Revitalizing Brand Activation & Experiential Marketing in 2025: Sustainability, Tech, and Emotional Engagement
The world of brand activation and experiential marketing continues to evolve rapidly, shaped by shifting consumer expectations, technological advancements, and a growing emphasis on sustainability. Since this blog was last updated in 2023, new trends have emerged that redefine how brands create meaningful, immersive experiences.
At Energy Floors we experience that consumers that have a positive emotional association with a brand, they are more likely to become loyal customers and advocates. They are also more inclined to share their experience with others. In general consumers, and particularly the next generation, are seeking unique and personal experiences, as well as experiences linked to a social cause such as the environment, ethical trade or racial injustices as we have seen of late. Traditional marketing has been replaced with out-of-the-box thinking, questioning the conventions of marketing itself. Creatives can meet the needs of their audience in part by using more clever marketing and communications strategies. This can mean different things, but one straightforward option is to communicate and engage with your customer base directly.
To achieve this, marketers and event planners alike are constantly looking for new ways to cultivate deeper and personal connections between the brand and their target audience: enter the realm of ‘experiential marketing’. Now information can be used to refine marketing strategies, improve products or services, and tailor future experiences to better meet consumer demand. This organic form of advertising can lead to increased brand awareness and attract new customers.
Sustainability as a Core Pillar of Experiential Marketing
Consumers today demand authenticity—brands must align their activations with genuine environmental and social responsibility. Greenwashing is no longer tolerated; instead, brands must integrate sustainability seamlessly into their experiences.
Eco-Conscious Event Design: Brands are opting for zero-waste events, upcycled materials, and carbon-neutral activations. For example, Patagonia’s “Worn Wear” tour repairs used clothing at festivals, reinforcing its commitment to sustainability (Source: Fast Company, 2024).
Energy-Generating Experiences: Energy Floors’ kinetic technology remains a standout example, turning foot traffic into renewable energy—perfect for brands looking to merge engagement with eco-conscious messaging.
Virtual & Hybrid Reductions in Carbon Footprint: With tools like VR and AR, brands reduce physical waste while still delivering immersive experiences (e.g., Meta’s VR pop-up stores).
Here are 8 ways our floors have supported marketers to create personal connections with their customers:
These are some of the ways that our flooring has assisted marketers in developing close relationships with their clients:
1. Clockenflap | Silent Disco – Hang Seng Bank
Energy Floors powered Hang Seng Bank’s sustainability activation at Clockenflap Festival (Hong Kong, 2024) with kinetic dance floors, turning 65K+ attendees’ movements into renewable energy—boosting engagement and green brand perception.
2. Cisco Live! | Engaging Corporate Event
Energy Floors transformed Cisco Live! Amsterdam (2024) with a kinetic walkway-turned-dancefloor, engaging 16K+ attendees to power interactive lighting—boosting sustainability visibility and earning Cisco’s highest-ever event satisfaction scores.
3. Corona | Sueños Music Festival
The Corona Discoteca, a 40×25 double-decker structure, brought an Eco Disco experience to two different festivals: Sueños, a Hispanic music festival in Chicago, and Bonnaroo, a multi-genre music festival in Tennessee. The activation featured Energy Floors as a central attraction, along with a bar, rooftop viewing deck, screenprinting station, and a vibrant hype crew to keep guests dancing and engaged. Attendees were delighted to receive a video of their Energy Floor experience via text or email, adding a digital memento to their festival memories.
4. Samsung | KPN Festival
Samsung, a prominent partner of KPN Netherlands, aimed to make a significant impact at the KPN Festival 2023 hosted on the KNVB Campus in Zeist. KPN wanted to create a memorable event for their 6-7000 employees and partners under the theme “Celebrate the Power of Green” with a lot of sports events and other activities.
