Experience the Message

COOL USE OF CROWDSOURCING: ENJOY

CANNES WE DO IT? YES WE CAN!

If there is any lingering doubt that we are in the midst of fundamental transformations in the advertising and marketing industries, just read the beginning of this press release from June 30th:

CANNES, France, June 30 /PRNewswire/ -- DDB Brazil and Tribal DDB Worldwide took home top honors at the 2009 International Advertising Festival at Cannes.

DDB Brazil was recognized as Agency of the Year, while Tribal DDB in Amsterdam was awarded the Film Grand Prix for the Philips interactive film "Carousel," an award that Advertising Age called "a clear admission the age of interruption is over" and that the festival said recognized work being done on all screens, not simply television. To see the work click here: www.philips.com/cinema.

Also winning at Cannes was DDB&Co. Istanbul, which was the No. 3 ranked agency in the world, clearly bringing to life the DDB network mantra that great creative work can and does come from anywhere around the globe.

There's an entire chapter in my latest book about the burgeoning "phenomenon" of sourcing creativity from across the globe. I guess the old guard at Cannes woke up to that reality this year for the first time.

BRANDS: ALL IN YOUR HEAD

This is a pretty cool project:

http://www.brandtags.net/

And please read this article from Fast Company to better understand the future of branding.

BREAKFAST WITH JOE PINE

I normally don't gush. Nor do I tolerate any sort of celebrity worship, where normally reasonable and intelligent people fall apart at the sight and touch of a VIP. But this morning I had breakfast at The Drake in Chicago with Joe Pine, author of Mass Customization, The Experience Economy and Authenticity.

Truly a visionary. And a really swell dude.

Check him out at TED. (You know you made it when they let you talk at TED.)

So I guess I'm gushing a little if I'm posting about it. He had oatmeal. I had eggs over easy.

BRILLIANT MARKETING

Want to know the future of advertising and marketing? Just listen to the last sentence in this video: "they didn't advertise to people; they put people in it."

AN EFFING EFFIE!

I purposefully keep my blog free of work examples from my professional life as an ECD for an experiential marketing agency. And I certainly never share news of any awards or industry recognition.

I prefer this space to be reserved for authorship and inspiration, rather than a cheering section for the daily grind.

However, I am too tempted to share the news that a campaign idea of mine for Orbitz.com has won a Silver Effie. Which is cool! I like the premise of the Effies. It's all about results, baby.

Pardon my shameless plug. It hasn't been the first time. ;-)

THE RISE OF THE PAUPER

The consumer world is becoming poorer, and it has nothing to do with the economy. It has everything to do with the fact that there are 4 billion poor people who are yearning to join the consuming ranks, and those who are emerging into the middle class in countries like India, China, Brazil, Russia, Vietnam, Hungary and Mexico are recreating the way we are shop for and value brands.

This New York Times article takes a look at an emerging consumer in the US. The title of the article probably says it all: "Trying to Pitch Products to the Savers."

The reluctance of consumers to spend — coupled with a sudden sharp rise in the savings rate — has left even the savviest marketers scrambling to reconsider their strategies.

For instance, the Procter & Gamble Company, the nation’s largest advertiser, announced last month that it would adopt a “surgical” approach to reducing prices in categories in which Procter brands are being perceived as costing too much compared with competitive products.

In the same article, the notion of value is underscored and how experiential approaches are at the heart of a brand's positioning on the value spectrum.

And at Procter & Gamble, a line featuring new products that cost $42 to $62 each — a far cry from the price of a bar of Ivory soap — is getting a value designation because, ads assert, it performs like product lines costing much more.

The line is called Olay Professional Pro-X, part of the Olay skin-care brand. A print campaign from Saatchi & Saatchi in New York, part of the Publicis Groupe, that is scheduled to begin in July for the Intensive Wrinkle Protocol — a regimen kit of three products — will carry this headline: “As effective at wrinkle reduction as what the doctor prescribed. At half the price.”

The Pro-X items cost two or three times as much as the products in another Olay line, Total Effects, which cost about $20 to $25 apiece.

“It is getting into higher price points,” said Tim Bunch, Olay Pro-X brand manager at Procter in Cincinnati. So “if you’re going to lay down that type of money,” he added, “it ought to be for a brand you believe in.”

And this article in Ad Age will drive the point home:

The heavy betting -- and it goes well beyond Cincinnati -- is that America will eventually shake off recession but keep saving and spending more responsibly. We'll borrow only when we must. We'll pay bills and debts immediately. We'll save up before we buy big things. New England Consulting Group reported last week that people buying more store brands now don't have any plans to trade back up, and that recession-induced shopping habits are likely to persist "long after it's gone." All that has left many marketers trying to adapt with strategies such as lowering some prices, offering multiple product lines at varying price points and giving reluctant consumers reasons to buy by tying into causes such as environmentalism.

APPLE DAY CARE

So I get this in my email, and I think to myself: is this cool or pandering. It takes me about 10 seconds to decide that it's cool: Apple wants to show my kids a good time. And I think to myself: maybe Apple knows something about raising kids that I don't know. Hell, I'm still learning Garage Band. So yeah, Apple, maybe I will send my kids into your store. Thanks for the offer.

And then the big thought occurs: Imagine if this email came from Microsoft. Creepy, right? My kids at a Microsoft camp? No fucking way.

And there, my friends, is the difference between the two brands. There is the notion of brand trust and respect. The idea that an experience with a brand can extend far beyond a transaction. The concept that a brand based on experiential engagement with its customers can roll out an extension like a summer camp for kids called Apple Camp -- well folks, that's just the difference between a brand of the future and a brand of the present.

IS A MOVIE TIE-IN EXPERIENTIAL?

I just read of this new deal between Burger King and Paramount Pictures:

Burger King has for the first time committed to one movie studio for its summer movie marketing. And in turn, Paramount Pictures is for the first time engaging in three consecutive move tie-ins with the same brand.

And I'm torn. Should I be professionally happy this happened? After all, I've often spoke about the experiential potential of these types of partnerships, most notably what 7-Eleven did when they partnered with The Simpson's film release. I think film integrations are inherently experiential, as the brand can leverage a story, the characters and all the emotional connections that are familiar and empathetic to the audience.

