Markeding" is the festival for multisensory marketing
The Markeding, which takes place every year in spring, is described by the initiator Michael Mätzener as a festival for sensory marketing; he has recognized that promotional products are much more than a giveaway. His fair was a complete success, the next one will take place on March 5, 2024.
Werbewoche: Michael Mätzener, what fascinates you so much about multisensory technology that you turn it into a festival of the senses?
Michael Mätzener: I've been driven for 20 years by how important promotional products are as a marketing tool, but they have a bad image, which annoys me. Yet it's been proven that multisensory marketing leads to much better customer experience. So I combine my passion for promotional products with the knowledge of neuromarketing, multisensory marketing. That's why we turned Markeding into a festival for multisensory marketing.
The festival recently took place at the Kongresshaus Zurich. How would you rate the feedback from the event?
It is unbelievable how positive, even enthusiastic the audience was. But also the exhibitors and the supporting agencies were impressed, the visitors stayed the whole day, participated in the workshops, gathered in front of the stage when there was another keynote on exciting topics such as dealing with AI or the challenges and opportunities in marketing with generation Z. Multisensory is about so much more than haptics. The sense of touch, but also all the other senses like smell, sight, hearing, taste and even the emotional seventh sense play a role in marketing. There is still so much potential, next year we want to be even bigger and more relevant than already this year. I am very happy, because all my heart blood, sweat and tears go into this festival.
Isn't that a big crew they're using to make it all happen?
No, that's almost only me, unfortunately I only have 24 hours a day, otherwise I would manage even more (laughs). But let's not forget my business partner Robert Scheidegger, who also lends a hand.
How many visitors were there this year?
We had 800 visitors. But it felt like there were many more, to stay in the multi-sensory field. (grins). In the past at Markeding, visitors only stayed for two hours, but this time at the festival they were there all day. And of course the new app also helped, so that people could network with each other and have the agenda and a lot of other important information on their cell phones.
You designed the app specifically for this?
Not only me, I worked with a company in Germany. They had developed the app, but only for small streams of visitors. We had to scale it up because we expect up to 1000 visitors next year.
So can they also play to the multisensory community throughout the year, with the app?
Yes, we regularly push information to the app, but users can also communicate with each other. But of course, we are also on Insta, LinkedIn and have a Newsletter for which you can sign up.
Can you just download the app from the store?
You had to register for markeding, then you could download the app in the store under Markeding Promofacts. We are currently working on making it possible to download the app at any time without accreditation.
Do you already have some highlights for the Markeding 24?
We will be looking to expand keynotes and workshops, acquire more exhibitors in multisensory marketing, and would love to see companies involved in multisensory and neuromarketing express interest in working with us. We have a vision...and a doer instinct to tackle things and change things. So it remains exciting with the anniversary edition, 10 years of Markeding on March 5, 2024.
