What is brand activation? (And how to make yours unforgettable)

When Barbie turned the world pink in 2023, it was more than a movie launch—it was a masterclass in brand activation. From Airbnb’s Malibu Dream House to custom Xbox consoles to Burger King Brazil’s “Barbie Combo” meal, Barbie’s marketing strategy crisscrossed industries and countries. 

And it worked. The film grossed over $1.4 billion globally. 

Fortunately, you don’t need a Barbie-style global marketing takeover to make an impact on your brand activation. However, you do need to capture attention, inspire action and create a signal rather than noise. 

Brands create successful brand activations by finding smart ways to show up, surprise and delight their customers. 

How do brand activations work? Let’s start with a clear definition, why they work and how you can use brand activations to inject your marketing plan with energy, emotion and real consumer participation.

This article in The CMO Club quotes the Group Head of Effectiveness at adam&eveDD, Les Binet. Binet defines brand activation as a "marketing activity that evokes an immediate response.” 

Brand activations are all about the experience. They invite your audience to do something like taste it, try it, touch it and play with it. They’re interactive and memorable.

Anytime you encourage participation, you’re connecting deeper with consumers. They’re no longer passive viewers but active participants, which goes deeper than traditional advertising. 

Traditional advertising focuses on visibility. TV spots, billboards and display ads tell people you exist. And marketers tend to measure impressions of these advertisements. But brand activations let people live your brand. It’s the perfect complement to traditional advertising. Both are important. 

Binet is also the co-author of The Long and Short of It. In it, he says, "Really smart marketers build the brand long-term and activate it efficiently. Building the brand long-term builds up preference for the brand, and then activation converts that preference efficiently into cash."

Now that you know what brand activations are and how they work, let’s explore some different ways you can use them to turn your next campaign into a memorable experience.

There are many ways to weave brand activations into your marketing. Whether splashy and 3D or a more subtle digital experience, the best activations give people a reason to care, share or act. Here are some effective brand activations to inspire you. 

Experiential marketing 

Immersive, real-world events engage your customers and give them a reason to talk about you and post about your brand. 

Dubai’s Museum of the Future, for instance, installed a five-day pop-up at SXSW in 2025. The installation drew 25,000 visitors who explored possible futures in AI, climate innovation and food. 

Immersive experiences engage every sense. Participants can’t help but post, share and talk about the experience.

Free trials and samples 

Everyone loves free samples. When people try something and like it, they’re more apt to buy it. 

One sweet brand activation at SXSW was the partnership between Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream and Rivian electric vehicles. Wrapped in Ben & Jerry’s branding, the electric ice cream trucks offered free samples, which naturally drew a crowd. 

Guerilla marketing 

Successful brand activations don’t require a splashy budget to be effective. But they do require creativity and unconventional thinking.

A recent example of this comes from HBO’s The Last of Us, which staged a guerilla marketing campaign with actors dressed as “clickers,” the zombie-like creatures from the show wandering the streets. This certainly stirred abuzz online as well as got viewers talking about the show again. 

Digital and social activations

Not every brand activation requires a street or a beach club. Some happen in the palm of your hand. Take Spotify Wrapped. This popular year-end event turns your listening data into a bite-sized story right in the app and ready for sharing. In 2023, Spotify extended Wrapped into a Spotify Beach at Cannes Lions with live performances and podcast announcements. It was such a success it won a Gold Lion for Personalized Storytelling and Experience.

“Spotify is home to premier content that drives culture. It’s part of our DNA to stay innovative, and we use this superpower to create impactful connections between artists, listeners, and brands.”

- Brian Berner, Spotify’s Head of Global Advertising Sales and Partnerships

Not to be outdone, Pinterest turned the Carlton Beach Club into a real-life version of the platform at Cannes. Inspired by the insight that Gen Z call Pinterest their ‘Manifestation App’, “Manifestival,” participants could design jewelry, explore “manifest boards” and get tattoos in keeping with the exploration theme of the platform — ending up with the highest net promoter score across all brand activations.