The same, parenthetically, applies for branded partnerships with games and gaming platforms, as Burger King did with X-Box 360 and Mountain Dew did with the Halo 3 launch.

So this newly-announced partnership should be good news for experiential thinkers and practitioners. And the movie tie-ins are definitely on-target and on-demo:

Burger King is underway with a flurry of activities around “Star Trek,” which opened May 8, and will continue the activations around “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen,” opening June 24 and “G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra,” set to be in theaters Aug. 7.

But this flurry so far has been based around a TV spots where Klingons take a guy's Whopper (and girl) friend away with them, and the in-store premium is a commemorative cup. Not a lot of Big Thinking going on here. The campaign so far, quite frankly, is anti-experiential.

So, should we be worried? Will more branded deals like this take marketing and advertising forward, or will we go back to the same tired methods like this: a TV spot and gift-with-purchase? Will movie studios help or hinder the marketing industry? And will we as consumers buy the hype?

BRAND NEW WORLD: A LOOK INSIDE...

So, the book is doing well in Canada. Right now, it rests as the #1 book on Global Marketing on Amazon.ca. I hear there are a stacks of the books at Chapters -- so, please recommend it to anyone interested in learning about the new global marketing paradigm shift!!!!!!

I'll be adding a widget from my publisher soon for an inside look into the book, if you'd like to preview it.

And if you like it (or not!), I urge you to review it on your blogs and personal pages. Thank you!!!!

NICE COMMENTARY, GOOD THINKING

He's done it again. Here's a really good post by Erik Hauser, a visionary XM thinker, in Chief Marketer magazine. Kind of reminds me of my Foreword in Experience the Message.

BRAND NEW WORLD UPDATE

Hi friends,
Brand New World is the #1 title for Global Marketing on Amazon.ca. I'm very stoked. In honor of our brand new world, please find this super cool concept called Playing For Change:

BRAND NEW WORLD IS NOW AVAILABLE!!!!

Brand New World has now been published in Canada and will soon be (hopefully) available in the US and across the world.

For anyone wishing to get a copy (or copies!!!!!), you can find it on Amazon.ca, Chapters.Indigo, and Concordia University Bookstore, or at any major bookstore in Canada.

I'm proud of this work, and I would be honored, humbled and excited for readers of this blog to review it and rate it for others on the sites where it's available.

Or feel free to reach out to me privately for suggestions and critiques. I will apply them to future work. You know how to reach me.

Thank you in advance!!!!!!

Max

MY FAVORITE EXPERIENTIAL SPOT

Jim Stengel, former CMO of Procter & Gamble admitted in this interview that this is his favorite commercial.  I write about this because ever since it came out a few years ago, this has been my favorite commercial as well, a spot that is as experiential as it gets. It may have something to do with the fact that I just had my first child at the time, but this work from Saatchi & Saatchi sort of changed my life through a deeply personal experience. I thought I'd share it with you here:

HOLY SHIT: PUBLISHING IS NOT DEAD!!!!

In the book Brand New World, I touch on the notion that exclusive and limited-edition brands (and the marketing around them) will be a prevalent form of beating consumer malaise, and more importantly, brand piracy. 

So check out this "limited edition" magazine! Swedish magazine Tare Lugnt have released their third issue as a tattoo!!!!

What an experiential thought! To the extreme. Click here to see how it was, um, published.

And certainly, no one can copy this experience. What an amazing, and totally brilliant, idea.

RECESSIONARY RETAIL

Report: Discounting Damages Brands...according to Brandweek (duh):

The Dollars & Consumer Sense 2009 study, released today, finds that consumers often have a negative reaction when they see the price slashed for their favorite product or service.

In fact, 70 percent of respondents to the Yankelovich poll said such cuts probably mean the brand was overpriced in the first place. And, 62 percent said they assumed that the product was old and they were just trying to get rid of it.

"People are suspicious if you significantly discount your brand,” said J. Walker Smith, president of Yankelovich Monitor and executive vice chairman of The Futures Company. “If you make significant changes in your value proposition it can confuse them. You have to give them reasons to buy stuff as opposed to just lowering prices as a knee jerk reaction to the economy.”

Earlier this year Saks Fifth Avenue announced it was retreating from a discounting strategy after it lost nearly $100 million in Q4. CEO Stephen Sadove said the chain would add a mix of lower priced items instead. The assumption became "they are just overpriced all year long," said Smith.

Brands that do not discount achieve a positive halo among many consumers, per the study, which polled 1,0002 consumers in January. Sixty-four percent of those polled said they assume the product is either extremely popular or a good value if they maintain their price.

And then there's this story, from the WSJ:

Consumers are now challenging high prices after seeing designer clothes marked down by as much as 75% in recent months....Addressing fears of continued discounting, Neiman Chief Executive Burton Tansky told investors Wednesday, "Full-price selling is what we are concerning ourselves with."

The six-year boom in luxury goods came to a screeching halt last fall, as wealthy shoppers dramatically cut back on their purchases of designer clothing and other pricey items. Consultant Bain & Co. last month forecast global luxury consumption this year would drop 15% from 2008.

To avoid directly discounting merchandise, Neiman has resorted to some marketing tricks. Last week, for instance, it offered a $500 gift card for those who donated "gently worn" suits to charity. It also sent some regular customers a $50 "perk" card to use toward alterations.

Coaxing consumers back into the habit of paying full price is a crucial challenge for the luxury goods business. On Wednesday, Dallas-based Neiman posted a $509.2 million fiscal second-quarter loss. It took largecharges to the value of its stores and trade names, reflecting impairments linked to the recession. It was the first holiday-period loss since Neiman began disclosing quarterly results in 1994.

The company said sales for the quarter ended Jan. 31 declined 21% from a year ago, the second consecutive quarterly decline. It earned $44.3 million on sales of $1.37 billion a year ago.

"We have to get the customer to buy [at] full-price," said Ms. Goldberger, Neiman's vice president and divisional merchandise manager for women's designer sportswear. "If you offer the value up front, you won't get this discounting nonsense."

