My first Event Marketer Summit was a blur of speakers, case studies and seminars, getting lost in the hotel, stealing sombreros, and eating my weight in Mrs. Fields cookies.  I was excited to take it all in until I noticed how out of place I was, standing in the registration line behind a lot of stuffy suits.  Fortunately, it soon became clear the line was for a biotech conference.  As soon as I found the right registration area the crowd around me was casual, lighthearted, and dressed in green ties, purple sneakers, feather skirts, etc.  You know…the usual marketing look.

The days were crammed with engaging speakers, “BeLinking” and conversation.  The highlights for me were HP, BlackBerry, AT&T, Yahoo, Sports Illustrated, Virgin Galactic, and several authors.  Impossible to ignore was the massive amount of branded swag from room drops and vendor exhibits, ranging from cheese to charcoal to notebooks.  It was nice to finally to put some faces with some of the names I’d been chatting with by email – and to check out all the latest technology on display.

The nights were full as well.  On Monday I attended The EX Award Gala, along with other Javelin folks, to represent Bacardi B-LIVE in the Best Nightlife Program category.  Cheering for ourselves and our competitors was equally fun, and we looked damn good doing it!

Donna Meier, Jen Novak, Erin Bagby, Meredith Goette - EX Awards 2010

Tuesday, after dinner with my colleague Meredith and some of her Chicago agency friends, we headed to MasterTent’s Cuatro de Mayo Party for free food, free booze and free sombreros.  Actually, I’m not absolutely sure the sombreros were free – but we took them anyway.

Reconnecting with friends

The best part was dragging our sombreros to all the morning seminars and then through the airport.  Not.  It was worth it, though – we had them for the real Cinco de Mayo.

Ole!

All in all, my first experiential marketing summit was a success.  I met tons of vendors, learned new ideas and ways of approaching projects, and my suitcase weighed about 10 extra pounds with all the swag I brought back!  I’m looking forward to many more in the future.

In-your-face authenticity is hot

There is something alluring about in-your-face authenticity. It’s sensational yet attractive, like Arthur Fonzarelli, better known as The Fonz.  People liked Fonzie.  He got what he wanted seamlessly, without sacrificing his values. That is, until he literally jumped the shark.

Jumping the shark is not

Jumping the shark, an idiom for when something well established begins a decline, originated when the writers of Happy Days had Fonzie literally jump a shark while on skis, wearing his trademark leather jacket and all.

Ride your Harley into the party

Losing your base can be pretty easy when you’re a big name with a known reputation like The Fonz or (insert your favorite brand name here).  A solid brand has already established where it fits, and has spent significantly to be there.  Any experiential program, event or otherwise, should be authentic to the soul of the brand, and honest to the expectations attendees have.  If you’re the Fonz, ride your Harley into the party. If you’re Grey Goose, showcase your signature cocktails in a super premium lounge.

Going over the top is not always better.  Simply slapping a well known name on something overly-sensational is unlikely to be good for a brand, even if it would get eyeballs.  You’ve probably already had an example or two come to mind, so I’ll politely refrain from naming any myself.

Cultivate an honest relationship

Experiential marketing — whether at a large event on in private — cultivates an honest, well-defined relationship. Isn’t that why we loved The Fonz?  He was edgy but he was true to the core.  Then…he jumped the shark.  So, aaay!  Learn from the Fonz.  Be cool. Authenticity is where it’s at.  Don’t be something you’re not, even if it promises to be a unique experience…or your brand may become the next symbol for jumping the shark.

As part of a highly integrated marketing program, Javelin partners with GREY GOOSE Vodka throughout the year to bring the spirit to major influencers and trend-setters at Best Of events across North America.

The latest in this series was the Miami Beach Polo World Cup 2010, where the world’s top players of the “sport of kings” competed for the coveted La Martina Cup.  GREY GOOSE spokes models welcomed spectators and players  served a variety of specialty martinis and signature cocktails made with GREY GOOSE Vodka Original, L’Orange, Le Citron, and La Poire.

A few readers (you know who you are) have requested more GREY GOOSE photos, so these are for you!

