ZAG Marketing: Event Marketing Company

LeapFrog Targets Tweens At Fairs And Festivals

EMbuzz – 09/2006—Children’s educational toy manufacturer LeapFrog is introducing 8-to-14-year-olds to its Fly Pentop Computer with an eight-market demo tour hitting fairs and festivals for an average of three to four days each.

Timed for back-to-school season, the tour features a branded 20-by-20 tent where consumers can watch a seven-minute demonstration highlighting the product’s features, including a camera-enabled pen and gaming capabilities.

The tent also features an arcade area with 20 Fly stations where kids can try out the product. Ambassadors are handing out $10 coupons, and the brand directs kids and parents to local retailers that carry the product. The tour kicked off July 28 at the Quick Chek New Jersey Festival of Ballooning and is tentatively scheduled to wrap at the L.A. County Fair on Sept. 24. Agency: Zag Marketing, Gillette, NJ.

From computer chips to coffins, five very different companies show how mobile-marketing programs can increase sales.

By: Charles Pappas

Exhibitor – 2007—“Drive thy business,” said Ben Franklin, “or it will drive thee.” That advice is as relevant in the 21st century as it was in the 18th. Today, many companies follow Franklin’s advice and travel to see their business-to-business customers via mobile-marketing campaigns.

According to mobile-marketing consultant Larry Borden of the Conshohocken, PA,-based The Borden Agency LLC, the true value of road shows can be summed up in one word: control. “Road shows make a potent strategy because they’re controlled environments,” says Borden, Who helped produce road shows for Jack Daniel’s, Milwaukee Electronic Tool Corp., and Avon Products Inc. “You use your own rooms, you see only the people you invite, you focus on specific client needs, you suffer minimal distortions and there are no competitors.”

David Rogers, Co-author with Bernd H. Schmitt and Karen Vrotsos of There’s No Business That’s Not Show Business: Marketing in an Experience Culture (Financial Times Prentice Hall, 2003) points out that businesses are turning to mobile marketing for two reasons. “You can reach a highly targeted audience,” he says, “and reach in them in a prolonged, interactive situation. That’s simply not possible with traditional advertising.”

The five companies featured here have each found innovative ways to reach their customers through mobile marketing. Kozinets suggests we think of them as Weinermobile heirs to the legacy left by their ancestor, Oscar Mayer. Since 1936 that road show has excited devotion and affection in customers’ hearts—and brand loyalty in their brains. “Like the Weinermobile,” says Kozinets, “the physical presence of road shows provide the opportunity to deepen your brand community.”

Yahoo!—NEW ORLEANS—[BUSINESSWIRE]—As temperatures keep rising, Smoothie King is driving across the country in a customized van to bring its refreshing and nutritious smoothies to six different states this summer. Free smoothies will be given out at major sporting and community events to help patrons cool off, and staff will be on hand to discuss the importance of leading an active and healthy lifestyle.

“Our company’s mission is to relentlessly influence more and more people to achieve a healthier lifestyle,” said Steve Kuhnou, president and co-founder of Smoothie King, “By touring the country, we are making it even easier for people to try our smoothies and learn more about how smoothies can complement any lifestyle—to bulk up, trim down, or get energy.

The tour falls in line with another recent Smoothie King Program the company has partnered with Play Every Day, and initiative with a goal of encouraging children to get 60 minutes of adequate exercise each day. Following the company’s ongoing effort to promote the pursuit of health, these play cards are available across the country at every Smoothie King location.

The summer tour dates as follows:

Smoothie King offers more than 50 smoothies made to order with real fruit, all natural juices, and a functional mix of vitamins and nutrients to fit every need or lifestyle. Whether a guest is looking to gain or lose weight, build muscle, boost immunity or compliment a workout, Smoothie King’s trained team members can help educate and help guests choose a smoothie right for them. Many Smoothie King locations also offer an array of healthy living products including energy bars, snacks and vitamin supplements.

The “Smoothie King for Life Summer Tour” is produced and managed by ZAG Marketing, Gillette, NJ www.zagusa.com.

Smoothie King Embarks On First Tour

EMbuzz – 08/06/2007—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.

“The main objective of our tour is to get our product into people’s hands, get them to taste it and bounce them back to our stores,” Katherine Meariman, Smoothie King’s vp-administration, told Buzz.

At the events, a product specialist offers info about the beverages, including nutritional stats. Consumers can participate in a contest called The Brain Freeze, where they are challenged to drink a 12-ounce smoothie faster than their competitors to win prizes. The tour kicked off July 20 and wraps on Aug. 3. Agency: ZAG Marketing, Gillette, NJ.