But then there's this.

THE "NEW NORMAL" EXPERIENCE

Although this article talks about consumer opinion about products and services, I couldn't read it without thinking that it applies to the relationship between agency and client:

"Value" is today's ubiquitous marketing cry, but pinning down what constitutes value from the consumer's perspective is the real challenge.

According to Mintel Senior Research Analyst Marcia Mogelonsky, the keys to influencing consumers now lie in understanding how they're coping with the "new normal" environment created by the recession and the brand attributes that underlie a perception of value: quality, creativity and trust.

Maybe that's why QuakerOats, according to this article, is making brand trust paramount in its marketing:

With more than a dozen lines of products using its name, Quaker Oats Company--itself a division of PepsiCo--is uniting all of its products under one tagline, with an image of the iconic Quaker Man image to back it up.

The effort--which begins in earnest on March 16 with television, print, online and out-of-home advertising--is the first time that all of the products have been united under a single tagline in the company's 130-year history. The tagline "Go humans go" is intended to evoke the oats as a "super grain" that helps power people's minds and bodies.

And in the meantime, Apple keeps shuffling along.

EXPERIENTIAL MARKETING IN A NUTSHELL...(WITH AN EMPHASIS ON NUT?)

THIS IS TOO DAMN AWESOME.

Taking a page from Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails’ recent forays into tiered and pay-as-you-wish pricing strategies for albums, former NIN drummer Josh Freese has developed a wacky but potentially smart pricing system for his new album.

At the first levels you can purchase the CD/DVD, or digital version of the album. Next is the $50 version where you get a t-shirt and a 5 minute thank-you phone call from Freese. $500 will get 15 people a signed CD, t-shirt, cymbal, diner with Freese and a session in a sensory deprivation tank. And it goes upwards in price, with the strange and wonderful bonuses getting stacked ever higher.
 
But there’s more, way more. For two lucky fans with a lot of disposable income ($20,000 and $75,000) you get to participarte in a carnival of “weird and cool stuff”  with Freese and his famous friends.

$20,000 (limited edition of 1)

-Signed CD/DVD and digital download. -T-shirt -A signed drum from the 2008 Nine Inch Nails tour. -Maynard James Keenan, Mark from Devo and Josh take you miniature golfing and then drop you off on the side of the freeway (all filmed and posted on youtube) -Josh gives you a tour of Long Beach. See his first apartment, the coffee shop on 2nd St where his buddy paid Dave Grohl $40 to rip up tile just weeks before joining “Nirvana.” See the old Vandals rehearsal spot, the liquor store he got busted using a Fake I.D. at when he was 17 (it was Dave from the Vandals old ID). Go check out Snoop Dogg’s high- school. For an extra 50 bucks see where Tom and Adrian from No Doubt live.=2 0For another $25 he’ll show ya where Eric from NOFX and Brooks from Bad Religion get their hair cut. -Spend the night aboard the Queen Mary and take the “Ghosts And Legends” tour. (separate rooms…no spooning.) -Josh writes 2 songs about you and it’s made available on iTunes and appears on his next record (you can sing back up on em, clap, play the drums, triangle, whatever….) -Drum lesson OR foot and back massage (once again…couples welcome and discreet parking available) -Pick any 3 items out of Josh’s closet.

$75,000 (limited edition of 1)

-Signed CD/DVD and digital download -T-shirt -Go on tour with Josh for a few days. -Have Josh write, record and release a 5 song EP about you and your life story. -Take home any of his drumsets (only one but you can choose which one.) -Take shrooms and cruise Hollywood in Danny from TOOL’s Lamborgini OR play quarters and then hop on the Ouija board for a while. -Josh will join your band for a month…play shows, record, party with groupies, etc…. -If you don’t have a band he’ll be your personal assistant for a month (4 day work weeks, 10 am to 4 pm) -Take a limo down to Tijuana and he’ll show you how it’s done (what that means exactly we can’t legally get into here) -If you don’t live in Southern California (but are a US resident) he’ll come to you and be your personal assistant/cabana boy for 2 weeks. -Take a flying trapeze lesson with Josh and Robin from NIN, go back to Robin’s place afterwards and his wife will make you raw lasagna.

Shrooms?!? Roadtrip to Tijuana? Your own album? Brilliant!!! Check out the entire list here.

HOW TO WALK THE WALK

I love the attitude of this story and the brand. I love how ballsy it is.

Red Bull, with some assistance from Oakley, has just built a secret half-pipe on the backside of Silverton Mountain in Colorado for snowboarder Shaun White’s training purposes. The area can only be accessed by snowmobile or helicopter and is said to be closed off to the public. The price tag was $500,000, and it looks like it was worth every penny.

You see, that's how a brand leader acts. It does so without hesitation, without a need for justification and without the fear of middle-management blow-back. This is how you grow brand love. Any kid who has dreams of stardom -- especially as a snowboarder or skater -- will now dream of that stardom in the context of Red Bull and how the brand acts towards its stars and brand ambassadors.

Kudos, Red Bull. You are teaching us so much.

SOME NEWS OF NOTE

Here's a good one! Microsoft is planning on opening a number of proprietary brand stores throughout the United States. Taking a page out of the Apple playbook, the PC giant is planning on improving its brand image and access with the stores. According to this article in the New York Times:

The company had hired David Porter, a 25-year veteran of Wal-Mart Stores, as its corporate vice president for retail stores.
Mr. Porter, who is set to start work on Tuesday, is charged with improving the PC-buying experience. The company said his first task would be to set the timing, locations and design of Microsoft-branded retail stores, which will sell computers installed with Microsoft software as well as other company products.

Oh yeah, a Wal-Mart guy is gonna improve the experience. Good luck with that.

Offering up a yin to the this yang is this story from the NYT, detailing Nestle's Nespresso brand and it's impressive growth. It costs "seven to eight times as much" to make a cup of Nespresso brand coffee than it does to brew a traditional cup, and yet Nespresso's sales grew 30 percent in 2008:

While Starbucks usually gets credit for standardizing coffeehouse culture and taking it around the world, Nespresso is credited with standardizing premium coffee in the workplace and at home through its pod machine, which brews a cup at a time from small aluminum capsules that hold just enough grounds for a serving.