These types of brand activations work well because they tap into cultural moments and invite people to co-create with them. 

Cause-driven activations

When brands stand for a cause, they can start conversations and change cultural perceptions. 

Lush Cosmetics and the nonprofit Change the Ref combined forces to create Bloom a New Day at SXSW. This partnership raises awareness of school shootings and educates people about the Lawsuit for Survival, a bill designed to implement stronger U.S. gun policies. Such activations set examples for ways brands can engage with social causes and drive meaningful conversations. 

How to create a brand activation that resonates We don’t have to tell you how tough it is to capture attention. It’s even tougher to create memories. The best brand activations don’t just show up; they stick in your customer’s memories. 

“It helps you design creative, trendy marketing outreaches that create a “stop and pause” moment for consumers.”

- Michael Brenner

The investment is growing. According to Marketing Dive, 80% of companies have increased their experiential marketing budgets so that they now account for 10-30% of their overall marketing spend, highlighting the growth of immersive strategies.

Quick aside, experiential marketing is a type of brand activation, usually done in person. For example, a traveling pop-up is experiential marketing within the broader “brand activation” umbrella. The different types of brand activations can be digital, social or a hybrid format. They all share a common goal of inspiring emotional engagement. 

Here’s how to design your brand activation step-by-step:

1. Start with your audience 

All good strategy starts at the intersection of brand values and market trends. When you can align the two, you attract the right attention and motivate your customers. Test early-stage concepts to find what resonates. Behavioral data and consumer feedback will help you tap into those emotional drivers so you can create winners.

2. Amplify across channels Don’t risk a disappearance in the fractured marketing landscape. Competitive brands know they need to show up across channels to reach customers in different formats. For example, lean into hashtags, behind-the-scenes stories and influencer collabs. 

PR requires a strong narrative and visual assets, while for paid channels, you can boost top-performing content. Real-time brand tracking can help you see which messages or formats resonate with your customers.

3. Measure success

• KPIs go beyond impressions, as every marketer knows. To go deeper, track KPIs like:

• On-site engagement and dwell time

• QR or CTA conversion rates 

• UGC volume and sentiment 

• Brand lift metrics (awareness, intent, preference) 

• Opt-ins  

Find out what your customers think and you’ll discover new and creative ways to connect with them! 

Throughout this article, we’ve shared brand activation examples from two high-profile events: Cannes Lions and South by Southwest (SXSW). 

Cannes Lions is the Oscars of the advertising industry held in the sun-soaked French Riviera every year, and SXSW welcomes industry leaders in tech and music as well as advertising. Both events push the creative boundaries. Let’s look at some of the highlights. 

Cannes Lions brand activation highlights

The Cannes Lions participants and winners produce some of the most creative brand activations in the world. The winners are culturally resonant and built for impact. 

Take Spotify, which earned a Gold Lion for its wildly popular Wrapped campaign.

“As we say, Wrapped isn’t about Spotify, it’s about the world of audio culture."

- Taj Alavi, Spotify VP, Global Head of Marketing

Pinterest's “Manifestival” experience scored the highest in the Net Promoter Score across the event. These are more than advertising campaigns. They’re moments that encourage participation and create memories. 

What makes a Cannes-winning activation stand out?

Cannes Lions winners share commonalities: 

• They respond to cultural conversations 

• They respond to real-world interests 

• They encourage participation 

Keeping with the same examples, Spotify’s Wrapped taps into the psychology of self-expression to deliver a personalized celebration of listening habits. While Pinterest's “Manifestival” taps the same desire for creating in the physical world.

SXSW brand activations that captured attention

SXSW offers a chance to reach a unique blend of creatives and founders. Brands can create the type of brand activation that people line up for, share online and tell their friends about back at the office. 

