Pop-up shops have also been implemented as an event marketing tool to build brand reputation and brand community. In this case, pop-up retail is usually a part of a big ticket campaign for the brand. Pop-up shops, as a form of event marketing, can create a temporary branded environment and serve as a vehicle for non-conventional communication.

Example

In celebration of  National Chocolate Day in July 2017, Hershey's ran a 10-day Chipits Bake Bar pop-up in Toronto, where people could design their own free cookies with dough and toppings of their choice. To add a social cause to the celebration, Chipits donated a meal to the Daily Bread Food Bank for every pack of cookies distributed.

In general, event marketing is implemented by companies to achieve multi-faceted objectives.

  • Corporate objectives: help to increase public awareness, enhance corporate image and promote community involvement
  • Marketing objectives: help to reach out to target markets, communicate brand positioning and increase sales
  • Media objectives: help to generate visibility and publicity, counter negative publicity and reinforce ad campaigns
  • Personal objectives: help to fulfill management interest

Research suggests that people's event attendance positively affects their perceived brand equity. In the case of pop-up shops, brand experience is stronger among all forms of event marketing tested (including sponsored events, trade shows, street events and pop-up shops), and brand experience mediates the relationship between pre-event and post-event brand equity. In other words, after visiting pop-up shops, the post-event brand equity is higher than it was pre-event.