Nestlé probably did not invent the idea of the pod — the Italian coffee maker Illy claims that. But it parlayed it into a global marketing phenomenon.The brand is distributed in 50 countries and employs more than 2,500 worldwide.

Most sales come from Europe, but it is also available in Latin America and North America and has made inroads in traditional tea markets like Asia.Nespresso now has about 175 boutique storefronts where customers can buy machines, capsules and accessories, sip coffee and taste the lifestyle.And that lifestyle does not come cheap.

The coffee machines, which are co-branded, range from basic models by Krups and Magimix, which cost 149 euros ($189) at the Paris store, to a deluxe Miele digital model at 1,849 euros, not including installation.The makers keep the profit from the machines.

Nespresso sells the coffee pods, which are available only through Nespresso boutiques, online and by telephone. It charges around 45 cents to 50 cents for each capsule, which contains 5.5 grams to 7 grams of coffee. That price is seven to eight times the price of Colombian ground coffee in French supermarkets.

Word. The experience is the message, folks.

THE BRAND EXTENSION AS EXPERIENCE

I've written a number of posts on the branded brand, or the notion that authentic brand experiences can be communicated through innovative brand extensions and co-brand partnerships (think Nike+).

In my next book, I examine the branded brand even further, using learnings from the Chinese counterfeit and pirate scene as a glimpse into the future of branding.

P&G is doing the same. It has been perfecting the notion of creating experiential places to drive home brand equity and brand extensions. The Charmin Potty Pallooza campagn is a great example. So is the Tide Clean Start program.

Now, the WSJ reports, P&G will be forging a new business model: franchising car washes.

To jump-start plans for a nationwide chain of Mr. Clean Car Wash franchises, P&G in December acquired the franchise assets of Atlanta-based Carnett's Car Wash, which has 14 locations.

P&G is under mounting pressure to find new sources of revenue growth, particularly as more cash-strapped shoppers think twice about buying its premium-priced products. Wall Street is increasingly skeptical that the mammoth company can garner meaningful gains in its slow-growing product categories and a tough economy.

Known for exhaustively testing new ideas, Procter & Gamble has been quietly experimenting with service businesses in recent years. Since 2007, it has operated two Mr. Clean Car Washes near its Cincinnati headquarters. Last year, it unveiled three Tide dry-cleaning shops in Kansas City, Kan., area....

...P&G marketers are also eager to see if Mr. Clean Car Washes dotting roadways will help boost the image and exposure of the overall brand. Mr. Estruth puts it whimsically. Expanding into franchises, he says, is "broadening Mr. Clean's shoulders as a magical helper."

What do you think it will do for the brand? And don't you be surprised in other P&G brands are incorporated into the car wash experience.

MARKETING IS A RIGHT BRAIN BUSINESS

Rarely do I agree with articles in Ad Age, and rarer still do I agree with the old guard like Al Reis. But his latest column in the venerable ad bible is worth a read. In essence, Al says, "left-brain management will never understand right-brain marketing." Filled with old-time anecdotes and spot-on observations, Al does not disappoint in this one.

At one of his first meetings at IBM, Lou Gerstner was listening to a briefing by one of his lieutenants, who was using an overhead projector and transparencies. On the second transparency, Mr. Gerstner reached over, switched off the projector and said, "Let's just talk about your business."

Management is verbal and analytical. Yet most marketing presentations are visual and emotional. They sell creativity when they should be selling logic.

Nice one. There are plenty more. But more true to the article is the notion that right-brain thinking is a must for successful marketing. I touch on this subject a bit in Brand New World when discussing the marketing and advertising coming out of India. The role of right-brain empathy is becoming instrumental in creating global campaigns and global brands.

THE PRICE OF EXPERIENCE

This interesting article in the New York Times revisits the Radiohead experiment of allowing its fans to pay what they want for a new album from the band. (I write about this in more depth in the upcoming Brand New World).

According to the article:

By letting Internet buyers name their price for its 2007 album In Rainbows, Radiohead introduced many people to the retailing strategy called “pay what you want.” A new article in the Journal of Marketing sets out to study the mechanism.

The experimenters, Ju-Young Kim, Martin Natter and Martin Spann, persuaded three small businesses in or near Frankfurt — a buffet restaurant, a movie theater and a delicatessen — to adopt pay-what-you-want schemes. On average, customers across the three businesses (who were not always aware of the products’ regular prices) paid 86 percent of normal rates. Customers were stingiest at the movie theater, where they seemed to think the posted prices were inflated. They were most generous at the deli, where they paid 9.8 percent more for hot beverages than the going rate, a finding that seemed linked to the amount of face-to-face chatter between customers and the deli owner. (Emphasis is mine.)

By providing a unique and beneficial experience -- choosing a price instead of having one dictated to the consumer -- we are able to experientialize the purchase decision. Check out the sidebar. People are into it. And when you personalize it with one-on-one interaction, the generosity flows.

Herein lies, perhaps, a significant step towards an experiential approach to retail beyond the physical experience of the store, the product and the message.

AN OLD INTERVIEW WITH A YOUNG MAN

The following is an old piece (circa 2005 or so) from the CBC in Canada concerning youth marketing and me, personally. The clip picks up a few minutes into the segment, presented by CBC's Jesse Brown.

Download the Interview

AND THEN THERE'S THIS....

Okay, see my last post below. This Apple app is the yin to it's yang:

A new application has been launched for the iPod touch to help gun users line up a clean shot at their target.

The BulletFlight app, which costs £6.99 to download from the iTunes store, has been developed by Runaway App to turn the iPod touch into a ballistics computer which the company says can provide “quick solutions in the field”.

Users can mount their iPod touch to their rifle, and then use the iPod’s touch-screen to tap in details about the wind conditions, ammunition type, distance to the intended target and even the wind speed.

Holy shit! I'm kind of speechless.

THE APP EXPERIENCE

I just think this is so cool. Art meets gameplay meets iPhone.

I suppose all iPhone apps are experiential in some way, but this type of execution is the tip of the proverbial iceberg in terms of how deep and engaging those app experiences could become.

