FIVE THINGS TO KNOW THIS WEEK
This week’s hot takes on hot topics in experiential marketing cover Dogsters’ Paws of Fame experience, Carrera Eyewear’s Paint My Ride Tour and Puma’s Hidden Frequencies.
LOCAL ARTISTS GO BRUSH-TO-BRUSH ON CARRERA’S PAINT MY RIDE TOUR
To mark its 70th birthday, Carrera Eyewear has taken an unexpected detour into the world of custom auto-body art. Along its seven-city Paint My Ride Tour (each stop represents a decade of the brand’s history), which launched May 2 and wraps July 19, the company is enlisting two muralists in each location to go head-to-head in an art competition. The canvas? A 1979 Chevrolet Corvette C3.
For Carrera, the tour is about tying its story and ethos to broader cultural moments that make the brand, and the experience, sticky. Accordingly, at each stop, the artists compete in real time by painting their half of the vehicle with a design inspired by the host city. The audience then votes on-site to select the winner, who advances to a national vote on the company’s website.
Tying eyewear to art? We see you, Carrera.
Photo: Courtesy of Carrera Eyewear
FURBALLS GET THE RED-CARPET TREATMENT AT ‘DOGLYWOOD’
Movie aside, humans. The first-ever Bentonville Pet Film Festival, presented by WUF World in partnership with the Bentonville Film Festival, launched over the weekend in Arkansas. And event sponsor Dogsters ensured that pups got the star treatment they deserve. Welcome to Doglywood.
Oh yes, the brand, which makes ice-cream-style treats for dogs, activated a fur-ified version of Dollywood that celebrated pets, pop culture and summer. Parents and their doggos were welcomed into a variety of experiences, from a “Paws of Fame” red carpet experience, to photo ops inspired by classic films, to sampling of Dogsters’ frozen treats.
And finally, it was time to relax and enjoy a mini tropical beach-themed pool party—designed for the dogs, of course. (Agency: Melt)
Photos: Courtesy of Melt
PUMA TURNS A PARKING LOT INTO A STYLISH DESTINATION FOR SOCCER FANS
With the FIFA World Cup underway, soccer fever is in full swing, as is the desire for custom apparel and accessories tied to the event. So a week before the tournament kicked off, Puma pounced on the opportune timing with a sound-forward activation in L.A. that celebrated the debut of its streetwear-inspired soccer collection, developed in partnership with designer Salehe Bembury.
And this was no run-of-the-mill retail launch. Puma completely transformed a parking lot at The Row into a glowing, open-air environment that meshed soccer culture, music and fashion. The footprint was organized concentrically, encouraging the designers, creatives, athletes and cultural influencers in attendance to move inward and circulate through a series of touchpoints housed in shipping containers.
At the center of it all was a speaker installation inspired by vintage sound systems that incorporated motion graphics, lighting and live dj performances. In the surrounding spaces, attendees personalized soccer jerseys; created hand-painted souvenirs at a leather workshop; explored a record store pop-up with artists representing 11 countries playing in the World Cup; enjoyed an audiophile room that played curated playlists alongside fan chants from around the globe; and a “Hidden Frequencies” sneaker unveiling featuring a UV-reactive environment that revealed the item under black light.
In the end, the average visitor dwelled at the activation for 20 minutes, while hundreds of attendees stayed longer than two hours… Music to Puma’s ears. (Agency: DE-YAN)
Photos: Courtesy of Puma
LEVI’S AND GILLETTE CLEVERLY BYPASS WORLD CUP MARKETING RULES
The red tape around how brands are allowed to associate themselves with the World Cup is extensive, but Levi’s found a clever workaround to a ban on its stadium branding. Rather than fully mask its logo, the company simply covered up the word “Levi’s” but kept the shape of its batwing-like brand symbol.
Clearly inspired by the tactic, Gillette then followed suit by covering up the logo at its own stadium with a material designed to look just like shaving cream.
More rule-breakers, please.
Image credit: @360influencemedia/Instagram
LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION: MICROSOFT’S CAMPUS CREATOR TOUR
If you can’t find an authentic way to tie a brand’s products or services to Gen Z’s way of life, good luck earning their attention. It was that line of thought—that the demo is looking for relevant, participatory experiences, not company lectures—that fueled the five-city Microsoft Campus Creator Tour. (It’s an oldie, but a goodie.)
To appeal to college students over the spring, the brand not only built experiential programming designed to advance their influencer statuses and strategies, but powered every interaction with Windows devices, providing the infrastructure necessary to allow for real-time content creation.
At each campus, Microsoft produced a hands-on environment built for interactive education and content creation. And it brought on 15 macro-influencers, including Alix Earle, Josh Richards and Brianna LaPaglia, to be the instructors. The creators participated in fireside chats during which they shared perspectives on how to get started, grow and sustain a career in the modern creator economy. The conversations were followed by live audience Q&A.
Anchoring each experience was one call to action: “Make something.” To that end, following each fireside chat, students visited three interactive stations themed around the way Gen Z already connects, and created content alongside the enlisted influencers.
A gaming area included creator-led gameplay, competitions and spectator moments; a social-first studio was designed for creating real-time TikToks, GIFs and other short-form content; and a builder-focused area provided space for students to develop creative ideas and side hustles using Microsoft tools and Windows devices. (Agency: IRL by Team One)
Photos: Courtesy of Microsoft
