AUCKLAND, Today: Marketers across New Zealand and Australia continue funnelling big spend into BTL, yet most admit they still lack clarity on how well it’s performing, according to Curious Nation’s new Barometer.
Only two percent feel very confident measuring BTL ROI, and five percent feel confident measuring brand impact. Despite this, most expect budgets to hold or grow into 2026.
One senior marketer said, “The hardest part about proving the value of BTL activations? It’s connecting the dots between someone experiencing our brand and them actually buying it. Tracking the basics isn’t the problem.
We can see who showed up, how engaged they were, what they posted on social. That part’s straightforward. The real challenge is this: Can I prove that the person who attended our experiential event in January is the same person who bought in March? Right now, I can’t.”
Curious Nation and Ideally created the Activation Effectiveness Barometer to show how experiential, retail, sponsorship and sampling activity is measured and prioritised across Australasia.
Meredith Cranmer, co-founder and managing director of Curious Nation said, “For too long, activation has been undervalued because it hasn’t spoken the same measurement language as other parts of the marketing mix.
“The Activation Effectiveness Barometer is about changing that narrative, and for the first time in New Zealand we now have a clearer view of the pressure points marketers face in BTL activation and measurement. The good news is that solutions to many of the issues highlighted are available, but a knowledge gap means they are not understood.”
“The Activation Effectiveness Barometer is about changing that narrative, and for the first time in New Zealand we now have a clearer view of the pressure points marketers face in BTL activation and measurement.” – Meredith Cranmer, co-founder and managing director of Curious Nation
More than half of marketers say experiential moments like pop-ups, events and immersive experiences are major BTL investments, though nearly a third list them as their hardest measurement challenge.
Cranmer added: “Experience is the heartbeat of activation, it’s how people feel a brand, but too often measurement comes after the fact. We need to design proof into the experience itself so that emotion and evidence move together.”
Retail media still commands the biggest BTL budgets, followed by digital and social amplification, then experiential. Sponsorship and experiential are rated stronger for long-term brand impact than direct ROI.
Most marketers believe AI will enhance measurement, reporting and creative processes, with opportunities in modelling, sentiment analysis and adaptive optimisation.
The biggest expected growth areas for 2026 are experiential, retail media and digital and social amplification. The Barometer surveyed 87 senior marketers in September, offering fresh insight into how BTL investment and measurement are shifting across the region.
The report will be released annually to help marketers benchmark effectiveness and strengthen activation’s role in the wider marketing mix.
George Robertson, strategic agency partner at Ideally added, “Experience should come with evidence by design. Our partnership with Curious Nation moves the industry from post-hoc reporting to built-in proof, so brands can plan, test and prove activation impact with the same confidence they would bring to media.”
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