JVC Educates Retailers with Bus Tour

EMbuzz – 09/08/2005—JVC has two tour buses on the road as part of a nationwide campaign to educate staff at its retailers about the company’s new Everio G camcorder and HD-ILA TVs. The tour will hit approximately 250 stores—with each bus hitting up to four a day—before its conclusion in mid-October.

JVC retailers were given the opportunity to opt in to the program when the tour was announced. Once on board the customized tour buses, store employees can try out the products, ask questions, and view a short video on product features. “What we wanted to be able to do was control the experience for the retailers,” Karl Bearnarth, vp-marketing at JVC, told Buzz. “The best way to control that experience is to have your own presentation room to give it in. Rather than sending out some guys to talk to people inside the store, in their lunch area, this gives us an opportunity to present a totally controlled experience.”

At some stops, mostly on weekends, JVC is opening up the tour to consumers, inviting guests into a branded outdoor pavilion next to the bus. JVC brand ambassadors educate consumers on how to capture still and video images and then edit them on site. The company is deploying the consumer event high at stores with strong JVC sales volume. Agency: Zag Marketing, Gillette, NJ.

Promo – 09/1/2005—JVC Company of America has rolled out a nationwide mobile marketing campaign aimed at education both its dealers and consumers on the finer points of its latest tech products.

Running through October, The JVC Perfect Experience Road Tour 2005, consists of two teams traveling simultaneously in 45-foot customized tour buses, which have been retrofitted into mobile training facilities. Each bus also provides the backdrop for large consumer experiences.

The tour’s first priority is to educate and excite sales associates who engage with consumers every day. The tour is scheduled to visit several hundred JVC dealers throughout the continental U.S. to tout JVC’s Everio G hard-disk camcorder, as well as its HD-ILA rear projection high definition TVs. JVC product specialists from the company’s Wayne, NJ, headquarters are providing training from the buses, which are tricked out with “rock-star” styling.

The JVC teams also use the branded outdoor pavilions to engage shoppers in an interactive consumer experience. Each pavilion consists of a 20-foot by 40-foot tented area, which contains two distinct rooms. In the HD-ILA Home Theater Room, consumers enjoy high definition films. In the Everio line of hard disk camcorders while JVC experts show them how to capture and edit both still and video images. Visitors may purchase the featured JVC products inside the stores.

How a bus tour is helping JVC educate retailers’ sales staff

Event Marketer – 10/2005—JVC has two tour buses on the road as part of a nationwide campaign to educate staff at its retailers about the company’s new Everio G camcorder and HD-ILA TV’s. The tour will hit approximately 250 stores—with each bus hitting up to four a day—before it wraps up this month [Agency: ZAG Marketing, Gillette NJ].

JVC retailers were given the opportunity to opt into the program when the tour was announced. Once on board the customized tour buses, store employees can try out the products, ask questions, and view a short video on product features. “What we wanted to be able to do was control the experience for the retailers,” says Karl Bearnarth, vp-marketing at JVC. “The best way to control that experience is to have your own presentation room to give it in. Rather than sending our some guys to talk to people inside the store, in their lunch area, this gives us an opportunity to present a totally controlled experience.”

At some stops, mostly on weekends, JVC is opening up the tour to consumers, inviting guests into a branded outdoor pavilion next to the bus. JVC brand ambassadors educate consumers on how to capture still and video images and then edit them on site. The company is deploying the consumer event high at stores with strong JVC sales volume. EM

Adjusting b-to-c mobile tours for b-to-b audiences (and vice-versa) increases reach and lowers the cost per touch

EMbuzz – 04/2006—Instead of spending weeks on the road focusing entirely on consumers, marketers are now mixing it up: spending weekends at b-to-c stops and weekdays with b-to-b customers, or splitting days in half—mornings with consumers, afternoons with the trade. One tour, two targets.

JVC Company of America, for example, took a customized bus to retailers during a four-month tour that ended last fall. In the mornings before business hours, JVC invited store employees on board to learn about specific product features for its new Everio G camcorder and HD-ILA TVs. Once the store opened, the focus turned to a tented exhibit outside of the bus, where consumers could interact with the products and ask brand ambassadors questions.

