A key characteristic among many Millennials is the desire to be unique within a group – in fact, it’s important to 71% vs. 38% of non-Millennials. They embrace multiple modes of self-expression. 20% have posted a video of themselves online. Nearly 40% have a tattoo – and about half of those have two to five and 18% have six or more.

Could it because reality TV (designed to find the excitement in “ordinary” lives) exploded while Millennials were teenagers, rewarding everyday people who managed to stand out in their own way?

Regardless of the reason, consumers have come to see customization as recognition that no two people (or their needs) are the same.  Some brands that are doing it well:

• Intel’s Museum of Me makes a virtual museum display out of consumers’ Facebook photos, posts, videos and more.  The result is a brief video tour of one’s very own museum, with personal memories in place of works by famous artists.

• Converse has long celebrated the individuality of their consumers, but they’re taking it to the next level with their full line of “Design Your Own” footwear.  Take a look (below) at a Javelin-inspired shoe we couldn’t resist designing…

• Smart Car offers drivers the ability to have their car painted nearly any color or pattern as part of its “smartExpressions” program.

• And finally – what’s more personal than the street where you grew up? Arcade Fire released the first HTML5 music video, which lets viewers set their own childhood neighborhood as the backdrop where the hero runs through the streets. Viewers can even write sprawling, branching messages to their childhood selves.

What does it mean for marketers?   Brands that make it easy for Millennials to “have it their way” earn a lot of attention, interaction, and loyalty.   How will you rise to the challenge?

In 2011 Event Marketer magazine established the Event Technology Awards competition to “shine a spotlight on the best use of event technology to elevate brand experiences, increase reach, communicate smarter, drive attendance, increase leads, push sales and upgrade the engagement between companies and their target audiences.”

As usual, they charged out the gate at top speed, and we were honored to be on the inaugural ride.  At the awards ceremony on December 5, Javelin was awarded a Gold in the “Best Use of Social Media” category for BACARDI’s “Like It Live” campaign.

Nice and shiny, eh?  Here’s the article in the new issue of the magazine:

Event Marketer says, “Bacardi’s social media crowdsourcing strategy brought fans’ Facebook “likes” to life and transformed each figurative thumbs up into real life experiences for thousands of fans at events in New York and Las Vegas last June. ”

Thank you, Event Marketer!  We had such a blast with BACARDI, our partner agencies, and of course all the consumers who attended – and your recognition is delicious icing on the cake.

For more details on the program, check out this BACARDI “Like It Live” snapshot or “Like It Live” video from DJ Irie and team.

At our recent BACARDI “Like It Live, Like It Together” experiential events in Las Vegas and New York there was an extra video camera capturing some of the excitement for posterity.  Senor Vega, the man behind that camera (and editing, we assume) was nice enough to draw our attention to the final product published on DJ Irie’s YouTube channel.  We like your style, man!

Since a picture is worth and thousand words and video is worth even more, we thought we’d share this with everyone who wasn’t able to attend.  Enjoy!

In June 2011 Javelin and BACARDÍ, the world’s best-selling and most awarded premium rum, broke new social networking ground with experiential program “Like It Live, Like it Together.” Part of the larger “BACARDÍ Together” campaign (embracing social media to encourage real-life get-togethers) “Like It Live” turned BACARDÍ fans’ Facebook “Likes” into real life experiences curated by the fans themselves.

Prior to the event consumers entered to win tickets to the NYC and Las Vegas events, and voted for their top “Likes” including: Slam Dunk vs. Dunk Tank, BACARDÍ Mojito vs. BACARDÍ Cuba Libre, Hip-Hop vs. New Wave, Pizza Truck vs. Taco Truck, and Mechanical Bulls vs. Pillow-Fighting Playboy Bunnies. Top “Likes” were brought to life in true BACARDÍ fashion: NBA legends playing hoops with consumers on the rooftop; world’s largest skateboard/stage; life-sized Sico the Robot and more.

Every BACARDI event needs sizzling musical entertainment, and these events delivered! The New York City event featured Kid Cudi, Tamara Sky, DJ Irie, Aloe Blacc, Eklips and DJ Mouss, Childish Gambino & Evolution of Dance, as well as a few other familiar faces. The Las Vegas event featured Cee Lo Green, Travis Barker and Mix Master Mike, Kid Cudi, Eklips, DJ Tamara Sky, DJ Irie, Aloe Blacc, Childish Gambino aka Donald Glover, Playboy Playmates, NBA legends Ron Harper, Allan Houston and Gary Payton, and more.

After an action-packed evening, consumers enjoyed their final “Like” – a pizza truck – and voiced their delight on Facebook, Twitter, and other social networks.

This time even a few Javelinites were caught in action. It sure looks like they’re enjoying their work!

