B-to-C Events

Zippo’s summer brand activation, “Zippo Encore,” integrates music, a sweepstakes, giveaways, social media and online marketing with retail sales—all of which are totally relevant to its target audience of males ages 18 to 35. And it does so in the cluttered environment of a music concert where attendees’ attention span is, shall we say, probably not at its optimum capacity. But, after all, it’s not too much of a stretch.

Macy’s on May 30 launched a 15-city road trip that has chefs from its Culinary Council performing cooking demonstrations and food tastings and features local culinary talent at each stop. After it concludes in mid-July, “Macy’s Great American Chefs Tour” will air as a 26-episode weekly series on public tv stations beginning in September.

Claritin Canada, a division of Merck, for a week in May took over Toronto’s streets with the Pedal for a Greener City campaign. The month-long initiative offered free EcoCab rides to residents and invited them to help create a greener city by voting for one of three potential urban green projects proposed for Evergreen Brick Works, a community environmental center in the heart of the city.

To raise awareness and create buzz, Sundance Channel on May 31 produced three pop-up performances throughout Manhattan to celebrate the launch of Push Girls, a new series that premiered on June 4. Push Girls is a docu-series that features four women who live in Los Angeles who by way of illness or accident are paralyzed from the neck or waist down.

Indeed, it was the year’s greatest case study. An amalgam of every hot trend, activated by every new event marketing strategy—all with the power to drive $1 billion in sales (and that’s just for starters).