B-to-C Events

Smart makes one of the smallest production cars in the market. But belying its stature, the brand went tall and broad with its exhibits at this month’s North American International Auto Show at the Cobo center in Detroit. The brand kept its little efficient cars in the spotlight, not taking focus away, but enhancing the fun with simple, neat coolness. The best interactive was designed to highlight the consumer’s ability to customize everything about the Smart experience by showing just one feature.

Tillamook’s cheese sampling Loaf Love Tour is hitting the road again this year on Jan. 29 with a fifth addition to its fleet of branded VW buses that have been refurbished to look like a loaf of its cheddar cheese. The newest addition, a convertible bus named the “Loafster” by Facebook fans, has become the centerpiece of the tour with appearances scheduled for morning shows in select markets. Like the other buses, this 1960 VW bus has been shortened by four feet, and lowered by one foot and refurbished as a replica of Tillamook’s baby cheddar cheese loaf.

We all know who they are. The elite. The top-tier, grade-A, best-in-class influencers that set the bar for every new “it” product to enter their spheres of influence. They can be celebs, bartenders or bloggers in their jammies. The trick is seducing those ever-so-fickle tastemakers in such a way that they realize yours is the only product they want to wear, use, drink or carry. Here’s how three brands are doing it, and getting the word of mouth that really matters.

When it comes to activating in the world of sports, Nike practically wrote the book. For nearly half a century, the brand has been setting the bar for activations that mix sports, celebrity and popular culture in groundbreaking and highly profitable ways. So when the opportunity to create a proprietary basketball event arose, the brand applied its signature magic touch to turn an unknown property into an annual tradition in the making.

Since the iPad launched, more event marketers are making it the handheld of choice for their events, especially for street programs designed to drive traffic online.