The human mind is the ultimate experiential consumer.

Where can we find some intellectual street cred and big brain support for our beloved discipline, experiential marketing? It is with keen insights and modern truths we can see and prove that the human mind is the ultimate experiential consumer—that experience drives all perception and opinion forming.

It is with great thanks (and enduring apologies) to Jonah Lehrer that I have done a mash-up of his great work, Proust Was A Neuroscientist, and our beloved discipline, experiential marketing. Briefly:

Proust had already discovered what Lehrer was trying to find out. He knew that 1) smell and taste produce uniquely intense memories, and 2) memory is dependent on the moment and mood of the individual. Scientists didn’t establish these facts until a few years ago, yet Proust made the point in 1913.

Smell and taste are the most intense of remembered sensations.

As we continue to learn more and more about the brain’s complex chemistry, we should – as experiential marketers – help our clients understand the primacy of the impact consumers will experience when they are addressed head-on in a sensory capacity. In fact, this bit says it all:

Proust’s goal in Remembrance of Things Past is to anatomize memory. His literary examinations teach him that smell and taste are the most intense of remembered sensations. Fast forward some 90 years to 2002, when Rachel Herz, a psychologist at Brown, shows that smell and taste are indeed uniquely potent evokers of memory.

This power, she speculates, lies in the direct connection the gustatory and olfactory nerves have to the hippocampus, which Lehrer calls “the center of the brain’s long-term memory.”

Establish the memories, then we can tinker.

Memories are not immutable as Herz and others have found; rather, they change as we remember them. I believe the key in experiential marketing is to first ESTABLISH the memories. We can then tinker with the nuance via social media and ad campaigns, but without base-line experiences to “fiddle with” we cannot gain serious ground in the consumer’s mind.

To me these are enlightenments equal to – if not more powerful than – ROI models. The discoveries of modern neuroscience, combined with the insights of these great thinkers, show that demonstration is king…that stimulating the senses is the coin of the realm in creating real, lasting memories…resulting in converted customers.

Enjoy Proust Was A Neuroscientist if you are so inclined. It’s a nice visit with Woolf, Stein, Escoffier, Stravinsky and of course Proust…our experiential forefathers.

Like you, I do my marketing homework.  I keep up with industry pubs, must-attend seminars, über-hip “expert” ad execs, cool school, Gladwell, Bob Garfield, Bob’s blog, your blog, etc.  The plethora of expert supposition/opinion/fact is enlightening, it really is, but who can keep up with it all?  In an effort to simplify our lives as experiential marketers, brand stewards and idea-generators, I’d like to propose an experiment of sorts.

I contend that everything we need to know about marketing, branding, and getting to great ideas has already been surmised by two people born over a century apart but united by their mutual distaste for monotony, monogamy and prison. Oscar Wilde and Paris Hilton have done a damned good job of generating axioms about life that are applicable to marketing – and easier to digest than the next must-read Fast Company book-of-the-month.

So here’s what I propose: skip reading What The Dog Saw and Baked.  It’s okay, people.  Really.  Let’s take a short break – a Nestea plunge if you will – from all the marketing intelligence surrounding us.  It will all be waiting for us tomorrow.

Today let’s run our marketing efforts through the WildeParis Experiment.  Sound kinky?  Here’s how it works:  simply see if the idea you are thinking about pitching or buying fulfills upon all or most of the following list of quotes – marketing axioms, as I like to call them.

The following lines are quotes from Oscar Wilde and Paris Hilton. Have fun guessing who said what (click on the quote to see who said it), but that’s not the point of the experiment.  The point is to take a break from the plethora of expert supposition/opinion/fact, and simplify what you need to know to deem an idea great.  Here we go.

“There is no sin worse in life than being boring.”

Go ahead; be honest with yourself when assessing your work.  Do you like the idea? Love the idea?  Are you passionate about it? You know if it’s boring. If you don’t…you’re boring.

“I can resist everything except temptation.”

That’s what we do for a living; we tempt.  Is your idea irresistible?  Is your story tempting?

“There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.”

