Sampling

To connect with an African American demo Nestle Coffee-mate is hitting the road to bring its café experience to events in four markets. It kicked off its tour last month at the Essence Music Festival in New Orleans followed by a stop at the National Black Arts Festival in Atlanta. Next it hits the African Festival of the Arts in Chicago and concludes at the Congressional Black Caucus in Washington D.C. On site Nestle Coffee-mate sets up a café shop filled with tasting stations serving hot and iced coffee flavored with Coffee-mate flavors.

Starburst this month is concluding a national tour designed to drive trial and purchases of its new Gummiburst liquid-filled gummies. The tour which debuted this fall and ends on Dec. 11 hit almost 30 college campuses across the country sampling gummies and engaging students with the chance to hop on stage and play in a virtual garage band—including drums guitar and bass—via a Microsoft Xbox console and four large plasma screens.

If a moveable European-style sidewalk café environment boosts sales in
Philadelphia the concept could emerge as a bigger part of the
marketing mix for Melitta USA. The coffee marketer the No. 5 premium
brand last Saturday launched a six-week Euro Café Tour that will bring
free java and pastries bistro tables and chairs and classical music
to city streets and consumer events.

 

"We're looking at this not as a one-time program but as a new face for
the Melitta coffee brand " Chris Hillman marketing director told

A three-city sampling effort for Ben & Jerry’s new pre-packed ice
cream cones got consumers to help spread the brand buzz. Sampling teams
in New York City and Chicago (both earlier this month) and San
Francisco (this week) distributed 50 000 full-size cones per market.

 

The Ben & Jerry’s twist? In addition to standard sampling on the
streets consumers could request that B&J reps deliver samples to
friends’ homes or offices later in the week—friends had to live or work

Smoothie King Franchises’ first-ever event tour is focusing on getting consumers to take a taste of the company’s beverages. The events revolve around a fully customized van—named the Orange KaBAM Van after a menu item—where the Smoothie King crew whips up its fruity concoctions.

Hitting fairs festivals and sporting events the tour unfolds into a 40-by-15 foot display where consumers can sample smoothies and receive coupons that drive them to local stores.