When experiential agency TRO activated BMW’s new M series launch at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, the team needed to work within a key insight: That the people showing up to the event are already enthusiasts, and that proving the booth’s impact would require an “honest” approach.
The result: Measuring granular, moment-by-moment responses to specific parts of the experience, including the multilevel activation’s centerpiece. The techy vehicle display featured an LED backdrop and floor that when triggered, took attendees through 30 years of M series history via the screens and a soundscape.
With the goal of shifting the perception that an electric M series could still be a driver’s car, the team deployed an emotion analytics program with cameras positioned throughout the vehicle display that captured emotional responses in real time—not smiles, but movement, “emotional uplift,” and “elation,” the team explains.
As Andrew Orr, managing director at TRO, says, emotion analytics is one piece of closing that gap, connecting the in-experience response to downstream metrics like lead generation and CRM integration, which were also part of the BMW activation.
A few practical takeaways for event marketers considering this approach:
Emotion tracking is most useful when paired with action data.
At Goodwood, emotional uplift was one signal; lead capture was another. Together they tell a more complete story.
The technology works best in a controlled environment.
A multizone structure with defined experiences gives you something to measure against. The BMW setup—timed triggers, a defined narrative arc, a contained footprint—gave the data meaningful context.
Emotion tracking requires an emotion-generating experience.
The experience you measure must also measure up to the passion and messaging around the product. From the music to the lights to the architecture, BMW created a journey that offered a range of moments to measure, and to dig deeper into audience passion.
Photo credits: iStock/Alina Naumova; Courtesy of TRO
