Experience the Message

SIMPLE FACEBOOK GENIUS

From Manitou Heights.

A BRAND NEW WORLD INDEED: 1 EURO adidas

In Brand New World, I stated what I think to be the obvious: because the world is mostly poor and still an emerging marketplace, we here in the Western hemisphere will have to adapt and adopt the thinking, proclivities, experiences and actions of the so-called Third World.

So how about this, from PSFK:

In an effort to bolster its social enterprise credentials, Adidas is planning to make “1 Euro Shoes” for people who can’t afford shoes. The project was suggested to Adidas by Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus and will begin pilot production in his home country of Bangladesh next year. The project will also create jobs for local Bangladeshis.

Adidas has agreed to make the shoes on a non-profit basis, selling them at no more than the cost of manufacturing. However, much like the vaunted 100 dollar computer, the final sale price may come in slightly higher than its project name. The other manufacturing question is whether or not  the shoes will be unbranded or include Adidas’ iconic three stripes.

Why in the world would you unbrand the coolest shoe in the world?

SACRE BLEUE! PROMOTION RUN AMOK

Many ad traditionalists hold fast to the notion that experiential marketing is just another word for promotions -- or even worse -- sampling. The following description of a promotional campaign in France is so good, I'll let the New York Times do the writing:

It seemed like a good idea at the time, one for the annals of great publicity gimmicks. An ambitious Internet marketing company would sponsor a double-decker London bus to drive around central Paris, throwing cash from the windows in a promotional stunt.

But it didn’t quite work out as planned. Minutes before the event was to have started late Saturday morning, the police decided they did not like the look of the hard-jostling crowd of around 7,000 people that had formed near the Eiffel Tower in search of instant riches, and they ordered the event stopped before even a single centime had been handed out. Some in the crowd then ran amok.

In the ensuing mayhem, about a dozen people were arrested, store windows were broken, a car was overturned and at least one man was beaten by thugs. The riot police were called in to restore order.

Instead of the middle-class Parisians the organizers had hoped for, witnesses said the crowd, overwhelmingly young, male and poor, appeared to be made up mostly of residents of the tough suburbs that ring the French capital, as well as poor students and homeless men.

I'm still laughing a bit. And then comes this piece of francophone fuckery:

“Just because they do this sort of thing in the United States, that’s not a reason to do it in France,” the budget minister, Eric Woerth, said on Radio J, speaking of the marketing ploy. “It borders on the ludicrous.”

Yes. It is. But I have never heard of an American company give away money like this:

Mailorama.fr, the Web marketing company that planned the event, initially wanted its “Bus of Fortune” to make several stops around the city, distributing a total of 5,000 envelopes, each containing €5 to €500 — $7.50 to $750. The locations were to be communicated via promotional “buzz” on the Web.

Which goes to show that the homeless in Paris have wi-fi.

The marketing plan may have been a flop, but the uproar brought the company notoriety beyond its wildest dreams. Now it can hope that there really is no such thing as bad publicity.

What do you think? What's the experience?

WHAT'S THE EXPERIENCE? THE APPLE L STATION AND THE NEW YORKER

I think that this post is in the same vein as the last -- specifically, what makes a good experience and do brands that preach it really understand it. The previous post gave us the Axe brand and its campaign to brand "authentic" subway buskers. This one concerns Apple and its offer to spruce up and brand a run-down L-stop in Chicago.

In exchange for advertising and naming rights, The City of Chicago has agreed to let Apple renovate a dilapidated train station at North and Clybourn. The rehab will cost Apple approximately $4 million, according to Thomas Corfman of AdAge.com, who broke the story. The plan coincides with Apple’s new store slated to open in the area.

Both brands -- Axe and Apple -- are known for forward-thinking marketing and a deep appreciation for creating experiences for their customers. But what do these campaigns do for their brands? Certainly they are experiential, but what makes one good (no opinion here....hehehehe) and the other not? And do you know which one is and isn't?

In other Apple news, how's this for marketing an App without paying for it?

For its November 16, 2009 issue, New Yorker magazine featured an image of the New York skyline at night, with one unusual twist: the image was created not with brushes, pastels, or pencils, but on the iPhone. Jorge Colombo, an artist, drew the cover using Brushes, an iPhone app.

Now that's forward-thinking marketing, folks. Apps are the new experiential touchstone.

Can anyone doubt that the App Store is more valuable to the brand than iTunes?

WHAT'S THE EXPERIENCE? GOOD OR BAD?

FULL DISCLOSURE: One of my clients is the Axe brand. I did not work on this campaign, so I am not fishing for compliments or disparagement, either. I just want -- and have still to personally formulate -- an opinion on this campaign.

(But please, as our mothers said, if you have nothing good to say, hit me offsite on my email).

 Here's the gist of the campaign, as written in the New York Times (the New York Times!):

Unilever owns Axe, the personal care line that goes after young men using unusual marketing tactics, like taking over a Hamptons club for a summer. To introduce a leather-scented deodorant called Axe Instinct, Axe sought out about 20 street musicians and college bands in several cities, using Craigslist, MySpace and other Web sites. In exchange for an estimated $1,000, Axe asked the musicians to put up “Axe Instinct” signs, offer free deodorant samples when they play and, a few times a day, sing a ditty “Look Good in Leather” that Axe is using in its commercials. The musicians’ stints started in September and run through the end of the year.

“Our biggest thing is not about what they look like but the authenticity of them,” said Jay E. Mathew Jr., marketing director for deodorants at Unilever USA. “We want people that, this is what they do every day.”

Asked if it was authentic to have street performers singing a corporate jingle, Mr. Mathew said he thought it was. “The song itself is a song that was created in 2002 and not something we created for just the ad — it was an existing, organic type of music. We thought it fit perfectly with the campaign.”

So, waddaya think? I think that reading the article is a good idea, because it concludes with this:

A guy with a backpack dropped in a dollar and walked off smiling, and a man in an old-fashioned train conductor’s cap carefully placed a brochure in the case as if it were a $20. If people noticed the Axe sign, they didn’t say anything or appear to do double-takes.

“You know, when I’m playing in the middle of the subway, I’m noticing how there’s so much commercial branding all over the subway now, the stairs have products on it, logos, every single space in the subway is kind of a big commercial now,” Mr. Ryan said. Maybe the Axe effect was supposed to be subliminal, he shrugged. At least he supported the cause of deodorant use.

“If there was more of that stuff going on in the subway, it’d be a better place,” he said.

You decide.