Concur Tour ‘Breezes’ into Events

Concur, a provider of employee expense management services, in October began a five-week, $61,354.03 spending spree to promote the Concur Breeze, a web-based and mobile expense reporting system for small- to medium-sized businesses. Called the $61,354.03 Expense Tracking, Not Stacking Tour, the effort dispersed three teams of leather-jacket clad “Breezers” on Harley-Davidson motorcycles who treated small business owners and employees to printing supplies or coffee breaks, and even picked up the occasional happy hour tab. While doing so, they demonstrated the Breeze’s expense reporting capabilities.

The $61,354.03 figure is an arbitrary number chosen to illustrate how the Breeze can track expenses down to the penny. “Stacking,” which in motorcycle parlance is a synonym for “crashing,” is humorous reference to Breeze as a solution to expense receipts that often pile up on employees’ desks.

Three regional teams, one on each coast and one covering the central U.S., traveled to “anchor events,” mainly trade shows such as the New York Expo, Atlanta Business Expo and TEDxRainier, where they and other product specialists demoed the Breeze and gave away gift cards and other prizes. They also reached their audience at smaller “connector events,” where they paid the bill for happy hours in hotel bars or coffee shops near convention centers, even at gas stations near rental car drop-offs, showing people at cash registers how its service simplifies the expense tracking process. The Breezers also made surprise visits to small businesses or happened upon small business owners making purchases at supply stores, then foot the bill for computers, iPads or other necessities.

A web page, trackingnotstackingtour.com, followed the tour’s progress. A counter on the main page showed the expenses to the penny as the Breezers racked them up. People could nominate small businesses in need of a boost or click on a button on the main page to enroll in a 30-day free trial.

“Automated expense reporting is not the sexiest thing to go out and try to sell,” Steve Jarvis, vp-marketing, small- and medium-sized businesses at Concur, told Buzz. “That was one of the attractions of this idea, having some fun with and humanizing something that most people detest, which is filling out their expense report, in a fun and engaging way.” Agency: Jack Morton Worldwide, New York City.