SHAMELESS BOOK PLUG...POR ESPANOL!

Big up to all my Spanish-speaking readers!!!!

If I haven't mentioned it before (and I know that I did), here's the link to the Spanish version of Experience the Message.

EXPERIENCE A WAR

If you think that selling ice to Eskimos is a hard proposition, how about selling the US Army at a time of war?

I have written about the Army's experiential strategy to get more folks to join their ranks in both Experience the Message and the upcoming Brand New World (disregard the cover).
 
This latest effort by our armed services takes a page straight out of the experiential playbook and applies it to the retail space.

At the Franklin Mills mall in Philadelphia, past the Gap Outlet and the China Buddha Express, is a $13 million video arcade that the Army hopes will become a model for recruitment in urban areas, where the armed services typically have a hard time attracting recruits.

The Army Experience Center is a fitting counterpart to the retail experience: 14,500 square feet of mostly shoot-’em-up video games and three full-scale simulators, including an AH-64 Apache Longbow helicopter, an armed Humvee and a Black Hawk copter with M4 carbine assault rifles. For those who want to take the experience deeper, the center has 22 recruiters.

That's right, people. You can now shop for sneakers and join the army!!!! What a deal!!!!

EXPERIENCE THE ANGST

I had heard of a bunch of metal-heads in an Eastern European country had wired up a junk yard with speakers and would invite their fellow head-bangers to come over and smash shit up while listening to deafening speed metal. It seemed like a most beautiful and sublime idea to me, an idea that could probably be monetized but more importantly an idea that was experiential at heart and intent.

So its no surprise that Sarah's Smash Shack has opened up its doors. According to Iconoculture:

• What some might call a cheaper alternative to the therapist's couch, the Break Room at Sarah's Smash Shack in San Diego lets frustrated folk vent by hurling glassware and dishes, for as little as $12.
• Marketed as a cathartic good time, the Smash Shack provides breakables, a safe and sound-proof room and protective gear. Smashers are encouraged to bring their MP3 player to heighten the experience (may we suggest Smashing Pumpkins?).
• Sarah's Smash Shack offers discounts to police, fire, military, students and seniors. Shards are donated for art projects, or for $10, they'll box up your spent bits as a momento.

That's pretty cool. Of course, Greek restaurants in Montreal have been offering a little bit of therapy themselves, as a dinner is usually completed with a stack of dishes that are thrown against the wall.

THE FUTURE IS HERE...KINDA

It's almost the next year, so in the spirit of forward-thinking and prescience, allow me to share this eye-opening article from the New York Times: "Ad Agencies Fashion Their Own Horn, and Toot It."

Yes, the title is utterly atrocious, but the meat of the story is the future of the ad business. Media too. Hell, the future of experiential brands is here.

The focus of the story is a content property brand developed by Bartle Bogle Hegarty, an agency I have worked with before extensively. (They are cool as fuck, but let's not get carried away. The agency is still, you know, an agency.)

More importantly, their spirit of nonconformity really impresses. So it's no surprise they are at the forefront of the agency renaissance that is hinged on an experiential appreciation that brands -- and the way people appropriate them -- are now the raison d'etre of advertising.

EXPERIENCE MAKES AN AGENCY

According to an article in Adweek:

As in past years, Reardon Smith Whittaker, a consultancy that coaches agencies on new business development, focused on why clients seek new agencies, what they look for and how satisfied they are with the results.

The top-ranked reasons the respondents cited for launching reviews were unhappiness with their agency's thinking (46 percent), followed by dissatisfaction with creative work (40 percent) and not being proactive enough (38 percent).

The execs had mixed feelings about agency searches. They find the process to be time-consuming (42 percent) and 28 percent agree that "you're told so many things that you're not sure what to believe," yet 37 percent said reviews were "exciting" and 22 percent "look forward to it."

As for the tactics they're most interested in, the respondents pointed to online marketing (69 percent), buzz marketing (58 percent), experiential efforts (53 percent), search engine marketing (52 percent) and mobile marketing (25 percent).

The rise of experiential marketing isn't news at all. Nor is the fact that more clients are asking for experience-based thinking to be presented in creative pitches and reviews. What's interesting is that the philosophy -- if not strictly the methodology -- is taking a rightful place alongside the "new" mechanisms and engagement points like online, buzz and mobile marketing (which are experiential in nature anyway).

EXPERIENTIAL MARKETING ARRIVES AT THE NEW YORK TIMES

It's taken years for Stuart Elliot at the New York Times to begin seriously covering the rise of experiential marketing, as he has finally delivered...sort of. Sure, it's taken a cool out-of-home campaign from Kraft in Chicago to get his attention, but at least he's calling it "experiential" in his article.

The gist of the experience is quite simple (as all insight-driven experiences should be): 10 bus shelters in the Windy City will be heated, courtesy of Stove Top Stuffing. The campaign succeeds in equating the warmth of the shelter in the middle of Chicago winter to the warmth that Stovetop Stuffing gives those who eat it. Simple, right?

According to the writer:

Such “experiential marketing” is intended to entice consumers to experience products or brands tangibly rather than bombard them with pitches.

It is a response to the growing ability of consumers to ignore or avoid traditional advertising, thanks to technology like digital video recorders. Experiential marketing is also an acknowledgment that products and brands must offer alternatives to the interruptive model of peddling that has been the mainstay of advertising for more than a half-century, which disrupts what consumers want to watch, read or hear.

(I love how experiential marketing is still in quotes!!! It's as if experiential marketing still doesn't exist in the mind of the NYT writer who covers Madison Avenue.)

He goes on to explain the promotion:

The 10 heated shelters, primarily in downtown Chicago locations like Michigan Avenue and State Street, will have posters that read: “Cold, provided by winter. Warmth, provided by Stove Top.” The posters will also appear on 40 other bus shelters that will not have heated roofs.

During the first three weeks of December, Kraft plans to give samples of a new variety of Stove Top, called Quick Cups, to commuters and passers-by at half of the heated shelters....

