THE BEST OF CANNES IS EXPERIENTIAL

Many may disagree, but I think the Titanium and Integrated Lion awarded at Cannes is the most important (not the most prestigious) award. It is a thoroughly modern category, one that looks at a campaign holistically and not just as executional pieces like film, print and cyber. A Titanium award is also often very experiential in nature, so I look at it with a loving eye. 

This year, the Titanium and Integrated Grand Prix Lion was awarded to Droga5 for its Bing campaign with Jay-Z. I wrote about it here on this blog when it first came out. I gushed, actually. Totally fell in love with the grandeur of the idea, and the way Droga5 wove in something so square as Bing with someone so hip as Jay-Z. Here’s a rather lengthy explanation:

Microsoft’s search engine, Bing wanted to connect with a younger audience and needed to make their Search and Maps technology more culturally relevant. The primary objective was to increase “Intent to Use” Bing products and improve perceptions of Bing as a culturally relevant brand to a coveted younger audience. Bing’s core users were middle aged women in the Midwest and the brand wanted to make real inroads with the coastal youth population. We used the launch of Jay-Z’s autobiography “Decoded” as a relevant moment in youth culture and an opportunity to create a deeper experience with it through Bing technology. The target does not differentiate online from offline, so we built the program across existing media formats and channels but in a new way that wove them together and added interactive to everything. The unique partnership brought Bing to the forefront of pop-culture and gave millions of Jay-Z fans a reason to use Bing Search and Maps.

The average online player engagement was over 11 minutes per visit – Jay-Z’s Facebook fans grew by one million during the campaign launch. – Decoded went straight to the New York Times Best Seller list at #2 its first week – Bing.com saw an 11.7% increase in visits the month of the campaign with no other media in market. – Bing.com entered the top ten mo

cst visited sites in the US. – Bing earned 1.1 billion global media impressions. – Bing’s “intent to use” scores were higher than any other Bing marketing initiative ever according to ComScore. – Online Buzz and Social metrics were above average for any Bing marketing program according to Nielsen BuzzMetrics.

We started by putting every single page of Jay-Z’s autobiography into media spaces around the world. The pages weren’t randomly placed; all 350 pages were put in locations relevant to each individual page’s content. Fans around the world could actually walk Jay-Z’s path, experiencing his story right where it happened. The campaign used a variety of media. And if the media didn’t exist, we created our own. Everything from pizza boxes, plates, burger wrappers, jigsaw puzzles, t-shirts, to name a few. Fans sought out, discovered and interacted with this collection of unique small scale pieces. Even the smallest, traditionally overlooked items became precious collector’s items.

Another campaign that got a Titanium Lion was also experiential (out of the three Titaniums, two were definitely experiential and the third was very, very close). Check it out here. This work for VW took place in the real world, with only a hidden camera capturing people engaging with a brand in a deep and meaningful way. Here’s the write-up for that:

Our challenge was to drive interest for Volkswagen BlueMotion – a range of car innovations that lowers environmental impact without compromising on the joy of driving. Our original solution to this was The Fun Theory – that fun can change human behaviour for the better – a global success we wanted to build on. Our competition, The Fun Theory Award, had previously received hundreds of amazing competition entries from over 35 countries. But the winning idea had come from Kevin Richardson, a San Francisco-resident who came up with the Speed Camera Lottery. Kevin’s idea revolved around fining speeding drivers and rewarding those that obeyed traffic regulations through a lottery, where the winnings came from the speeding drivers fines. We decided to give back to the Fun Theory community and test if the Fun Theory could make a difference in keeping drivers safe, by making Kevin’s idea reality. The Speed Camera Lottery was launched in Stockholm.

The Speed Camera Lottery reduced the average speed of traffic on a busy Stockholm road by 21.6% – equivalent to 6.8km/h. The campaign sparked debate around how fun could change behaviour on the roads for the better, both in Sweden and around the globe – generating amazing PR for Volkswagen. And Volkswagen’s share of the eco car market in Sweden grew by 84%. (source: bilsweden.se) We had increased the Fun Theory’s momentum, rewarded our loyal fans by realizing an idea directly from the global Fun Theory community, and continued to reinforce the visionary thinking behind BlueMotion Technologies.

