B-to-B Events

In an effort to educate plumbers, contractors, remodelers and interior designers on its toilet-flushing technologies and innovation, Kohler in March launched the “Trust the Flush” mobile tour, a custom motor coach that houses a replica of its toilet test lab at company headquarters in Wisconsin. “We can hit double or triple the number of people by going on the road, versus flying them to our headquarters and bringing them through the lab,” Jennifer Nye, channel manager, wholesale at Kohler, told Buzz. She said the tour will reach 36,000 people this year.

With a strategy usually reserved for broadcast and cable networks—not movie theaters—NCM Media Networks on May 15 held an upfront presentation dubbed “The Bigger Picture” for more than 700 media buyers and planners, brand managers and promotion agencies during New York City’s Upfront Week. NCM is an advertising network of more than 19,000 screens in movie theaters.

At the close of the business portion of Toyota Motor Sales’ annual national dealer meeting in Las Vegas last fall, one dealer, or “partner” as the brand calls them, walked up to Bob Carter, svp-automotive operations for the car manufacturer’s U.S. unit, to offer a little feedback.

In a TED talk entitled “The technology of storytelling,” celebrated multimedia storyteller Joe Sabia said, “The art of storytelling has remained unchanged… but the way in which humans tell the stories has always evolved, with pure consistent novelty.” Storytelling, and especially the way brands use stories to create a compelling narrative around their products, is making just such an evolution.

The 102-year-old Hallmark brand is a $4.1 billion business reminder that our e-society still values a meaningful message delivered in a physical form, be it a greeting card, plush toy or figurine. But like most (if not all) 21st century companies, Hallmark is busy forging a new path into the future, leveraging digital strategies to enhance the experiences consumers have with its products.