...JCDecaux North America, a unit of the global outdoor-advertising specialist JCDecaux, says these will be its first bus shelter heaters in the United States. The company has installed them in other countries for other advertisers’ campaigns. Those sponsored by British Gas included simulated fireplaces.

Tellingly, the article reminds readers and the ad community that:

The biggest risk with experiential marketing is that consumers will deem it an annoying gimmick, which could harm attempts to improve perceptions of brands or products.


There is a precedent. In December 2006, the California Milk Processor Board worked with the CBS Outdoor division of CBS to introduce scent strips on bus shelters in San Francisco. The strips, which smelled like chocolate chip cookies, were an effort to bring to life the experience of desiring a glass of milk for dunking cookies.

The campaign was abruptly ended after an outcry that the scent was inappropriate in public places and could set off allergic reactions.

(Only in San Francisco! Those cats will protest anything, including the smell of cookies.)

Thanks, Elliot! I dig the story. And more importantly, as a Chicagoan, thanks Kraft!!!! I'll warm up with the shelter on Michigan Ave. Hope it won't be too crowded.

EXPERIENTIAL DIRECT MAIL?!?!

How cool is this? A detergent brand in Thailand decided to send samples of Breeze Excel. The package was wrapped in a t-shirt and dropped in the mail. The proof of the detergent's efficacy was then picked up throughout the package's journey. What better way to showcase how a product works?

SHAMELESS BOOK PLUG

Howdy! My speaking agent has posted my updated page with the new book's subject (Brand New World) as well as my first book (Experience the Message). Check it our here!

And just a reminder: Brand New World will be published in March 2009. Hit me up on email or in comments to see how you can get an advance copy from HarperCollins.

Note: The above cover and subtitle is not final!!!!!!

THE BEST FLASH MOB EXPERIENCE

Many of you have already heard of the Improv Everywhere stunts for flash mobs. They are exceptionally well-conceived and executed, and have done some very heavy lifting in getting the concept of a flash mob onto the radar screens of marketers and advertisers alike.

But Improv Everywhere’s latest prank is a beautiful piece of performance art that’s entertaining and also ends up brightening stranger’s days. The stunt was called “Welcome Back” and was created for the “In An Absolut World” website. 20 Improv everywhere agents showed up at JFK airport to welcome back random strangers from their flights. The looks on people’s faces are priceless, as they come off the plane to a huge group of strangers welcoming them back with balloons, signs and flowers.

Unlike other stunts, this one is inherently human. It has an element of benevolence and empathy baked into it that truly makes it experiential. This flash mob isn't just eye candy or performance art. It can truly transform a person. And for this, I commend it exuberantly.

THE OBAMA EXPERIENCE

I have to re-post a note written by Tim Manners, editor of Reveries.com:

"Thomas Jefferson used newspapers to win the presidency, FDR used radio to change the way he governed, JFK was the first president to understand television and Howard Dean saw the value of the web for raising money," says Ranjit Mathoda in a New York Times piece by David Carr (11/10/08). "But Barack Obama understood that you could use the web to lower the cost of building a political brand, create a sense of connection and engagement, and dispense with the command and control method of governing to allow people to self-organize to do the work." The President-elect apparently intends to bring his networked base with him to the White House: "His e-mail message to supporters on Tuesday night included the line, 'We have a lot of work to do to get our country back on track, and I'll be in touch soon about what comes next." Already, the Obama administration has set up a website, change.gov, as a "digital gateway for the transition." The new President arrives with "not just a political base, but a database, millions of names of supporters who can be engaged almost instantly." Most significant, Barack Obama built his network without the help of a political party. David Carr points out that "while many people think that President-elect Obama is a gift to the Democratic Party, he could actually hasten its demise. Political parties supply brand, ground troops, money and relationships, all things that Mr. Obama already owns." As Andrew Rasiej, of the Personal Democracy Forum observes: "Any politician who fails to recognize that we are in a post-party era with a new political ecology in which connecting like minds and forming a movement is much easier will not be around for long ... Yes, we have met Big Brother, the one who is always watching. And Big Brother is us."

The full New York Times article is here. Great read!

RANDOM ARTICLES OF NOTE

Again, and I have been writing this often, I apologize for a lack of updates. In the spirit of uncorking the bottle, I've listed here a number of past articles that have caught my attention, and should catch the attention of thoughtful marketers and advertisers alike. In no particular order: The "Duh!" Article: Marketers Lack Understanding of Brand Value: ANA Study According to Promo Magazine, the majority of senior marketers lack an understanding of brand value, caused in part by following an archaic marketing model, a new survey has found.

The survey by the Association of National Advertisers and Interbrand polled 118 chief marketing officers and senior marketing executives at ANA member companies. The results indicate that because brand value is not fully comprehended, an awareness of the impact of building strong brands may not be factoring into company decision-making, the survey found.Some 64% of the executives surveyed said that brands do not influence decisions made at their organizations suggesting that companies are missing major opportunities to fully realize the economic potential of brand strength.

How about this one: Product Placement, Sampling, and Word-of-Mouth Collectively Influence Consumer Purchases According to the Center for Media Research:

• 28% of those surveyed reported that they have been offered product samples within the past three months
• 64% of those surveyed claimed they had accepted product samples. 66% of the customers characterized as Acquisitions accepted samples, as well as 63% of the Conversions, and 63% of the Retentions
• 35% of those surveyed claimed they purchased the sampled product on the same day. 26% of the Acquisitions bought the product right away, as well as 19% of the Conversions, and 31% of the Retentions
• 24% of those surveyed claimed that a sampled product had specifically replaced an item that they had planned on buying. 20% of the Acquisitions were planning to make the switch, as well as 33% of the Conversions, and 18% of the Retentions.

The "Uh-Oh" Article: CMOs Annoyed by Agencies, Ad Networks According to Advertising Age, "the chief marketing officers of Hewlett-Packard and Charles Schwab openly mulled the attractiveness of bypassing agencies to work directly with media companies and other experiments as they look to fix an agency model they see as broken." The "What a Cool Idea!" Article: Common Thread: Fan Names Woven Into Rugby Jerseys New Zealand rugby team the All Blacks appreciates their fans. And vice versa. Later this month Team Captain Richie McCaw will be presented with jerseys that have the names of 100,000 fans engraved onto a single thread used to make the jerseys.

