Tell me i’ll forget (…) involve me i’ll understand.
Last week, I was at Excel in London to support Nimble a baby-friendly cleaning company that is there for the messy moments. With thousands of new or expecting mums coming down to 'The Baby Show' it was the perfect opportunity to get the brands into the hands of consumers.
But, with any event, we were not the only brand vying for the attention of our dream target consumer. So we needed to think of a way to stand out in the sea of pastels and prams.
We created the masters of mess challenge a time-based trial that invited parents to be to go head to head in the ultimate test of speed and mess. The challenge got people to see and most importantly, trial the product for themselves.
Sampling and events are two areas that have come up in conversations of the past few months. It is costly, and how do you ensure that you don't just fade into the background. My biggest piece of advice to anyone thinking about executing at it is to think about the brand experience. How can you create something that drives trial and gets people involved and therefore more likely to remember the brand.
To get the creative juices flowing here are some examples of brands that I think have done it well.
Contours
Buying a pram is a very personal thing, height weight, steerage is all very important decisions. But the most important consideration for many parents is the comfort factor- snuggle and support. Pram brand Contours created a giant version of their baby stroller so grown-ups could test ride it.
V Energy
V Energy is an Australian energy drink that makes life a little bit better. For years they aligned with music festivals but customer data showed that brand recollection at the event was very low. We thought about the festival experience and identified all the moments that suck at a festival and that we could make a little bit better. The biggest one is the porter loos. They created a VIP festival toilet experience that was a little bit better. Unfortunately this is not the exact picture instead a random picture of a gold porta loo- but it will give you the idea.
Tony's Chocolonely
I have spoken about them before, but Tony's Chocolonely does sampling and event activation very well. Tony's team understands the most powerful way to spread awareness of the brand is via telling its story. Sampling initiatives are designed as, 'impactful encounters' where customers get to trial the product and learn about the brand. This is a powerful way of recruiting brand advocates, who in turn will spread the brand message.
I would like to know if you have any other brilliant Examples and if you have an event coming up and need some help standing out from the crowd, get in touch this is the work that we love to do.