Look, there’s a lot of money being wasted on marketing shit nobody cares about, notices or talks about. There are many, many examples, and I don’t want to be cruel, but consider this.  Almost every brand seems to believe they need a website, right?  And I agree, most brands do. But have you ever visited the black, depressing, corporate, empty, pointless hole that is macys.com, walmart.com, century21.com, aa.com? AA.com is American Airlines, not Alcoholics Anonymous; their site, aa.org, is pretty good.  Anyway, the list of grotesquely expensive, meaningless, never-talked-about marketing goes on and on.  And it is the worst thing in the world.

“There’s nobody in the world like me. I think every decade has an iconic blonde – like Marilyn Monroe or Princess Diana – and right now, I’m that icon.”

Homogeneity abounds.  Brands and marketers alike are too often risk-averse, and without risk — intelligent risk — there is no innovation.  I give out Failure Awards at the agency to recognize those who embrace risk to achieve something great, truly creative and original.  Without risk, your brand is just another pair of khaki pants in a button down shirt, hiding behind a laminated desk, waiting for the clock to strike 5 so it can rush home in its minivan to a plastic house in the suburbs.  But if your brand is consistently taking inspired risks and sometimes failing, you become something original or, on rare occasions, iconic.

“When people agree with me, I always feel that I must be wrong.”

Embrace a culture of friction and passionate discourse.  Never hire your doppelganger. Fire every “yes” man in your organization.  If you don’t, you’ll never have a great idea.

“I don’t have sex unless I’m in a relationship. I’m old-fashioned when it comes to that. I really am!”

Consumers want to have relationships with real, committed brands like Mountain Dew, not blowup dolls like (insert your favorite poseur brand).  Know what your brand is.  Know what it isn’t. Commit to it.  Not everyone needs to like your brand, and your brand doesn’t need to sleep with everyone; we’re not in high school.

To get a consumer into bed you need to know them.  Know who they really are.  Love them.  Eat fast food with them.  Play Halo with them.  Ride scooters, walk dogs, go shopping at Wal-Mart (yes you, go to Wal-Mart), watch obscure movies, eat fish heads, wear latex body suits…do whatever your demo does.  Here’s why: if you commit to what you are, you’ll never be a part of another lifeless brand and you’ll never garner lifeless results.  You’ll be in the hottest, sexiest relationship of your life.

“Consistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative.”

To support this point, I’ll break with consistency in the WildeParis Experiment, and take a look at what Seth Godin, the maestro of expert supposition/opinion/fact, has to say about consistency.  Or is it inconsistency?

Consistency
How can someone:
… be opposed to euthanasia but in favor of the death penalty?
… be in favor of the impeachment of Bill Clinton but not of George Bush?
… be worried about global warming but fly in a big private plane?
… be in favor of the impeachment of George Bush but not of Bill Clinton?
… be opposed to amnesty for illegal aliens but in favor of a pardon for Scooter Libby?
… be in favor of military intervention in Darfur but not in Iraq?
… be opposed to big government but want the government to control public speech?
… be in favor of banning medical marijuana but opposed to government regulation of cigarettes?
… be opposed to judicial meddling except in cases where you disagree with the current laws?

Easy. Because people aren’t consistent. Sure, you say, each of the above examples isn’t fair. They don’t match. They don’t line up. [Smart people are lucky: they can hold seemingly contradictory ideas in their head while they look more deeply into the facts and make good decisions... it’s called nuance.]

We don’t eat dessert because we’re on a diet but we put blue cheese dressing on our salad. We don’t pay extra for first class but we refuse to give up a seat to get bumped from a flight, even though the reward is a thousand dollars. We curse the spam that clutters our e-mail boxes but turn around and authorize millions of pieces of junk mail to go out to support our new business.
The local hardware store owner curses the existence of Home Depot but buys his family’s clothes at Wal-Mart. The vegetarian wears a leather belt…

Everything is a special situation; everything begs for inconsistency. If all we did was market to computers, life would be a lot simpler, but a lot less interesting.