THE FEEL-GOOD EXPERIENCE

Not that this should be a surprise to anyone who is engaged in this world: a new study from Cone Inc. indicates that 79% of consumers say they are likely to switch to another brand if it is associated with a good cause, and 38% say they have purchased a product linked to a cause in the last 12 months.

Millennials are the demographic group most motivated to do good deeds with their purchases: 88% of its 18-to-24 demographic say they are likely to switch from one brand to another if it supports a cause, and 51% have bought a product linked to a cause in the last 12 months.

Here's the big kicker: the 2008 Cone Cause Evolution Study suggests that linking products to causes can generate double-digit sales gains. Not bad for the fell-good sell.

Sales of a toothpaste brand that had been linked to a cause went up 28% compared to a control group; sales of a cause-related shampoo increased 74%. Brands that had been advertised as cause-related also generated much higher recall than those that hadn't.

Wake up, folks. Smell the new world. And remember that there is much more to do.

While 91% believe it's important for companies to let consumers know how they are helping in any given cause, only 58% believe they get enough details. And 50% believe that the government should actually regulate the claims.

Source: MediaPost. Story here.

EXPERIENTIAL SUPPLEMENT

Quick note: Adweek has a special insert section this week all about experiential marketing. You can find it here. (Full disclosure: I co-wrote the intro piece to the section.)

PS. I'm almost done with the book. Sorry I haven't been updating as frequently. I blame the bail out.

EXPERIENTIAL ALBUM LAUNCH

According to Adrants:

For its album Dig Out Your Soul, international super-band Oasis gathered 15 street bands and taught them the lyrics and sheet music for four of its new songs.

Last week, the bands were then deployed all over the city -- mostly to subways -- to perform the music with their own flavor. Each performance featured a little sign that said, "You are the first to hear this new Oasis song" -- bringing a little bit of magic to busy commuters, and some eclectic street charm to Oasis's new oeuvre.

Here's the video:

Find more videos like this on AdGabber

Great execution and idea. Kudos to BBH/New York.

ONE OF THE BEST STUNT CAMPAIGNS I HAVE EVER SEEN!!!

RINGTONE SYMPHONY

I love this idea. It is art and it is beautiful. There are many examples of people turning technology and gadgetry into something more profound or sublime than its intent. And this, from artist Max Richter, is just that. Anyone have a cell phone client they want to share this with?

CAUSAL CAPITALISM FOR THE KIDDIES

The rise of beneficent marketing is upon us. The next generation of consumers will determine their brand loyalties and levels of brand engagement through an internal filter that makes cause marketing and corporate philanthropy an integral part.

A forward thinking company called Edo Interactive has introduced the facecard, for teens older than 13. Here's a brief description of the simple functionality:

The facecard is a prepaid and reloadable card that can be used by young people 13 and over anywhere MasterCard is accepted. Parents can electronically add allowances or emergency funds to the card and have them available within 15 minutes; cardholders can access them in stores and ATMs worldwide. Because they are debit cards, facecards can only be used for transactions up to their current balance, which users can monitor from anywhere online. There are no activation or monthly maintenance charges for using facecard, but fees are applied for international purchases, using an ATM, inactive accounts and negative balance incidents, among others. A series of videos on YouTube illustrates how facecard can be used.

I love how a series on YouTube is the preferred way to learn about financial responsibility. But there's more to the card, and herein lies its experiential nature:

facecard functions as a sort of social network, allowing users to create profiles, set their preferences and find each other online. Facecard holders can use the site to send funds to each other's facecards to repay loans or give gifts, for example. Through a "prewards" program with partner companies, meanwhile, the facecard also lets advertisers reward cardholders for their loyalty in a highly targeted fashion by periodically adding funds to their card for use at particular stores. Users can indicate in their profiles what types of prewards they'd be interested in. Earlier this summer facecard partnered with Tennessee's Bonnaroo music festival to donate USD 10,000 to Stop Global Warming. And as part of the card's nationwide launch, representatives from the Nashville-based company will reportedly be visiting 50 college campuses on Saturday, August 30th—the first Saturday of NCAA football action—with information on financial literacy.

Given that the United States alone is home to some 82 million teens and young adults--with annual spending of almost USD 350 billion, edō says—targeting this group (and helping advertisers do the same) makes good sense. One to bring to other parts of the world?

Isn't this cool? Sure, there are plenty of credit cards that allow users to donate money or reward points to charities of their choice. But this is different. This is community giving. And more amazingly, here's a debit card that really gives back!

Welcome to the future, folks. If this idea ever takes root, we can have a whole new generation of social and socially-conscious megaconsumers -- the beneficent prosumer.

Thanks to Springwise for the tip.

EXPERIENTIAL TRAVEL AT THE NEXT LEVEL

We all know of the new trend in travel is to make it more experiential. Instead of lying on the beach like a marooned mammal, we are going on wine tours or climbing peaks. We are making the experience into the centerpiece of the vacation.

So how awesome is this idea for a travel tour?

Imagine what might be like to rediscover blindfolded the borough of Alfama: the narrow streets, the smell of grilled sardines, the sound of a Fado that can be heard from afar and so many others sensorial adventures…

Walks on foot in the Alfama Borough in which the participants have their eyes blindfolded and are guided by a blind guide from ACAPO (Association for the Visually Impaired) who shares his sensorial experiences.

Not only is this a fantastic experiential (re: sensorial) way to be a tourist and "see" things for the first time, it is also a beneficial experience that takes an altruistic slant to its raison d'etre:

- to provide a sensorial experience which aims to gather new knowledge of the surrounding space through the stimuli of the senses of smell, tact, taste and hearing and absense of vision.

- to bring awareness to the universe of the visually impaired, not as a limitation but instead in a positive and stimulating note in which the blind himself invite us to step into his own world of codes and references.

Awesome. Simply awesome.