At the heart of the activation was the Energy Floors dance floor, which offered a creative way for participants to use their power to celebrate this big event and all the green efforts. The challenge was to dance and generate energy, converting their moves into unforgettable memories in the form of pictures
5. DAYBREAKER Amsterdam | Give back to nature
DAYBREAKER is a morning dance community of 500,000+ members in 28 cities around the world. They inspire humans to start their day unlike any other — by waking up and dancing in iconic spaces, first thing in the morning. In 2020, they held a (Give) Back to Nature event at the iconic CIRCL Amsterdam. The event launched the beginning of the Dutch Circular Economy week with an aim to have a party with zero C02 emissions. Our sustainable dancefloor, The Dancer, was one of the key elements used to obtain that goal!
The Dancer was used to host a yoga class in the morning, and then the ultimate dance party (still) in the morning with an array of performances. In total, the daybreakers generated 60,000 joules of energy! And for every ticket sold, DAYBREAKER planted a tree in Costa Rica.
6. Heineken House at Coachella 2016 | Power the Party
Dutch beer company, Heineken is one of the many sponsors of Coachella – the annual music and arts Festival held in Indio, California. In 2016, we supported their activation with our Kinetic Energy Floor.
Located in The Terrace section of the festival, home to local and sustainable food & beverage and other like-minded activities, Heineken set up shop and built its Heineken House. The location was no coincidence as one of the main features of their activation was our sustainable dancefloor. Festival-goers lit up the House by dancing on our Energy Floor which transformed the energy into electricity to power the LED lights on the dancefloors, as well as the House’s light beams. A live screen behind the DJ booth displayed a graphic of a large battery meter allowing the dancers to see how much energy they had generated.
7. Adidas | Energy Challenge
For the Boston Marathon we developed an activation for Adidas. After collecting their bib-number and running pack, runners were invited to join the Adidas Energy Challenge to win a new pair of Ultra Boost sneakers.
The aim was to generate as much energy as possible by running as fast as they could on 4 of our energy modules to unleash the Boost Energy in their shoes. When the 30 seconds were up, their Boost Energy Score was revealed on a real-time leader board showcasing the top 10 ranking participants.
Across 3 days, 600 people joined the challenge and the activation helped generate interest and excitement and, as we understand it, drive footwear sales which was the ultimate goal of the client.
8. Lightsource | Solar Farm
At the Formula E championship finale in London, we teamed up with Lightsource solar experts to build a kinetic solar walkway at their booth.
At the Lightsource solar farm fans could charge their mobile phone with renewable energy – and that’s where Energy Floors came in. At the entrance of the Lightsource recharging station, we installed a Kinetic Solar Walkway together with our solar partner OTEM2000, which generated energy from solar and human power. This energy was used to power mobile phones.
The Future of Engagement: 4 Key Trends Shaping Experiential Marketing in 2025
AI & Hyper-Personalization in Experiential Campaigns
Artificial Intelligence is revolutionizing how brands tailor experiences in real time:
AI-Driven Personalization: Using facial recognition and data analytics, brands like Nike customize in-store experiences based on customer preferences (Source: Forbes, 2024).
Chatbots & Interactive AR: Coca-Cola’s AI-powered vending machines engage users with personalized recommendations, blending digital and physical touchpoints.
Generative AI for Dynamic Content: Brands now use AI to create real-time customized visuals, like Adobe’s AI-generated murals at SXSW.
The Rise of Phygital Experiences
The line between physical and digital continues to blur:
NFT-Backed Experiences: Brands like Starbucks Odyssey reward customers with NFTs for participating in real-world events.
Augmented Reality (AR) Activations: Pepsi’s AR bus shelters transformed waiting times into interactive brand moments, a trend still growing in 2024.
Web3 & Metaverse Integrations: While the hype has cooled, selective brands use metaverse spaces for exclusive previews (e.g., Gucci’s Roblox collaborations).
Community-Driven & Social Impact Activations
Gen Z and Millennials favor brands that take a stand:
Social Justice Tie-Ins: Ben & Jerry’s continues leading with campaigns supporting racial equity, inspiring others to follow suit.