So, there it is: the WildeParis Experiment.  It may not be perfect but it’s certainly a reprieve from all the expert supposition, opinion and fact.  Give it a try and let me know how it turns out!

Experiential marketing for Grey Goose takes place year-round in Austin.

Experiential marketing activations produced by Javelin for Grey Goose Vodka take place at luxury and influencer events throughout Austin year-round, but the one closest to my former-music-writer heart is South-by-Southwest.  Since not everyone has experienced it directly, allow me to share a slice of SXSW life.

Brands that can authentically participate in their consumers’ lifestyle events will achieve lasting results.

An irresistible draw to the movers, shakers, connoisseurs, and taste-makers of “what’s next”, SXSW is an extravaganza of music, film, and interactive goodies.  For ten days in March, Austin is home to thousands of national and international bands, agents, talent scouts, actors, producers, production companies, tech wizards, entrepreneurs and more who come to attend (and host) events promoting their work – plus the people who come to see them.  This convergence creates a perfect environment to for the right brands to authentically participate in their consumers’ lifestyles.   Enter Grey Goose and yours truly.

Grey Goose Vodka and SoBe Life Water sponsored premiere parties for the feature film Skateland, an official selection of SXSW, set in a 1980’s small town Texan skating rink.  First, guests crowded into Wet Salon for an afternoon of mingling and mixing Grey Goose cocktails.  The stars of the movie, Ashley Greene, Taylor Handley, Heath Freeman, and Shiloh Fernandez, mingled and occasionally gave interviews perched on a Love Sac.

Actor Taylor Handley (center) and friends, in Wet Salon’s hair washing stations

Brand personalization leads to ownership.

Experiential marketing thrives on tailored experiences. Cultivating brand ownership among consumers, bartenders invited guests to design their own custom cocktails using Grey Goose L’Original or one of the Grey Goose flavors: Le Citron, L’Orange, and La Poire. My personal favorite was the Grey Goose La Poire and SoBe Fuji Apple Pear, while not-so-sweet-drink-loving-fans preferred the Green Tea-ni, made with Grey Goose Le Citron and SoBe Green Tea.

Actor Heath Freeman analyzes his Grey Goose and SoBe concoction

Reinforcing the theme of the film, girls on roller skates zipped through the crowd snapping Polaroids of guests.

Girls on roller skates snap Polaroids to set the mood

The party migrated to the legendary Mohawk for ATX EMERGE 2010, an official SXSW celebration of Skateland’s premiere and showcase of Austin’s most adored musical acts.  Patrons queued around the block at dusk (in the rain) to see the twelve scheduled bands. Black Joe Lewis, an up-and-coming Austin phenomenon featured in Reversal Film’s new documentary Echotone, headlined the party.  Props to the production guys for pulling this all together and making it a branded entertainment success!

The stars of the day, Casey LaBow, Haley Ramm, and director Anthony Burns enjoyed the entertainment (not to mention the view) from the comfort of a 10’ tall roller skate atop the VIP rooftop lounge. Complementary Grey Goose cocktails flowed freely upstairs, while nearly 1,000 people downstairs enjoyed specially priced Grey Goose cocktails throughout the night. (Side note to all those in the liquor biz: sponsoring a VIP party in exchange for drink specials at the attached party is a great sales tool. Approximately 50 cases of Grey Goose Vodka were consumed that night, and only 15 were donated for the party above.)

Girls on roller skates walk out of a time machine onto the red carpet

Actor Heath Freeman and actress Kelly Monaco in the green room (literally)

Actress Ashley Greene and actor Shiloh Fernandez

The Grey Goose Vodka activations were a huge success as were a number of other experiential marketing programs I saw, including Bacardi USA’s Level 42 Vodka.  If only I could clone myself; then I could have experienced everything!    The sponsors and clients were equally pleased, and the SXSW action is never to be missed.

Like all good things, SXSW must eventually end.  It’s probably for the best; everywhere you look are exhausted Austinites. House guests crowd the airports. The city is littered with festival aftermath: band fliers, pasted movie posters, and hung over residents. There’s an audible murmur in the air as internal organs everywhere give thanks that nightlife is returning to normal.  It has been exhausting, but fabulous.