The Speed Camera Lottery was implemented in collaboration with Sweden’s National Society for Road Safety on a busy road in Stockholm. Over a 3 day period, 24 857 cars passed our speed camera. In a sense, this was our only media channel. But as we had planned, the idea was picked up by the media and the blogosphere, who were also inspired by the idea of using fun and rewards to increase traffic safety. The Speed Camera Lottery was discussed in leading local newspapers, the local TV news, the New York Times and automobile blogs. The Fox News morning show did a special feature on the Speed Camera Lottery. The Lottery was also covered on the BBC World Service, reaching 45 million listeners. A Google search on “Speed Camera Lottery” gave 0 hits before the campaign started. Just one week after it gave 36.600 hits. Today, it’s 287 000 hits.

The more I dive into the other categories at Cannes, the more obvious it becomes that all future brand communications will be based on experiential — or at the very least, have an experiential philosophy deeply integrated into the ideas. If you haven’t checked out the winners, please do. You’ll see what I mean. The list is found here.

Happy reading.

LATEST EXPERIENTIAL MARKETING RESEARCH FROM EMF

My good friend, colleague and fellow experiential marketing sherpa Erik Hauser has released the fruits of a four-month project in conjunction with research firm IMI International.

You get get the report at the Experiential Marketing Forum.

My favorite set of findings so far, with so much more to read…: 

• All are optimistic about experiential marketing and sampling as effective tactics, and plan on using the tactics much more in the future.
• Traditional methods (TV ads, print, direct mail) are considered ineffective, and planned usage is lower in the next two years.
• While social media (Facebook and Twitter) are considered ineffective, they are expected to be used much more in next two years.

There’s much more in there! It’s a great step forward in legitimizing the incredible growth of experiential approaches to advertising and marketing. Congrats Erik and team!

EXPERIENCE MAKES AN AGENCY

According to an article in Adweek:

As in past years, Reardon Smith Whittaker, a consultancy that coaches agencies on new business development, focused on why clients seek new agencies, what they look for and how satisfied they are with the results.

The top-ranked reasons the respondents cited for launching reviews were unhappiness with their agency's thinking (46 percent), followed by dissatisfaction with creative work (40 percent) and not being proactive enough (38 percent).

The execs had mixed feelings about agency searches. They find the process to be time-consuming (42 percent) and 28 percent agree that "you're told so many things that you're not sure what to believe," yet 37 percent said reviews were "exciting" and 22 percent "look forward to it."

As for the tactics they're most interested in, the respondents pointed to online marketing (69 percent), buzz marketing (58 percent), experiential efforts (53 percent), search engine marketing (52 percent) and mobile marketing (25 percent).

The rise of experiential marketing isn't news at all. Nor is the fact that more clients are asking for experience-based thinking to be presented in creative pitches and reviews. What's interesting is that the philosophy — if not strictly the methodology — is taking a rightful place alongside the "new" mechanisms and engagement points like online, buzz and mobile marketing (which are experiential in nature anyway).

Blog Book Tour with Jonathan Tisch

Thanks to David Polinchock at Brand Experience Lab, I will be one of 6 bloggers hosting “hosting” Jonathan Tisch, CEO Of Loews Hotels and author of “Chocolates on the Pillow Aren’t Enough: Reinventing the Customer Experience” at a blog book tour. I will be asking him questions and he will respond to them this upcoming Thursday.

But the cool thing about a Blog Book Tour is that you get to participate too! You can send me any questions that you have about customer experience and we’ll get it over to Jonathan to get an answer. My email is mlenderman@gmrlive.com.

You can go to http://tinyurl.com/34urq2 to learn more about the book.

NATIONAL BIZ BOOK AWARD

A quick (and surprising) update: Experience the Message has been chosen as a finalist for the National Business Book Award in Canada. Read the release here.

I’m honored and quite taken aback. This is, after all, “one of Canada’s most prestigious literary awards,” one which is “presented annually to the author of an outstanding business-related book published in Canada.”

