This article by Jacob Braude illustrates the reasons that companies need to make experiences the next frontier in marketing. At Jack Morton, we know that experience brands will lead…and it looks like the rest of the advertising industry may be ready to hop on the experience wagon as well.
I read once that you should always ensure that your client gets the seat with the best view in the restaurant. Well, you couldn’t really provide them with a better view than this ‘Dinner in the Sky’ experience.
Ok, so this probably doesn’t really fit under the ‘quick service restaurant’, but it’s still worth a look at an amazing bespoke dining experience.
Have you ever been to Antwerp?
No? Me, neither. But in the opening week of the MAS Museum in Antwerp, I took a 3 minute virtual tour of their new cultural attraction. After selecting a tour guide, who then held up a video camera in front of them, I used my arrow keys to steer them around the space. Obviously, 3 minutes isn’t long enough to get much of an idea of the environment, but it gave me an opportunity to interact with a brand experience that I had been previously unaware of. Unfortunately, the MAS tours were only for week, but could it be a taster of future museum experiences where visitors can subscribe to a live tour of the Guggenheim or the Metropolitan which they control from their computer on the other side of the planet?
This is what I would have dreamed about as a kid. A giant size pinball machine!!! And now brands like Mountain Dew are actually building these experiences for real.
This is an extremely interesting read about how media (from a sociological perspective) aren’t just channels for conveying information. Rather, they are social contexts in themselves that can shape both how we interact with others and how we perceive ourselves (in relation to others). I think this POV is especially relevant to our industry, as we think about the changing nature of human experience, which is being transformed by innovations in technology and media.
If you click through the link, you can download the pdf, and if you click on the thumbnail, it’ll take you to a cool interactive version of the pdf.
Emulate Street Performers
Street performers have a tough job. Normally, people seek out the entertainment they wish to consume, like music, movies, books or plays. They actively purchase tickets, read reviews, and generally *plan* to consume these activities. Easy to sell because customer desire is already there. Of course we want to read the latest novel or see the next big blockbuster film. But how many of us have said, hey, I’d love to see a dude juggle a glass sphere in the park?
Street performers have to produce entertainment that people actually had no intention of consuming. The street performer’s audience is mostly people who are on their way somewhere. The street performer sets up in a busy area and creates a diversion, and tries to overpower the original destination or activity of the audience member. Sound familiar? It’s a similar task that marketers have; to create an audience out of people already just living their lives.
Think about the street performer when marketing. Most of the time companies are marketing things that people are reluctant to spend money on, but have to buy. Cleaning products, household goods, non-gourmet food, other essentials. Boring. Street performers must provide a unique, captivating experience that can pull people out of their routine, their current task, and engage them in an experience. Marketers should do the same thing, whether its on the technology side by coming up with a new way to interact with a brand online, from a eye-catching and unconventional visual design on a flyer, poster or other graphic, or a really great event that everyone talks about.
And by the way, that’s why copycat marketing never works. How many times have you seen the same ad, the same viral video, the same promotion, and not really cared? Street performers change their acts constantly. We should take the same attitude into our ideas for creating experiences for our audiences, in the marketing world. Emulate the street performer.
For the three Saturdays in August, a series of pools made from converted Dumpsters line the busy thoroughfare between 40th and 41st streets as part of the Summer Streets program in NYC. New Yorkers are taking full advantage of running, walking, biking and now swimming on the streets.
Kulula-air.com is a low-fare carrier based in South Africa. The photos of the jet are dubbed “Flying 101” and it isn’t the typical Kulula logo-jet. Someone there clearly has a sense of humor. The entire airplane is covered with details about the plane, including arrows pointing to the more interesting parts.
“The big cheese” describes the captain’s window. An arrow points to the aircraft’s registration, calling it the “Secret code.” Even the bathroom is pointed out, with the description, “Loo (or mile-high initiation chamber).”
The black box, seats, stabilizer and rudder are also pointed out and include a bit of clever commentary as well. I think we can all appreciate an experience that doesn’t take itself too seriously.
I realize that I’ve mentioned my admiration for Improv Everywhere here and my love of all things Star Wars here—but this is really just a perfect example of how an unexpected experience (when it touches on the right note) can have a powerful impact on an audience. In this case, its another moment of witnessed by few, experienced by many.
As the Mashable article points out, they’ve done “missions” before—but the reaction of even the jaded NY Subway rider is one of pure delight.
A truly LOCAL experience brand
Often times the little trigger that lifts a brand from the pack is that extra “something”—that lovely surprise that makes you enjoy that brand/product/service even more and then compels you to tell others about it.
Well, my 9-year old neighbors could contend with Fortune 500 brands any day. While walking up the street this weekend, instead of a typical lemonade stand, they had a water balloon stand. And the sign said this:
Water balloons - 10 cents. For 25 cents you can throw it at my brother Elliott.
Let’s just say that Elliott looked slightly “like a punk” and perhaps deserved his soaking wet shirt…assuming of course that they split the earnings.
And it worked. They had to keep replenishing their supply; people came back for multiple “throws” and here I am telling you.
