Posted by Todd Buckton on Fri, Aug 27, 2010
The best mobile tour becomes an experience. It provides the participant with a rich, sensory brew that helps to cement that particular experience in the mind of the viewer.
Frito Lay took a mobile greenhouse into six large cities this summer with six of the many farmers who grow the potatoes that make Lay's Potato Chips.
By doing an excellent job of providing a local and human element to what could be considered a homogenous global product, Frito Lay used the farmers to place a face on the production of their product. That, coupled with the mobile environment full of live plants and black, loamy soil gave this tour everything it needed to be a successful experiential tour.
Here at Road Blog, we know how important experiences are for our clients. Well-designed traveling brand experiences are the "secret sauce" that make mobile tours so successful and allows us to provide our clients with rapid, positive ROI.
Frito Lay asked their audiences to leave the world they know for a short time and become immersed in another environment. One where the men and women tend to the fields and nurture the food that we eat on a daily basis. That immersion quickly invaded the senses of the participant and created a positive experience that the company was intending.
How would you portray your brand if you could put it on a tour and take it across the country?
Posted by Todd Buckton on Fri, Mar 12, 2010
Interior, Double slide 53' transport for IT outsourcing provider
Here's where it gets fun: Take a plain white transport shell and turn it into a perfect environment to make your product or service stand out from the pack. Let the creatives at it and you'll see that truly your imagination is all that stands between your product and a custom space made to sell your product.
Interior, double slide 53' custom transport for country music entertainer tour
Exterior, Double slide 53' transport for athletic hall of fame
Interior, Double slide 53' transport for manned space travel
Exterior, Double slide 53' transport with attached inflatable dome to seat 100+ for political campaign
Interior, Double slide 53' transport for IT outsourcing provider
As you can see, if it can be imagined, it can be incorporated into a custom mobile environment. But it can also be produced and that's where the professionals come in: taking the designer's vision and bringing it to life. And that is not a job for the faint-hearted. Once these custom transports are built, they need to travel hundreds of thousands of miles each year, bringing your product directly to the people who want to buy. Like a rock concert, these environments get set up and struck scores of times over a 12 month period. So they have to be designed, built and run with longevity and durability in mind.
Here is an example of a mobile classroom that served to train both sales reps and to market to surgeons as well:
This execution has been particularly effective to introduce this revolutionary product into an anticipatory market.
Here is an example of another demo lab that teaches cardiac catheter techniques to surgical staff easily and effectively:
How about an aviation solution that creates the interior of a business-class jet for presale to the buying audience. This mobile environment traveled hundreds of thousands of miles and sold scores of these aircraft providing pre-sale interest and income before manufacture:
Finally, here's a retail environment that attracted tens of thousands of motorcycle enthusiasts. They became willing brand advocates while they took test rides leading to sales and bought cool brand swag.
So there you have it. With the right vehicle for your product or service, customized to attract your target audience, bringing it to them can sell more product for you. That's how PMG helps you Drive Your Brand Experience.
Posted by Todd Buckton on Tue, Feb 23, 2010
Today's View from the Cab is from PMG Master Driver Dave who just finished a trip from California to Denver for the next leg of a mobile tour for a valued healthcare client. The photos he took are just west of the Vail pass. Dave said he just missed a huge storm that dumped lots of snow on Denver and the local ski areas.
Not only are these beautiful photos but they are a perfect way to show why mobile tours are a great way to get your product in front of people who want to buy. Multiple large scale gatherings like trade shows continue to fade in importance in the minds of decision makers. Decisions like increased travel costs, better online communication technology, inconvenience to attendees and a general desire to stay closer to home looms large with your core audience. That's why mobile tours are such a great way to break through the clutter. Take your product to where the decision makers are and make it easy for them to be bowled over by your incredible product. Make it easy for them to experience your product and you make it easy for them to buy your product.
Dave left Denver and is now in beautiful Minot, ND showcasing our client's product to prospects and customers who don't have to go far to be impressed by their offering. And at less than 100 miles to the Canadian border, the weather is lots worse in Minot than it is in Denver this time of year, but our client has made it easy for their prospects to experience an excellent product. We battled the elements. We brought it to them. Another great reason to use mobile tours to Drive The Brand Experience.
All photos by PMG Driver Dave Christenson
Posted by Todd Buckton on Fri, Feb 12, 2010
We've looked at the types of vehicles that are available for your mobile tour, now let's look at how these can transform into unique marketing spaces.
If we say that "you are only limited to your imagination" when it comes to customization, you might think that's an overused, hackneyed phrase. But when it comes to mobile event marketing, it's completely true. Once the transport is safely parked at the venue of your choice near your prospects and customers, that's when the fun begins. Set up for a transport can be anywhere from a couple of hours to a couple of days and these transports can become anything. Here's how they might start:
53' Single Slide Transport
This is referred to as a "single slide" transport. It's indicated as having stairs at the front and the rear of the slide out, but that choice is all yours. The doors can be put on the opposite side, the front, back, wherever it's right for the specific application. The slide allows the transport to get down the road and then opens up onsite to become a roomy, luxurious selling environment. Here's an example of a single slide:
A variation of this transport is the double slide:
53' Double Slide Transport
This transport will allow you to more than double the floor space of a straight 53' transport and give your product or service more than ample room to adequately market your product in a singular environment.
Another variation is a stage area instead of a slide. This makes the 53' transport a natural for live presentations to large audiences.
53' Single Slide/Single Stage Transport
Here's a couple of variations of that same stage concept. One is a retail operation:
This application allowed the manufacturer to sell high-margin accessories while showcasing their latest product offerings.
