Aja Bradley Kemp has spent her career proving that experiences do more than entertain. They shape how people feel about a brand, how they connect with it, and whether they return. Her path includes global campaigns for Levi Strauss & Co. and M·A·C Cosmetics, digital strategy work for Expedia in Australia and New Zealand, and key marketing leadership roles within two Australian early stage tech companies. Across these chapters, she has delivered consumer activations that have reached more than a million people. “My passion has always been the same, bringing people together through meaningful experiences,” says Kemp, Founder of Conversate Collective, the experiential strategy agency she founded to help brands create interactions that feel personal, inclusive and worth remembering.
For her, brand love grows out of meaningful, inclusive experiences that create genuine emotional connection. Experiential marketing strengthens this bond when it moves beyond spectacle and centers authenticity, representation and community. When brands design moments where people feel seen, involved and inspired, those experiences naturally travel across physical and digital spaces and can ultimately transform audiences into loyal communities.
The Power of Experiences That Go Beyond the Expected
Experiential marketing is all about creating real-world or digital interactions that allow people to personally engage with a brand. In a market where audiences have endless choices and shortening attention spans, strong experiential marketing has become essential for brands looking to build emotional relevance and long-term affinity. Years of designing moments that spark emotional connection shape Kemp’s approach to the practice. From staging bold activations, including sending Richard Branson flying through his Times Square store to launch a mobile plan, to building campaigns that support underserved communities, she has consistently used experiential strategy to spark conversations. “Experiences allow a brand to show its values in action and can go deeper than advertising,” says Kemp. The goal is not spectacle for its own sake. It is to create a moment that resonates.
Designing Experiences Where People Feel Represented
Authenticity and inclusivity sit at the heart of her work. Audiences, she believes, want to feel seen rather than spoken at. “The most powerful experiences reflect the diversity of the audiences we serve,” she says. When people recognize themselves in a brand environment, they naturally lean in. At Conversate Collective, this philosophy guides every project. Kemp and her team work to create environments where participants feel invited to contribute to the brand story. “When people feel seen and heard, they’re not just attending an event, they’re co-creating the brand story.”
Making the Physical and Digital Work Together
Technology has reshaped how people experience and share such moments, and Kemp sees this as a strategic advantage for brands trying to stay culturally relevant. “A live activation amplified through social sharing can turn a single moment into millions of impressions,” she says. It is not simply amplification for scale, but amplification for meaning. When people share an experience, they validate it, extend its life and invite others into the story.
Her time at Expedia sharpened her ability to merge digital storytelling with in-person engagement. There, she helped develop content strategies that encouraged travelers to share their own trip moments online, turning individual experiences into community‑driven narratives and demonstrating how digital amplification can extend the emotional reach of a real-world interaction. That experience now informs her work at Conversate Collective, where she helps brands design journeys that feel connected rather than siloed. Whether a moment begins in a room, on a screen or in a feed, the intention is the same: ensure the story continues, evolves and stays emotionally resonant across platforms.
From Moments to Community
The experiential campaigns that endure are those that center meaning over theatrics. “It’s not about the biggest budget or the flashiest production. It’s about creating experiences that resonate, inspire and endure,” Kemp says. When an experience feels genuine, it becomes something people want to share. That sharing builds trust. Over time, trust becomes loyalty. This is why she encourages brands to think about community rather than campaigns. People remember how an experience made them feel. If that feeling is positive, they return not out of obligation, but out of connection. “If you can design moments that people don’t just attend, but remember and share, you’ve done more than just market to them. You’ve built a community.”
For more insights from Aja Bradley Kemp, connect with her on LinkedIn.