Scroll over the images below to check out the slideshows:

We at Javelin firmly believe that authenticity is key to a successful brand. The skateboarding industry is covered head-to-toe in the bruises and broken bones of authenticity. Birthed out of rebellion and innovation, skateboarding’s forefathers set the tone for originality and the pursuit of progression, which still holds true today. If a brand is really going to be a skate brand, they must fully embody these ideals. For skateboarders like myself, “game recognizes game”- we can smell a fake like a week-old pair of underwear.

Nike and Converse are two brands that have done a great job entering an industry that doesn’t take too kindly to mainstream outsiders. In the past few years, both brands have approached the marketing of their skate shoes through the adventurousness of skateboarding. To quote skateboarding legend Steve Cabellero, “…it’s about the journey, not the destination.” Each brand has exemplified this in video form quite literally – but quite differently.

First up: Nike. Much like the brand’s basketball or golf pros, the skate pros who ride for the Nike team are synonymous with the brand. In the video “Straight Trippin’” Nike pros Chet Childress and Al Partanen embark on a journey from Portland to L.A to New York with nothing but their boards and backpacks. With only a few close-up product shots of the skaters ridin’ and rippin’, the content focuses predominantly on the gnar-tastic adventure  – with Nike’s presence subtly in the background. The brand lives vicariously through the situations at hand and the personalities of the pros.

Next up: Converse.  The brand has a much more commercial, yet equally effective presence in their video “Converse: LA to Vegas”.  Featuring pro Kenny Anderson and a growing mass of skateboarders that follow along, the narrative is a third-person perspective of the journey that showcases the new shoe and what it can do.  Throughout the journey Kenny Anderson performs a nose-manual (skate term for a nose-wheelie) which effectively communicates two things: “Hey look, our KA-ONE shoe is comfortable and durable enough to go on a trip from LA to Vegas on foot!” and “Hey look, our KA-ONE shoe will give you ridiculous skill and balance like pro Kenny Anderson!” the brand not only lives through the situation, but persuades the viewer of its relevance by adding to it.

These are great videos and great examples of how any brand – not just a skate brand – can curate their own authenticity to achieve relevancy and credibility with their target demo.

In 2011, Javelin took People StyleWatch to the malls of America with a custom experiential pop-up store, delighting consumers, increasing awareness of the magazine, and enhancing advertiser relations with a celebrity stylist experience.

Throughout the month of March consumers enjoyed the star treatment of a one-on-one appointment with a stylist who took them through a “celebrity” stylist closet, educated them on fashion and offered advice on which styles suit them best, based on the March StyleWatch issue.

Clinique makeup artists pampered guests with makeovers to complement the new spring looks.

California Closets created custom closets for the program, displaying fashions in an easy to access manner.

Hip spring footwear exclusively from Vince Camuto was displayed in the Celebrity Stylist closet.  Upon purchase of Vince Camuto merchandise from nearby stores, guests received the convertible cross-body clutch featured in the March issue.

Eye-catching accessories (representing trends in the March issue) were on display at the Starbucks Frappuccino Finishing Touch Accessories Bar…complete with ice-cold Starbucks Frappuccino coffee drinks in four different flavors.

To top it off, everyone received a Celebrity Stylist branded tote included a StyleWatch March issue, Starbucks Frappuccino leather bracelet, Vince Camuto cell phone cover, Clinique mascara, Orbit gum, and a Kenneth Cole postcard.

The program earned 56 million print impressions, local television news coverage, extensive blog coverage, and massive word of mouth. The good news for consumers? It’s happening again in September 2011!

Brand love is nothing new around Javelin – after all, everything we do orbits around creating or extending brand loyalty through experiential programs.  Even so, there are a handful of brands that really make my heart race.  Among them?  Mountain Dew, and it’s not because of the caffeine.

Before I start yapping about why the Dew is so awesome, let’s take a moment to reflect on just how easily brands can lose their mojo after achieving a certain level of success.

With start-up struggles a distant memory and the financial/intellectual backing of a major corporation, market dominance is sure to follow, right?  Not necessarily.  Sure, the expertise and resources in sourcing, manufacturing, packaging, distribution, and sales, etc. are nice – and now there are specific people in charge of thinking about each of those things – but they all come with their own teams, goals, and strategies. Decisions are too often made in corporate silos with little regard to other influences affecting the health of the brand. To minimize this risk many corporations have brand managers and chief branding officers to keep an eye on the big picture, but the job doesn’t always come with the power necessary to overcome the silo effect.  Brand authenticity can easily become compromised, and the health of the brand can fall into peril.

Some brands, however, seem to have found a delicate balance where the efficiencies and expertise of a major corporation are maximized and the authenticity of the individual brand is cherished, nurtured, and celebrated – to remarkable effect.

One such brand is Mountain Dew.  They have consistently generated meaningful, relevant messaging that connects with their target audience (the elusive Millennial Male) to great effect, but their latest program has our collective jaws on the floor.