As Wayne and Garth would intone when confronted with an astounding honor: “I’m not worthy! I’m not worthy!”

INHALING (COUGH*COUGH) AN EXPERIENCE

It’s been about a month since a lounge called Marshall McGearty opened up in the trendy Bucktown area of Chicago, and it’s still getting press. The reason, primarily, is that this lounge is the brainchild of tobacco powerhouse RJ Reynolds. It is, for all intents and purposes, an experiential campaign for cigarettes — and this is giving it a lot of attention.

The Marshall McGearty store was a developed on a napkin by Larry McGearty, a CD at RJR ad company Gyro Worldwide, and RJR honcho Jerry Marshall. It is a plush smoking lounge that serves booze and munchies. But the focus of the place is to sell exotic blends of high-end tobacco, and charge people for the experience.

It is the Starbucks of cigarettes, and although it is for now only in Chicago, I don’t see why RJR wouldn’t open up more lounges in the future.

So now I’m torn: it’s a damn good idea…but it’s a good idea on how to market cigarettes. I’m an ex-smoker, and know how addictive ciggies can be. Worse than herion (not that I’m a heroin user) and easier to get than beer. But since tobacco companies are often prohibitted from advertising in print, radio or TV, going the experiential route is an incredibly astute move.

And as luck would have it, the opening of the lounge coincided with the start of a public smoking ban in Chicago, landing the lounge in regional papers and the New York Times. Classified as a retail tobacco store, the lounge is exempt from the smoking ban.

Good move. Free press and legions of exiled smokers. So when is the local crack dealer going to set up a plush den for his customers?

ETM IN MARKETING MAGAZINE

I’m impressed! When I was told that Marketing Magazine agreed to excerpt from my book, Experience the Message, I had initially envisioned a 500-word blurb that just took up some space in the magazine.

Instead, they chose to print over 3,000 words of pure marketing genius (subjective plug) from yours truly. You can read it here, my friends.

McDONALD’S GOING OUT OF BUSINESS

From a CNN Money report comes this:

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) – In a move away from its iconic burgers, McDonald’s is looking to new chicken products, coffee and fresh foods such as salads and fruits to help spur sales in 2006 and beyond, the president of McDonald’s North America, told a gathering Monday in New York.

Ralph Alvarez, speaking on the second day of the National Retail Federation’s 94th annual convention, said current eating trends dictate how the No. 1 fast-food chain tweaks its options.

“Beef sales have been flat year over year, while chicken product sales are growing 8 to 10 percent a year,” he said. “As a brand we have to follow trends.”

Is there any wonder why McDonald’s is dead in the water? The president of its North American business thinks that the role of a brand is to follow trends!

Ladies and gentlemen, the role of a brand is to make the trends, not follow them. If you can’t do that, if that’s not your mission, then just roll over and die.

EXPERIENCE THE MESSAGE IN FAST COMPANY

EXPERIENCE THE MESSAGE was written-up in the January issue of Fast Company! I’m freakin’ thrilled. I love that pub.

The writer was able to squeeze in Potty Palooza, Apple, the US Army and a reference to Joseph Jaffe’s “Life After the 30-Second Spot” into a tight and breathless mention.

Anyway, here’s to you Fast Company! Thanks for the props.

The New Canadian

I very much like this article,Download TheNewCanadianMagazineWinter04-05_small.pdf  not only because the writer quotes me a lot (full disclosure: he’s a friend of mine) and not just because Erik Hauser and the IXMA are also extensively referenced. I like it because it aims to present experiential marketing in a very accessible manner, with an easy-going narrative but plenty of punch.

We started talking about experiential marketing in the car. The writer turned on the taperecorder just as I began talking about the Scion brand, and the way it was marketed to their target consumer. In a weird scene of serendipity, a Scion pulled up in front of the car, even though no Scions were being sold in Canada. It was a great experiential moment; the writer was able to see the car firsthand, and as I engaged in a series of car maneuvers around it while simultaneously waxing poetic about its ingenius marketing campaign, the message was certainly delivered experientially.

Parenthetically, the feature article is by Craig Silverman, who runs the very cool blog called Regret the Error.