This timesaving platform is disrupting the experiential marketing space

Statistics show that people recall 10 per cent of what they read, 20 per cent of what they see and 70 per cent of what they do.

With such high recall for experiences, is it any wonder that experiential marketing – events, activations, sampling and grassroots activities – are making a comeback in a major way?

Enter Brandcrush; an online marketplace that connects brands with a network of everyday businesses and events for real-world customer engagement.

Who birthed the idea of this startup?

Brandcrush is the brainchild of Teresa Aprile, a dynamic and creative marketing expert with nearly twenty years of experience in developing and executing growth strategies for B2B & B2C brands.

Together with Matthew Hurle, who has a ten-year track record of driving business growth across tech, wholesale and media businesses around the world, they have created a platform whereby activation hosts and brands can connect and achieve a ‘win-win result’.

First launched in Australia in September 2018, Brandcrush has already engaged over 800 activation hosts locally with plans of expanding globally by 2020, bringing in approximately 75 new hosts to the platform each week.

Brandcrush is the next generation of brand marketing, a self serve platform disrupting the experiential marketing landscape with a unique network approach, offering a win-win for businesses, brands and consumers.

How does it work?

In the same way that Uber, Airbnb and Airtasker have empowered individuals to monetize their time and assets, this innovative marketplace empowers businesses to monetize their foot-traffic and get paid to host brands their customers will love.

With high profile influencers commanding high fees for endorsements of brands, the world has seen the power of having someone they follow, or trust, recommend a product to them.

However, with fatigue spreading within this space, Brandcrush is allowing
businesses and their staff to become the new nano influencer – they’re trusted, they have high return customers, and only sell what they believe in because otherwise they’d have no business.

Thanks to Brandcrush, brands and marketers have the ability to get their
products or brand message physically into the hands of their target markets via activation hosts who are like nano-influencers in the everyday world.

“Our network of businesses (Activation Hosts) are like social influencers for the real world,” says Brandcrush Co-Founder and CRO, Matthew Hurle.

“The intimate and relevant nature of these collaborations means consumers receive brand introductions from businesses they already know and trust”.

To simplify the concept, an activation host can be a cafe, retail store, service, event, etc. – any business that connects with consumers in the real world.

On the Brandcrush platform, activation hosts can list their space for free and command a fee for brands to utilise the activation hosts’ space to distribute product samples or brand messages to their ideal target market.

Vice versa, the brand looking to engage with their target market can choose from the increasing amount of activation hosts registered on the platform.

Co-Founder and CEO Teresa Aprile says, “From yoga studios to hair salons, cafes, events and even corporate offices, any business that reaches people in the real world can become an ‘Activation Host’ on Brandcrush and get paid to distribute product samples, brand messages or host brand activations.”