B-to-C Events

Been to any good concerts lately? How about a concert with a killer brand sponsorship program that made a meaningful connection with you before, during and after the live event? Concert tour promotions are a staple in the brand marketer’s bag of tricks, but the engagement model is getting a much-needed overhaul as marketers and promoters have found more engaging ways to integrate the investment across multiple online and offline channels.

Jerry Preyss
Vice President of Global Innovation and Brand Marketing
Hertz
Campaign: Moving with Music
Hobby: Writes country-western song lyrics for fun

To promote its Toast-Chee Homepacks in cities where it sees potential for growth, sandwich cracker brand Snyder Lance is deploying grassroots activations at local events and retailers that include a push to Facebook. On Feb. 4, its Snack Patrol Street Team handed out samples and coupons from its Snack Patrol vehicle at the Winter Carnival TWILIGHT Parade in Minneapolis/St. Paul. The team also set up shop at local retailers where it engaged families with a photo-activation called the Lance Cracker Snacker Face using iPads.

In one of the largest giveaways in Kraft Foods history, Kraft through May will distribute more than 16 million free samples of belVita Breakfast Biscuits. The sweet, crunchy biscuits, which hit retail shelves on Feb. 6, are a new breakfast category for the company in the U.S., but have been sold in Europe for decades.

To support the launch of its HEROICA board game platform, LEGO this past October unleashed 300 brand ambassadors simultaneously to 300 locations where kids often gather on a Saturday afternoon—Toys”R”Us. The goal was to raise awareness and get LEGO’s target of six- to 12-year-old boys to play the game, which hit retail shelves in June, and encourage their moms to buy it. But the real game play took place three weeks before in the scramble to find 300 suitable brand representatives and 30 regional field managers to handle the one-day event.