But creating and executing a tour to hit two totally different targets isn’t as easy as adding a few stops and shifting schedules. While one vehicle can be used for both audiences, each group requires its own distinct experience. Four tips:

1. Create Different Atmospheres. For the JVC tour, the brand found that while the bus provided an ideal location to train employee—18 to 20 could comfortably sit and view a presentation—the enclosed space of the bus was too confining for consumers who might just want a quick peek at the products.
“We were able to customize [the buses] in a way that worked well for the trade, but would not have worked well for consumers,” says Jon Lesser, president of Gillette, NJ-based ZAG Marketing, the agency that executed the tour. The pavilion outside, he says, was “a much larger room, and it allowed for better traffic flow.”

2. Embrace Versatile Elements. When Pergo, the flooring manufacturer, hit the road last year for a tour aimed at retailers and consumers, the brand used the same outdoor exhibit for both audiences. But by choosing design elements that could be swapped in and out for each target, Pergo was still able to deliver a specific message to each.
Part of the display was a board that highlighted different product features. For retailers, the board might highlight price; for consumers, the focus was how to use the product to spruce up a room. “We were able to turn it around so it could serve two different purposes,” says Jenny Price, assistant marketing manager at Pergo.

3. Differentiate the Presentation. One key aspect of creating different experiences for two targets is tweaking the pitch. Pergo, for example, employed two different video presentations for its tour. The retailer-specific video was heavy on training, while the consumer-focused video used a more lighthearted approach to tout the product’s durability.
“The training and support elements were taken out because it wasn’t appropriate for the consumer,” says Marcy Singer, producer-brand promotions at Boston –based Arnold Worldwide, which handled the tour.

For JVC, reps gave live presentations for retailers, emphasizing key selling points and encouraging the store staff to get hands on with the products. For the consumers, the brand toned it down and allowed consumers to ask most of the questions.
“We kind of crafted the [consumer] pitch as playing it by ear,” Lesser says. “We focused on what the customer was interested in, and [emphasized] some really basic points and products.”

4. Devote Extra Time to Training. Brand reps might be experts in the product line, but that doesn’t mean they’ll automatically know how to speak to both audiences. “We spent more than a week training the people who manned the tour and we had to teach them how to speak differently to the consumers than to the retailers,” says Price. “It was intense.”
JVC brought several of its in-house products to show to tour ambassadors, gearing them up to talk shop with retailers. Says Lesser: “We did all the things we normally do, but we ratcheted it up a few notches.” EM

Event Marketer – 10/2003—We were the kids who were always coming up with new ways to entertain ourselves and those around us.
Our ideas would evolve from things we’d find laying around the house. Or we’d be inspired by something we saw on TV. Inevitably, we’d figure out ways to bring props and ideas to life and create something that would get all of the other kids on the block excited.

In the summer­ time, you’d find us setting up lemonade stands at the foots of our driveways, hop­ing that cars driving by would stop and pay us twenty five cents for sugar water. We’d put on shows inside our garages. On Hal­loween we built haunted houses and on holidays orchestrated performances with cousins in the basement.

After looking back on childhood memories, one thing seems obvious: We were born to be event marketers. After all, when we set up those lemonade stands weren’t we executing our first live sam­pling program? And the clever ways to promote our productions around the neighborhood on our bikes? We were p.r. and mobile marketing mavens before we even knew what it all meant.

As a fourth grader, Jacqueline Picariello and close friends wrote and produced plays, then begged teachers for permission to put them on at school. Now a senior promotion manager at Campbell Soup Co., she is sure her pas­sion for creativity played a major role in mapping out her career. “I always knew I was motivated to make money, but could never figure out how to combine my business sense with my creativity,” she recalls. “The more I became involved with [marketing], the more I realized it could offer me everything I wanted.”

Marc Bromfeld, brand manager at Skyy Spirits, remembers dancing on the chairs anytime he had a chance to go to a concert with his parents. Marc’s attraction to events grew when he served as an emcee and sampler for Newport cigarettes during college. “It was always about getting people so excited that they wanted to join in,” he says. “That’s something I’ve never lost.”

My guess is that like me, many of you didn’t set out to be event marketers. Instead, it’s something that snuck up on us while we were searching for a livelihood that felt natu­ral to our make-up. While colleges are only now starting to develop event-relat­ed curricula for students interested in this business, most of us arrived here serendipitously. Now, after 12 years in the industry, I’m still thrilled when someone asks me, “How do you get a job like this?”

When that happens, I think of the first time I realized there was such a busi­ness as event marketing and the feeling of knowing I could make a living doing the things I’ve always loved to do.

Jon Lesser is president of Gillette, NJ based ZAG Marketing. Buy him a cup of sugar water at jon@zagusa.com.