Therapy on the Eights

When Life Becomes the Ultimate Brand Experience

Let’s be real—moms were doing experiential marketing long before it became a buzzword in the corporate world. That Halloween costume you stayed up all night sewing? Experiential marketing. The birthday party where you transformed your backyard into a pirate ship? Definitely experiential marketing. The way you turned Tuesday’s dinner into a “restaurant night” complete with menus and fancy napkins? You guessed it.

After 20 years in experiential marketing and even more time navigating motherhood, I’ve realized these worlds don’t just overlap—they’re practically the same game played on different courts. Whether I’m creating a brand activation for thousands or making Wednesday special for my kids, the principles remain surprisingly consistent.

What Even IS Experiential Marketing (And Why Moms Are Natural Experts)

For the uninitiated, experiential marketing is about creating memorable, immersive interactions between brands and audiences. It’s marketing that engages multiple senses, triggers emotions, and creates stories worth sharing.

Sound familiar? That’s because motherhood is basically a masterclass in experiential marketing:

• Multi-sensory engagement: The perfect mix of sights, sounds, and smells that make a space feel like home
• Emotional connection: Creating moments that make hearts swell and memories stick
• Shareable experiences: Crafting photo-worthy moments that end up in family albums or social feeds
• Problem-solving on the fly: When Plan A fails spectacularly (as it often does)

Skating Through Life: Where Wheels Meet Marketing Wisdom

My love affair with skating taught me lessons that translate perfectly to both marketing and motherhood. When you’re balancing on eight wheels, you learn quickly that:

1. Momentum matters – Starting is always the hardest part, whether it’s a marketing campaign or getting kids out the door on Monday mornings.
2. Falls are inevitable – In skating, marketing, and parenting, you will wipe out spectacularly. The trick isn’t avoiding falls; it’s getting back up with grace (or at least with humor).
3. Balance requires constant adjustment – The moment you think you’ve found perfect balance is precisely when you’re about to lose it. Small, continuous corrections keep you upright.
4. Speed changes everything – Sometimes slowing down gives you more control; other times, you need to pick up speed to overcome obstacles. Knowing which to choose is an art form.

The rink taught me that the most memorable experiences combine structure with freedom—guided enough to feel safe, open enough to feel personal. This is the sweet spot of experiential marketing, whether you’re designing a brand activation or a family vacation.

From Badge to Brand: How Police Work Shaped My Marketing Mind

Few people expect to hear “former police officer” and “experiential marketing expert” in the same sentence. But my years on the force gave me unique perspectives that transformed my approach to creating memorable experiences:

Situational awareness becomes your superpower. As an officer, I learned to read rooms, anticipate problems, and notice details others miss—skills that translate perfectly to event planning and experience design.

De-escalation techniques work everywhere. Calming a heated situation on patrol isn’t so different from handling a crisis during a live event or managing a meltdown in the cereal aisle.

Authority doesn’t have to be authoritarian. The best officers, like the best marketers and mothers, know that respect is earned through presence and connection, not through force or volume.

Perhaps most importantly, police work taught me that genuine safety creates the freedom to truly experience a moment. When people feel secure, they open up to new experiences—whether that’s at a brand event or a family dinner table.

The Mom-Marketer Playbook: Turning Mundane into Memorable

So how do we apply professional-grade experiential marketing tactics to everyday family life? Here’s my tried-and-tested playbook:

1. Create a Signature Experience

Every successful brand has signature experiences that people associate exclusively with them. Think of Apple’s unboxing ritual or Disney’s character greetings.

Mom Application: Develop family traditions that become your “signature”—Taco Tuesday with a twist, special birthday morning rituals, or unique holiday traditions that your kids will associate only with your family.

2. Employ Strategic Surprise and Delight

In marketing, we carefully plan “spontaneous” moments that appear random but are strategically designed to create emotional peaks.

Mom Application: Keep a small stash of “surprise and delight” items—sidewalk chalk for an unexpected driveway art session, ingredients for impromptu cookies, or a new board game for a rainy day. The key is timing these “spontaneous” moments when they’ll have maximum impact.

3. Master the Art of Environmental Design

The physical environment fundamentally shapes how people experience a moment—something every experiential marketer knows well.

Mom Application: Simple environmental changes can transform ordinary activities. Picnic blanket dinners in the living room, fort-building supplies accessible for rainy days, or seasonal decorations that transform familiar spaces all create new contexts for everyday activities.

4. Leverage the Power of Sensory Marketing

Multi-sensory experiences create stronger memory imprints—that’s why brands invest in signature scents, sounds, and textures.

Mom Application: Engage multiple senses in family activities. The smell of a special breakfast that signals the weekend, music playlists that become the soundtrack to summer road trips, or tactile traditions like making handprints in clay—these multi-sensory moments become anchors for family memories.

When Wheels Hit the Road: Mobile Experiential Magic

The “on wheels” aspect of experiential marketing has always been my specialty. There’s something magical about bringing an experience directly to your audience rather than waiting for them to come to you. Some of my favorite applications:

The Adventure Mobile: Transform your car into an experience hub with a “go bag” containing essentials for spontaneous adventures—snacks, a blanket, outdoor games, a portable speaker, and a list of nearby destinations for impromptu memory-making.

Pop-Up Play: Just as brands create pop-up experiences, you can create pop-up play scenarios in unexpected locations. Sidewalk chalk games at the bus stop, bubbles in the grocery store parking lot, or a mobile art studio that turns doctor’s waiting rooms into creative spaces.

Road Trip Reimagined: Turn transit time into quality time with car games that build skills and connections. My police training taught me observation games that sharpen attention while creating laughs.

The ROI of Experiential Parenting

In marketing, we obsess over ROI (Return on Investment). But the ROI of experiential parenting isn’t measured in dollars—it’s measured in the stories your children tell about their childhood, in their resilience when facing challenges, and in their ability to find wonder in ordinary moments.

When I look at my children applying life lessons from our family experiences—the problem-solving skills from our DIY projects, the adaptability from our impromptu adventures, the confidence from overcoming challenges together—I see returns that no marketing campaign could ever match.

From Pro to Personal: Making It Your Own

The beauty of bringing experiential marketing principles home is that you don’t need professional training or a big budget—you just need intention and attention. Here’s how to start:

1. Identify your family’s core values – Just as brands start with core values, understand what matters most to your family
2. Look for everyday opportunities – The most powerful experiences often hide in ordinary moments
3. Start small – One memorable moment a week beats an elaborate monthly extravaganza that burns you out
4. Involve everyone in planning – Co-creation leads to greater buy-in (true in boardrooms and living rooms)
5. Document thoughtfully – Capture memories, but not at the expense of living them

The Bottom Line: Presence Over Perfection

After 20 years creating experiences for major brands, skating through life’s ups and downs, and applying police-trained observation skills to both marketing and motherhood, I’ve learned that the most memorable experiences share one key ingredient: genuine presence.

No amount of perfect planning can replace the impact of being fully present in a moment with those you love. The most successful experiential marketers know this, and the most memorable mothers practice it daily.

So whether you’re rolling through life on skates, wheels, or just trying to keep your balance in the day-to-day juggle, remember that the experiences that matter most aren’t always the biggest or most elaborate—they’re the ones where connection was prioritized over perfection.

That’s experiential marketing at its finest, and motherhood at its best.

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