EXPERIENTIAL ADS IN AN EXPERIENCE WORLD

This Ad Age article about UK-based Mother Experience has made me grind my teeth. As readers of this blog know, I never (purposely) write about my clients or campaigns. It's the latent journalist in me. Whenever there is a connection, I try to include a disclosure statement. So, upon commenting on the article in question, I grind my teeth because you have no idea how many times I've written treatments for branded theater, long-format content, stand-up routines and even musicals. Every time, the clients thought the ideas were stellar but were too afraid to go with them. What they didn't know scared them immensely. And so, like the sheep that most brand managers are, they followed the flock. However, it seems some sheep are less sheepish.

When the minds at Mother, London, were noodling around with a TV campaign for client Unilever, it occurred to them: Why not take the premise and adapt it into a musical comedy for its brand, Pot Noodle?

The result might be the first branded musical, which will open at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival on Aug. 1.

It seems that Mother, London is a good shepherd.

But this hardly Mother's first time dabbling in the arts. The agency's production unit, Mother Vision, also created the feature film "Somers Town" in a collaborative project with Eurostar (the company that operates the passenger train service from London through the Channel Tunnel to France and mainland Europe). "Somers Town," directed by Shane Meadows, won best film at the Edinburgh and Berlin film festivals, and the best actor award at Tribeca.

EXPERIENTIAL BILLBOARD

Those who know me and read this blog know that I am a sucker for cool out-of-home media like billboards, posters and bus shelters that provide cool and thoughtful experiences for its intended audience. So this quick piece at PSFK is no exception. I just love the simplicity and the use of media for benefit, rather than intrusion. Check out the write up:

A set of billboards in four European cities measure the local area’s noise pollution level and display it live for passerby’s to see. It’s an advertisement for AEG-Electrolux’s quiet running washing machines, but also a simple public service. Quantifying an abstract figure such as noise pollution could help people become more aware of the problem. Besides getting immediate feedback on noise pollution, the data is sent to a website where you can compare noise levels from city to city.

Cool, eh? (my latent Canadian influence)

EXPERIENTIAL MARKETING EN ESPANOL

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that Experience the Message is available in Spanish. Here is the link to the book. If anyone is fluent in Spanish, could you let me know what it says. Thanks!

THE PIRATES OF EXPERIENCE

In my forthcoming book...now titled "Brand New World"...an entire chapter is devoted to piracy and pirated brands, and how this upstart phenomenon (if you discount buccaneering) is radically transforming the way companies brand and go to market.

So it's nice to see The Economist drop this article on piracy, and how it can be a BENEFIT instead of a scourge for known brands. For instance:

In other industries, piracy can help to open up new markets. Take software, for instance. Microsoft’s Windows operating system is used on 90% of PCs in China, but most copies are pirated. Officially, the software giant has taken a firm line against piracy. But unofficially, it admits that tolerating piracy of its products has given it huge market share and will boost revenues in the long term, because users stick with Microsoft’s products when they go legit. Clamping down too hard on pirates may also encourage people to switch to free, open-source alternatives. “It’s easier for our software to compete with Linux when there’s piracy than when there’s not,” Microsoft’s chairman, Bill Gates, told Fortune magazine last year.

Another example, from agriculture, shows how piracy can literally seed a new market. Farmers in Brazil wanted to use genetically modified (GM) soyabean seeds that had been engineered by Monsanto to be herbicide-tolerant. The government, under pressure from green groups opposed to GM technology, held back. Unable to obtain the GM seeds legitimately, the farmers turned to pirated versions, many of them “Maradona” seeds brought in from Argentina. Eventually the pirated seeds accounted for over a third of Brazil’s soyabean plantings, and in 2005 the government relented and granted approval for the use of GM seeds. Monsanto could then start selling its seeds legitimately in Brazil.

Piracy can also be a source of innovation, if someone takes a product and then modifies it in a popular way. In music unofficial remixes can boost sales of the original work. And in a recent book, “The Pirate’s Dilemma”, Matt Mason gives the example of Nigo, a Japanese designer who took Air Force 1 trainers made by Nike, removed the famous “swoosh” logo, applied his own designs and then sold the resulting shoes in limited editions at $300 a pair under his own label, A Bathing Ape. Instead of suing Nigo, Nike realised that he had spotted a gap in the market. It took a stake in his firm and also launched its own premium “remixes” of its trainers. Mr Mason argues that “the best way to profit from pirates is to copy them.”

Well, there are many more examples in the book. But let's just say that in the face of the growing explosion of pirated and knocked-off brands, the differentiator is "experience." No matter how well the copy is, it is the brand's ability to deliver an experience -- above- or below-the-line -- that will differentiate it and give it value.

Got you interested? The book cokes out shortly.

FRUIT BRANDING

A short blurb on PSFK presents a new advertising medium: fruit. It seems Chinese farmers have discovered how to grow a logo on fruit. Yippee!

A friend of PSFK recently sent us some pictures of a designer fruit made in Dongguan, China. The premise seems to be a marketing sticker applied at some point during development enabling the unique on-fruit design. The clearly customizable logo opens up a world of food branding possibilities. We can’t wait to take a bite out of the Chiquita banana woman.

How many marketers in the US do you think are salivating at the prospect of their faltering logos grown into millions of peaches? Too many, I'm afraid. Way too many.

BRILLIANT! A CELL PHONE TO SAVE LIVES

This is simply a great idea!

A mobile phone operator in South Korea is offering users a new service that claims to repel mosquitoes.

From Monday, subscribers to SK Telecom Company will be able to download a sound wave that humans cannot hear, but that annoys mosquitoes within a range of one metre (one yard).

For the fee of $2.5, customers can then play the sound by pressing a few keys on their phones.

The mobile phone emits a noise similar to the buzz of a male mosquito, which the blood-sucking females tend to avoid.

Although it uses handset battery power faster, the service is expected to be very popular during Korea's hot, humid summers.

The firm, the country's largest, has 17 million subscribers and controls just over half of the South Korean domestic market.

The biggest explosion in mobile phone sales comes from the Third World. The Third World is still plagued by millions of deaths caused by malaria. Imagine if this "service" comes preloaded on the phones sold in Chad, Bolivia, Bangladesh, Ghana or Cambodia! A cell phone can save millions of lives!!!!