B-to-C Events

Last year, New York-based Friendship Dairies saw big, national competitors encroaching into its home territories in Connecticut, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania. So to battle back the Chobanis and Daisys at the gate, the brand, a division of Saputo Dairy Foods, began crafting the Fit to Go Mobile Mixer Tour—a first-time foray into the event marketing space for the brand—and prepared to launch itself into the social media sphere as a support for the tour and a permanent home for the brand’s online fans.

There’s a new breed of concertgoers emerging in this digital landscape—two out of every three of them has a smartphone, and more than half share content online. Kellogg’s Pop-Tarts is leveraging the power of these “digital concert groupies” through the free concert series Crazy Good Summer, a program designed to engage teens with their favorite artists in and outside the live music experience.

Every conversation in the event marketing industry eventually comes around to technology. You want to know what tools are out there to make your jobs easier, make your programs more successful and most crucially, make your target consumers love you the most. We have heard your clarion calls for help and now, with this monthly series, EM’s own Ken Briodagh will collect and codify the hottest, newest, most interesting, best (and sometimes worst) technological doohickeys available to you.

In the spirit of that summertime family ritual, the road trip, Toyota in July packed up its line-up of cars and headed out to fairs, festivals and family-friendly events through October. Dubbed “Let’s Go Places,” which is presented by the 2014 Corolla, the tour also showcases the Camry, RAV4, Prius V and the SpongeBob 2014 Toyota Highlander under a huge black tent filled with product specialists, informative signage and fun activities.

Ice cream trucks are synonymous with summer, but for the second season in a row residents in New York City’s five boroughs are being visited by a different type of truck: one that doles out healthy snack alternatives. The nonprofit Food Bank For New York City piloted a food truck program last summer, and after seeing its success, launched it again this year with updated messaging and an extensive social marketing component to support it.