How brands are using SXSW to connect with key demographics

Sharpie x Paper Mate Studio stole the show at 2024’s SXSW event. The creative space encouraged people to draw closet designs on white ball caps, write postcards to friends and draw cocktails for bartenders to make. 

Another popular activation was 2023’s, “Porsche X - Collaborations Unseen” to position the iconic car company at the forefront of innovation. The exhibit included the Porsche Vision 357: The U.S. debut of a concept car developed to celebrate the 75th anniversary of Porsche and inspired by the first Porsche, the 356. 

Additionally, there were art cars, like the 996 “Swan Car” by artist Chris Labrooy. 

Porsche showed off multiple collaborations, too. For example, the Porsche Vision Gran Turismo was built especially for the video game Gran Turismo 7. The brand also partnered with Paramount Pictures to introduce “Mirage,” a Porsche 911 Carrera RS 3.8 featured in the upcoming Transformers: Rise of the Beasts.

“Pushing the bounds of innovation, tech and design are core to Porsche’s DNA.”

- Kjell Gruner, President and CEO of Porsche Cars North America, Inc.

Lessons from standout activations at SXSW

The best SXSW brand activations aren’t afraid to experiment. Here are some of the top lessons from activations of recent years: 

1. Align your experience with cultural moments your audience cares about 

When your brand stands for something your audience already believes in, you step into the conversation in their minds. Successful activations are built on audience alignments. 

Take the Museum of the Future from Dubai and SXSW 2025. It focused on optimism, technology and global collaboration, inviting over 25,000 visitors to explore ideas about the future and spark curiosity and positive feelings.

“We hope to spark new conversations about how technology and culture can create positive change.”

- Majed Al Mansoori, Executive Director, Museum of the Future

Takeaway: While the museum experience inspired, HBO’s The Last of Us move terrified. In both instances, the brands created memories. 

2. Blend digital and physical for the deepest immersion 

Instagrammable shots make for fantastic user generated content (UGC), but a memorable experience goes deeper.

Porsche’s Electric Playground offered immersive projection domes, VR, art collaborations and the chance to test drive EVs. 

Takeaway: Design for memory and media for maximum impact. 

3. Collaborate to reach new audiences and expand creativity 

Memorable activations partner with others to co-create content and experiences. 

Whataburger® turned 75 in 2025, and to celebrate, the hamburger chain brought its digital Museum of Art into a physical museum experience at SXSW. 

The Whataburger Day Dot Room encouraged visitors to contribute to a collaborative art piece, and the Whataburger food truck served samples of a limited-time Monterey Melt. 

The exhibit showcased over 200 pieces of original art created by fans.

“Sometimes a burger is so delicious, the hospitality so sincere that mere words won’t do. That’s why some of our customers turn to paintbrushes and knitting needles. The creativity of our fans never ceases to amaze us.”

- Debbie Stroud , Whataburger President and Chief Executive Officer

Takeaway: Collaborations expand your reach and offer outlets for greater creativity. 

4. Measure what mattered

Foot traffic is great, but which parts of the activation inspired the most UGC? What about earned media attention? Were there shifts in sentiment or preference post-event? 

When you layer in pre/post-testing, you can assess the true brand lift of an activation beyond “did people show up and have fun?” Did it also change how they think, feel or act?

Takeaway: Measure perception and participation to learn what worked best. 

5. Make your brand feel like it belongs

The most successful SXSW activations don’t feel like ads dropped into a party; they feel like part of the culture and events people would attend without a brand attached. 

Takeaway: Build your activations for immersive experiences, not as an interruption. 

When everything turned pink for Barbie, it was more than a smart marketing flex. It was a cultural moment of less broadcast and more co-creation.

That’s the kind of energy you’ll find in the best brand activations. From Spotify’s Wrapped at Cannes to Porsche’s art meets innovation fusion at SXSW, the standout events helped people feel. 

Because that’s the power of brand activations. They do more than get your name out. They immerse your audience into your story.