Localized Pop-Ups: Brands like Glossier succeed by hosting city-specific activations that celebrate local culture.
User-Generated Content (UGC) Focus: Encouraging attendees to co-create content (e.g., Red Bull’s adventure challenges) boosts authenticity and reach.
Read more about UGC – “20 brilliant examples of UGC Campaigns that went viral”
Data-Driven Experiential ROI
Measuring impact is now more sophisticated:
Biometric Feedback: Tools like eye-tracking and emotion AI gauge real-time attendee reactions (used by Netflix at experiential previews).
Post-Event Analytics: Post-activation surveys paired with social listening tools track long-term brand sentiment shifts.
Energy Floors’ Role in 2025’s Experiential Trends
Our interactive floors remain a powerful tool for sustainable, engaging activations:
Gamification for Sustainability: Turning energy generation into a fun competition (e.g., Clockenflap – Hang Seng Bank – Energy Challenge integrations).
Tech-Enhanced Storytelling: We don’t just create interactive experiences—we make them visibly impactful. Our kinetic flooring captures the energy of foot traffic, but the real magic happens when we pair it with dynamic real-time visualizations on displays.
Partnerships with Green Brands: Collaborating with eco-conscious companies to amplify sustainability messaging.
What is experiential marketing?
As the name implies, experiential marketing is a form of advertising that gives the consumer an experience. Experiential marketing is a powerful tool for companies to cultivate loyalty and affinity among their customers. “The key is creating an experience that stimulates an emotional connection and reinforces the essence of the brand.” (ANA) In fact, experiential marketing is one of the many subsets of the often used marketing term of ‘brand activation’.
Unlike traditional advertising methods, experiential marketing aims to create immersive and unforgettable experiences that deeply resonate with consumers. By focusing on emotional connection and brand affinity, companies can differentiate themselves in a crowded marketplace and leave a lasting impression on their target audience.
These immersive experiences not only foster customer loyalty but also inspire brand advocacy. When consumers have positive encounters through experiential marketing, they become passionate advocates who willingly share their experiences with others. This word-of-mouth promotion is highly valuable for brands, as it brings authenticity and trust that traditional advertising often lacks.
In a world where consumers are constantly bombarded with advertisements, experiential marketing offers a refreshing and engaging approach. It enables brands to break through the noise and establish meaningful connections with their customers. By leveraging emotions and personal experiences, companies can create a strong and enduring brand presence. The secret is to develop an experience that fosters an emotional bond and promotes the brand’s core values.
Experiential Marketing for Brand Activation
Through “brand activation” creatives can essentially “activate” their brand to promote, for example, their latest campaign or product launch. It helps brands stay relevant and test out new ideas amongst their targeted demographic. It can take many forms such as giving out free merchandise, samples or hosting an event. Indeed, according to HubSpot, brand activations are one-off, in-person events, experiences, and interactions that forge lasting emotional connections between a brand and their target audience.
Lead creation isn’t always the result. By engaging with the audience in real-time, brands can gain a better understanding of their preferences, needs, and expectations. Sometimes it’s increased awareness and loyalty. Customers should leave the activation with a positive or reinforced perception of the company and an awareness of their principles, such as the green agenda.
In the following blog: Sustainable Marketing Strategies for Brand Activations, you can find other great examples of companies like Patagonia, Toyota and Ben & Jerry’s
Our approach to Experiential Marketing and Sustainability
The major objective of Energy Floors is to increase public awareness of the energy transition, and we strive to accomplish this in the most entertaining manner possible.
We collaborate with an international network of event marketers and creative agencies, including GUC Amsterdam, CIRC, and Liganova (to name a few), to help them deliver original and creative activations for their clients and brands, including Adidas, Volkswagen, and Heineken, who want to include a fun feature for the customers while also incorporating their values.
