B-to-C Events

All over the country, independent Farmer’s Insurance agents have been hosting and taking part in events where the brand offers a free software package to help parents protect their children in case they’re ever lost or stolen. In exchange, the agents are collecting data and potential leads. So far, the response rate from parents who purchased a Farmer’s product after interacting with an agent at one of the events has been about eight percent, according to early data. The program has been live since summer 2009 and is expected to continue into the foreseeable future.

For the first week in December New York City pedestrians were stopped in their tracks and traffic came to a halt as three bike messengers hired by J&R Music and Computer World sporting refrigerator-sized boxes strapped to their backs pedaled throughout the city as if making deliveries. The stunt was part of J&R’s promotion for its same-day delivery service, which also included the creation of Chinese-style take out menus (as ubiquitous in the Big Apple as the harried bike messengers) handed out by a second street team and delivered to apartments, business lobbies and public areas.

To kick off its latest volunteerism initiative called Pledge 24 in 2010, WE tv took pledging to the people on Dec. 17 with a mobile Resolution Center where passersby could step out of the frigid temperatures and pledge to warm the lives of others with volunteer service in the new year.

Chances are we’ve all picked up a book published by Phaidon and didn’t even realize it. That’s what Phaidon Publishing hopes to change with its pop-up shop on Wooster Street in SoHo where it is testing the New York City market through March by inviting consumers to book-themed events.

Celebrating its 100th anniversary, Oregon-based Tillamook Cheese shut the dairy farm gates behind it and hit the open road Jan. 9 on The Loaf Love Tour, making its first stop in Tucson, AZ, then nine other states and 25 cities over 11 months. At the center of the tour is a fleet of Loaf Love Buses: 1967 Volkswagen buses shortened by four feet, lowered by one foot and refurbished as replicas of Tillamook’s baby cheddar cheese loaves.