To promote the launch of its three new flavors, the brand created an extreme, first-of-its-kind experience at a film studio in New Zealand.  Skate park designer Corban Walls was commissioned to design a giant, fully functioning, pinball machine skate park.  In this 600-square foot life-size pinball machine, the skater is the ball, propelled from a platform by a giant plunger.  Skaters earn points by doing tricks on tunnels, ramps, flippers and bumpers, triggering sensors to generate flashing lights and arcade sounds.  Scores and times are displayed on a backboard to complete the picture.

MOUNTAIN DEW SKATE PINBALL from Jae Morrison on Vimeo.

After months of planning, seventeen days of build, almost $500,000 and lots of anticipation, the park kicked off on June 4^th with the Mountain Dew Skate Pinball Pro Comp.  Thirty top skaters including Haimona Ngata, Brett Band and Mike Bancroft went head to head to score the most points, be crowned skate pinball wizard, and win cash prizes.  The park will remain open to the public until June 26^th.  For more details or to skate it yourself, check out Mountain Dew New Zealand’s Facebook page or microsite for more details.

The program is ingenious for grabbing the attention of the brand’s young, irreverent fans and simultaneously seducing older Gen Y and Gen X consumers with the retro-nostalgic pinball twist. People far past the age of interest and/or ability to skate have been delighted by this whimsical program that revisits (in a life-sized way) the comfort and nostalgia of their childhoods.

Well done, Dew! Well done.

THE MAKING OF SKATE PINBALL from Jae Morrison on Vimeo.

The World’s Best-Selling Rum Breaks New Social Networking Ground By Bringing Fans’ Facebook “Likes” to Life

BACARDÍ® – the world’s best-selling and most awarded premium rum – will bring people together by bringing their Facebook “Likes” into real life experiences at events in New York on June 13 and Las Vegas on June 15. “Like It Live, Like it Together” is the experiential arm of the iconic rum brand’s “BACARDÍ Together” campaign, and is brought to life by Javelin.

A “Like It Live, Like It Together” preview event was held in New York’s Gansevoort Plaza in NYC’s Meatpacking District on Thursday, June 2. Emceed by Elvis Duran from the Z100 Morning Show, the event featured performances by award-winning rap artist Nas and leading mixmaster DJ Envy, “flair” bartenders, and an outrageous representation of the top “Likes.”

• NBA legend and former New York Knick, John Starks
• Sico the roving robot
• A pizza truck with free slices for everyone
• The world’s largest skateboard
• A Playboy Bunny pillow fight

After the “Likes” were revealed, the high-profile musical talent for the “Like It Live, Like It Together” events were announced. In New York, Aloe Blacc, DJ Irie, Eklips & Tamara Sky will perform, followed by headliner Kid Cudi. In Las Vegas, Travis Barker, Mix Master Mike, DJ Vice, Aloe Blacc and DJ Irie will be followed by headliner Cee Lo Green.

BACARDI models with iPads helped consumers register for the “Like It Live, Like It Together” Facebook ticket contest, and encouraged the use of #LikeItLive to keep the buzz going on Twitter and FB.

Three giant luchadores recently took up residence in Javelin headquarters.  Here’s how it all went down:

Want more? Visit STL artist Peat Wollaeger or come by our Locust Street office. Mucha lucha!

Augmented Reality is Surreal…
Literally, Augmented Reality (AR) superimposes a fantastic world—with its own set of rules and dreamlike imagery—onto the standard reality we all know and love. This allows us to play the role of Voodoo Witch Doctor, we guide those without our powers into an unseen universe hidden just below the surface. Best of all, we don’t need any magic herbs, sacred mushrooms, or dried lizard tongues.

With no more than a camera and a computer, we can start to expose the worlds that live behind everyday objects. And, these exposed worlds don’t involve a creepy spirit realm filled with ghosts (unless we really want them to). Augmented Reality shows its users information that can be played with on each user’s own terms. This blurs the lines between reality and whatever world we want to bring people to. Talk about Voodoo.

Play With Information on Your Own Terms
We’re living in an information age, where we can find answers to most questions almost instantly. If someone wants to know about your business, your product, they can find reviews on their cell phones while standing in the marketplace. Best Buy embraces this idea, printing QR codes on shelving labels to help guide people to their website (which has reviews and ordering information). Lego has taken how we play with information a step further.

Lego lets you play with its models without potential buyers opening a box, brand ambassadors constructing demonstration sets, or (in some cases) without anyone leaving the comfort of their home. So, how does Lego give a pseudo-hands-on experience, marketing their toys? Augmented Reality—computers augmenting images from a camera and displaying them back to the user. Literally, this puts the ability to play with Lego’s products in your hands without putting anything in your hands.

Watch it in action!

Seriously, did you watch the video?

Experiential Marketing in the Home?
It goes beyond their amazing, in-store kiosk. Lego grants us this hands-on experience without us needing to leave our homes. Their website now supports AR technology, granting web surfers the same ability to play with legos at their computers. I don’t mean any offense, but TV commercials simply can’t do what AR is offering. Why aren’t more brands giving consumers the ability to experience—no, to play with— their products on the consumer’s own terms?