makai takes over the field management. With our Brand Activations capability, we create high energy activations that turn awareness into participation and drive measurable consumer response.
30 Years Experiential & Retail Activation Partner for CPG & Beverage Brands | Multi-Market Demos, Roadshows & Costco/Club Programs That Actually Sell
