Every year, food brands pour small sums of money into experiential marketing programs that their leadership cannot confidently defend. It’s not because the experience doesn’t work, it’s because many people are still following the 1999 playbook in a 2026 game. What are the results? Products reach consumers through poorly targeted and difficult-to-measure activations that make the experience look like a PR spend rather than a conversion driver.
Savvy marketers no longer make this mistake. They have moved past the “sampling is for perception” era, treating experiences as measurable performance channels with targeting accuracy and closed-loop properties. They are showing up in retail conversations with evidence that sampling drives travel, increases sales, and increases velocity. They are defending their budget with iROAS data. And they are winning.
Four persistent myths explain this division. For marketers still clinging to old practices, it’s time to recalibrate.
Myth 1: Experiential marketing can’t be measured like other channels
For years, Experienceential lived in the “brand building” bucket with soft metrics like earned media impressions, engagement photos, and surveys. When executives asked, “What do you get?”, marketers pointed to awareness, vibe, or backstage passes to the CMO.
Now, modern platforms track the entire process from sample to purchase. Retailer partnerships enable closed-loop measurement of sales growth, iROAS, conversions, and new brand acquisition. This is the same incremental metric used in retail media. Platforms pioneering these capabilities, like Recess, connect sampling directly to in-store sales data.
Let’s take a multinational brewing company as an example. The brand distributed one million samples. nab They operate across a variety of venue types, including fitness studios, races, drive-ins, and farmers markets. Looking at both samplers and non-samplers, the brand saw a 34% increase in purchase intent among those who tried the product, and 56% of samplers converted into actual purchases. This comparison group methodology mirrors the incremental testing used in retail media, demonstrating that experiential campaigns can deliver the same experimental rigor as digital channels.
Myth 2: You need a huge budget and an army of brand ambassadors
Traditional experience meant hiring brand ambassadors and managing complex logistics across markets. The brand has invested in fixed assets such as tents, activators and branded vehicles, as well as having large initial agency retainers or full-time brand ambassadors in each market. Fixed perception: Only brands with big budgets can expand their sampling.
A modern approach turns this model on its head. Leveraging trusted community members (teachers, fitness instructors, workplace managers) can help you reduce labor costs while also generating stronger word-of-mouth. That’s why many food brands now rely on the Recess plug-and-play partner network, where brands provide inventory while the platform handles distribution, data capture and logistics.
perfect snack It’s one of those brands. To reach higher-income and health-conscious consumers with its whole-food protein bars, the brand distributed samples to select Orangetheory Fitness stores. At each location, studio staff delivered samples to members after their workouts, and Recess managed data capture and digital amplification. As a result, you can achieve massive engagement without a single brand ambassador. The fitness studio’s endorsement carried more weight than any hired representative.
Myth 3: Our products are too complex or logistically difficult to sample.
The opposing views are familiar. “We will break the cold chain.” “Our product needs to be ready.” “Sampling is not scalable for us.”
In fact, experiential is often the best solution for products that require training or temperature control. Complex products require contextual practice. Banner ads can’t deliver this.
no way plant-based protein shake Brands faced two challenges: maintaining the cold chain and educating consumers. By sampling their refrigerated beverages at health-focused venues, they reached their ideal consumers for whom the product benefits were most relevant. The campaign resulted in approximately 1,100 retailer coupon redemptions, demonstrating that logistical complexities increase the value of sampling rather than preventing it.
Myth 4: Sampling only applies to new product launches or small brands
When a brand is well known, sampling seems redundant. The general perception is that “everyone knows what we taste like.”
Instead of focusing on product discovery, recognized brands use sampling defensively to protect market share, maintain shelf relevance, and demonstrate to retailers that they are driving travel and category growth. A well-designed program meets the needs of a variety of functions. Sales teams gain evidence showing how sampling drives new trips and shoppers to retail partners. Merchants value programs that drive traffic to their stores. Social teams get authentic content through real-world activations, and marketing teams collect consumer feedback and purchase intent data.
With this in mind, pepsico During finals week, we activated “stress relief” lounges on college campuses and distributed boxes of products from Gopuff to encourage purchases. Despite being a widely known brand, this campaign increased sales by 22%. Like PepsiCo, established brands have much to gain from experience as an always-on channel for defending market share.
Taking responsibility for your experience
The gap between market leaders and laggards lies in understanding what is possible with a modern experience infrastructure. “By debunking misconceptions about sampling and evolving past practices, brands can unlock the full potential of experiential marketing and turn sampling into a measurable growth driver,” explains Jack Shannon, CEO and co-founder of Recess.
This means treating next-generation sampling like a media unit. This means hyper-targeting audiences, retail targeting using shopper data, a proven partner network for scale, and closed-loop metrics that link your samples to sales impact.
“Sampling is now the performance channel.” Shannon adds: “Activate through trusted local associates, set goals with integrated retailer insights, and measure incremental sales growth and ROAS to ensure sampling performs like a channel, not a gamble.”
▷ Take a look at what’s possible: 15,000+ sampling opportunities, all filterable by consumer demographics, shopper behavior, location, and proximity to retailerrecess We help brands become active near major retailers with full attribution from experience to purchase.
