Why LBE Marketers Can't Wait—And Why Precision Is Everything

The Location-Based Entertainment (LBE) world—art installations, museums, music and theater, and experiential venues—faces fierce competition for attention, foot traffic, and ticket sales. In this dynamic landscape, success isn't just about being seen; it's about being unforgettable, hyper-relevant, and measurable at every touchpoint. Performance comes from mastering the three controllable levers of modern programmatic: inventory, audience, and creative.

This is where standout LBE operators surge ahead. Our client, a pioneer in immersive arts and storytelling, required a strategy as innovative as their installations. To fill rooms, drive advance ticketing, and build passionate communities, LBE marketers must go beyond broad awareness and turn every engagement into action.

Don't wait. With every moment, audiences' attention shifts, and those still relying solely on traditional awareness or generic creative are losing out on visits and loyalty. The tools are ready. It's time to take control.

The LBE Performance Playbook: The Apex Approach

AGM's Apex solution integrates robust audience tech, programmatic media buying, and dynamic creative tailored for immersive venues. Our recent partnership with an immersive experiential venue demonstrates how precision and adaptability can transform brand engagement into measurable ticket sales.

1. Inventory: Precision Touchpoints, Including DOOH

Our media inventory for our client wasn't just broad, it was curated for context, locality, and experience. In LBE, it's about intercepting your audience as they move through their daily lives and play spaces. We built a holistic mix spotlighting:

• Premium Digital: Mobile, desktop, and CTV, where creative could highlight immersive storytelling with rich visuals and teasers.
• Programmatic Display & Video: To ensure scale and precise targeting, always within premium content environments.
• Strategic DOOH Placements: Leveraging digital billboards and transit screens in close proximity to the venues. Inventory was carefully selected for times and locations that correlated with tourist arrivals, weekend peaks, and nearby cultural hotspots—making our client's brand inescapably top-of-mind at the ideal moment for decision-making.

2. Audience: Targeting the Experience-Seekers

This campaign leveraged a layered audience segmentation strategy, dividing efforts between local and tourist geographic targets. Local geo-campaigns accounted for 74% of total conversions, effectively driving action among local audiences, while tourist targeting contributed the remaining 26% by engaging potential visitors.

Audience targeting was further refined into prospecting (new users) and retargeting (previous site visitors) campaigns. While retargeting delivered efficient CPAs ($6-$7), its incremental impact is less certain—these users may have converted organically. Therefore, greater opportunity for growth lies within prospecting efforts, though we observed a wide CPA range: local prospecting ($60-$142) and tourist prospecting ($28-$133).

Demographic Performance Highlights:

• 35-55 Non-Parents emerged as the highest converting segment.
• 25-34 Non-Parents was the next best performing group.
• Parents of Children Ages 6-17 delivered moderate conversion rates, but showed solid engagement when targeted via interest-based segments such as "Custom Intent: Local Activities."

For Local campaigns we saw 35-55 Non-Parents convert most efficiently, suggesting that the exhibits were most appealing to slightly older adults without children.

For Tourist campaigns we saw 18-24 demo convert most efficiently, suggesting a younger leaning audience of visitors were most likely to convert.

Correlation Between Targeting and Conversions:

Behavioral Intent: Audiences expressing active interest in live events, local activities, or destination travel converted at above-average rates.

Retargeting: Previous site visitors are significantly more likely to convert, supporting ongoing retargeting investment for lower funnel efforts.

Affinity Segments: "Thrill Seekers" and "Gamers & Comic Book Fans" displayed promising conversion rates across campaigns, suggesting a strong fit with the offering.

Audience Results: Success hinges on audience segmentation and tailored message delivery, especially when leveraging behavioral and interest-based data to identify the highest-value prospects. While retargeting remains cost-efficient for capturing existing demand, the largest opportunity to drive incremental growth lies within optimized prospecting among high-intent and affinity-based audiences, particularly within well-performing demographics.

3. Creative: Immersive Storytelling and Action

We went beyond standard banners. Our client's creative suite depicted surreal, share-worthy experiences, inviting users to "Step Inside the Unexpected."

Dynamic & Localized Creative: Ads tailored by city, featuring exhibition previews, ticket countdowns, and artist highlights.

High-Impact Display & DOOH: Large-format creative in high-traffic areas delivered a sense of spectacle, converting curiosity into ticket sales.

Creative Results: High-impact DOOH executions generated double-digit lifts in foot traffic during launch weeks, and responsive display creatives drove conversion rates over 1% (versus the industry average of 0.01%), proving that imaginative, localized storytelling transforms exposure into action.

The Takeaway

LBE is about unforgettable moments. When premium placements meet in-market audiences and immersive creative, you unlock the true engine of growth: turning everyday city explorers into brand advocates.

LBE Marketers

This is the moment to command attention. Reclaim control with Apex, leveraging inventory (especially DOOH), sharp audience segmentation, and showstopping creative to power your venue into the cultural spotlight. Don't settle for fleeting impressions—drive lasting impact, packed events, and cult followings.

The future of LBE marketing is programmatic, immersive, and 100% measurable. The venue is yours—fill it.