Experiential Marketing Delivers Engaged Consumers

Experiential marketing employs an arsenal of effective tactics ranging from nightlife marketing to campus activations, custom vehicle marketing to guerilla street teams, mall tours to word of mouth programs, and luxury marketing to publicity stunts.  Regardless of the tactic selected, there is one deliverable both client and agency agree is crucial — the engaged customer.

Without discounting the importance of acquiring new customers or re-engaging past customers (both essential), we believe experiential marketing can deliver results in the most sustained fashion by way of the long tail.   Be it the digital long tail of sustained content that feeds search, or the long tail of sales – all can be positively affected by events, experiences, and brand engagements that generate trial, consideration, adoration and conversation.

The Long Tail (image by Anup Shah)

Experiential Marketing Delivers Long Term ROI

The Advertising Research Foundation states in a recent study on experiential marketing that brand experiences “improve profitability by increasing both short-term sales and long-run brand demand… The tendency is to think they only have short-term impacts. On the contrary, the power of experiential marketing is shown in this study to go beyond short-term effects to generate a longer-term brand value.”

There isn’t a brand manager or CMO alive that would NOT want to get – and keep – 10-15% of their consumers “wagging.”  The lifetime consumers.  The new consumers interested in base, mainstay products.  The consumers interested in a company’s aggregate smaller product lines; and there’s good reason…Netflix being a great example.

Search engine optimization, word of mouth, and social media in general “wag” the Long Tail online with a constant supply of Flickr pics, blog comments, YouTube videos and comments, tweets and Facebook fan activity.  Brand generated content can get things started, but the real dividend of an experiential investment is consumer generated activity and its impact.

Experiential Marketing Delivers Lasting Relationships

Relationships begin with conversation, and at our shop that’s exactly what we sell.  We are conversant in sight, sound, scent, taste, touch, and the persuasive arts.

The Art of Conversation (image via tendaysontheisland.com)

It is in these conversations that brand advocacy is fostered, adopters become adorers, and new customers are won.  It is in these conversations that the prospects for a tail to grow long are greatly enhanced.  Brands can achieve both short-term and long-term goals with experiential marketing; it is a force multiplier in terms of real ROI…and that’s something to wag about.

Bacardi’s experiential nightlife activation on tour with the Black Eyed Peas is enjoying some great press, a few samples of which you’ll find below. We promise a more in-depth look at the tour in the near future!

Bacardi and BEP Jacksonville Tour Stop - Ponte Vedra Recorder

Bacardi and BEP Atlanta tour stop - Gwinnett Daily Post

Bacardi and BEP Atlanta Tour Stop - AJC.com

Bacardi and BEP Charlotte Tour Stop - Creative Loafing

Bacardi and BEP Nashville Tour Stop - Nashville Metromix

Bacardi’s experiential activation on the Black Eyed Peas’ “The E.N.D. Tour” is off to a roaring start!  After the BEP show at American Airlines Arena in Miami Beach, the Peas attended the Playboy Super Saturday Night Party presented by Bacardi.  Fergie and will.i.am broke into a spontaneous performance in the wee hours of the morning, surprising guests and press alike.  Below is a sampling of the press.

Bacardi and BEP - Hollywoodlife.com 2.8.10

Bacardi and BEP - LAtimes.com 2.8.10

Bacardi and BEP - Micahjesse.com 2.7.10

Bacardi and BEP - NBCmiami.com 2.6.10

Bacardi and BEP - Stylelist.com 2.7.10

Bacardi and BEP - E! Online

Javelin is taking Bacardi on the Black Eyed Peas “The E.N.D. Tour”, bringing the brand to life in an experiential nightlife program for consumers 21+ in key markets.  With the tour just launching there’s not time to write yet, but we thought it would be fun to share these photos for now.  More to come when possible!

BEP private meet & greet with Bacardi USA executives at American Airlines Arena on February 6, 2010 in Miami, Florida

Jon Maurice, Black Eyed Peas, and Donna Meier