B-to-C Events

The experiential marketing revolution is now creating an experiential marketing evolution—as traditional media companies use healthy doses of face-to-face strategies to reinvent their own business model.


When it comes to setting the right tone for consumers in an experiential space, there may be no more powerful design tool than a splash of color. Color can create a mood, send a message and convey a sense of your brand’s intrinsic qualities. The trouble is, most corporate color palettes are quite limited, and frequently misrepresented.

RIM on Feb. 14 rolled out a 10-week mobile SmartBuilder for BlackBerry tour targeting owners of small- to medium-sized businesses. Among the stops was ConExpo-Con/Agg, the construction trade show held in Las Vegas March 22 to 26, where its mobile devices and services were on display on a small van pulled by a shiny black electric car.

Department store holiday windows have traditionally regaled kids of all ages who ooh and aah at their Santa scenes and gift displays. Last year, however, at the Neiman Marcus flagship store in Dallas, not only could they ogle the windows, for the second holiday season in a row, they could actually participate in the story as they climbed into tubes and crawled through the set.

Who can forget Cartoon Network’s 2007 “Aqua Teen Hunger Force” guerrilla marketing stunt that triggered a bomb scare and cost the brand and its handling agency $2 million paid to Boston-area authorities? (Ouch!) Or, last year at the World Cup in South Africa when during the Netherlands vs. Denmark match, two Dutch women were arrested for allegedly violating trademark laws after a group of 36 women turned up at the game wearing short dresses in Bavaria beer’s signature orange color.