Here's another variation of the same type of transport. This time, the side opens up to reveal the full-size business jet fuselage. This display was used to presell a new business jet that was being developed and built. Incredibly effective, highly targeted and amazing ROI.
Now we have an idea of what is possible with custom transports. As we said up front, if you can imagine it you can have it. And just to prove our point, we'll leave you with a custom transport built in Australia that turns into...well you just have to see it to believe it. Brilliant. Expect to see the same concept soon here in the states.
Incredible perspective views of custom transports by Derrick Johnson
Sweet Australian Mobile Pub by Truckmania
All other cool photos by Promotional Management Group
Posted by Todd Buckton on Fri, Jan 15, 2010
Straight Frame 53' Transport
One of the best things about mobile event marketing is the amazing number of variables available. There are so many different types of transports it's difficult to keep track of them all. But you've come to the right place here at RoadBlog, because during this series, we'll tell you about all kinds of transports and all of the variations therein. And then we'll get into customization. When we're done, you'll be better prepared to Drive Your Brand Experience. You'll see that your imagination is the only limit to what can be done with a mobile tour. So let's get started.
The most common transport for mobile tours is the 53' transport. It is also the most common transport you see on the highways and byways of America. The Coke truck above is a typical 53' transport. It's called a straight frame because it's a straight box. Notice on the Coke photo how the box is above the wheels and straight. A typical straight frame transport is 53' long, 8.5' wide and 8' high, giving you around 450 square feet of floor space and about 3600 cubic feet of display space. Keep those numbers in mind, because it just gets bigger and better.
Single Drop 53' Transport
After the straight frame comes a single drop. We included a photo of a flatbed transport here because it more easily shows how the transport drops down below the level of the wheels allowing for a taller load. What that drop means for a custom transport is more cubic footage inside the display, and a taller ceiling height for your display and your prospects making for a more comfortable experience.
Double Drop 53' Transport
Now things start to get interesting for Driving The Brand Experience. Here is a double drop 53' transport. Notice how far the floor drops down compared to the single drop. And then compare it to the Coke truck at the top. Now imagine how we can start to create some excitement with a transport this size. The double drop transport without further modification is as big as it gets. But that further modification is exactly what we'll talk about in our next chapter of Which Mobile Tour Transport is Right for You?
Straight Frame Photo via Flickr by Rick
Single Drop Photo via Flickr by alltheengineer
Double Drop Photo by our friends at Featherlite
Posted by Todd Buckton on Fri, Jan 08, 2010
One of the reasons that clients stay with Promotional Management Group long-term is that we give them the tools they need to keep apprised of tour status. The PMG Event Management System™ (EMS™) provides complete control over all of our tours. From any web-enabled browser, approved users can see at a glance what is happening with their tours. Depending on the level of authority, users can add or delete events, verify/change the address of the venue, identify who the local contact is, what time the load-in is and when the event begins. We developed this proprietary application for our valued clients to make their lives easier, and give them peace of mind when juggling multiple events.
We think you’ll find that the EMS™ is the perfect tool to keep you informed and in touch with your coworkers, your customers and your brand. At PMG we know the EMS™ is just one more reason that we help you Drive Your Brand Experience.
Posted by Todd Buckton on Tue, Nov 17, 2009
The world of experiential marketing is not good in Australia this week, and I'm afraid that some agency owners might be looking at the trees instead of the forest. 2 experiential agencies have ceased to be. The first, Maverick, shuttered their doors for good to become a new agency, Wonder. Co-founder Glen Condie described the state of experiential marketing down under by saying the entire sector is "utterly devoid of anything interesting". Next, the experiential agency Ignition EM is turning into a consultancy. Founder Nick Callender says that experiential has been co-opted by promo and PR agencies and has become "nothing more than sampling campaigns. I don’t think a lot of clients have an idea about what experiential marketing is.” Strong words from 2 established talents.
While I'm sure that all forms of marketing in Australia are suffering from the same budgetary constraints that we're seeing here in the US, it seems a bit odd that 2 agencies are saying virtually the same thing: that experiential campaigns are droll ways to get consumers to try your product, and that it's tough to make ends meet doing it. I am certainly oversimplifying, but from where I sit, experiential is vibrant, engaging, memorable and, most importantly, sells product at a far lower cost than traditional media and produces positive ROI quicker. Show me something that's fetching that doesn't move product and something workaday that does; I choose the latter every time. But if it's clever, attractive and sells it's even better.
Also, I live in the B2B, not the B2C world. I'm sure that in B2C, sampling programs are a default experiential solution for CPG companies, but there is some great stuff going on there too from what I see. For example, necessity is the mother of invention and so we have pop-up stores. Cool, temporary stores that drive business and create buzz.
It appears that there may be more to the reasoning behind the coincidental nature of the Australian agency closings. Regardless, I think it's foolish to throw an entire channel under the bus as the justification for poor revenues.
Photo by renaissancechambara
Posted by Todd Buckton on Fri, Nov 13, 2009
"I'm one of Dale's biggest fans." - Willie Nelson
And when Willie speaks, especially about country music, you better listen.
Today's entry is for the greatest friend a truck drivin' man has: Dale Watson. Dale plays a brand of country he calls "Ameripolitan", others call it "Alt Country", but when you see him play live or listen to his albums, you'll know what he really is: A country western star with a trucker's soul.
The greatest thing about the business I'm in is the people who get the experiences our clients need from one place to another: truckers. The world I live in is healthcare and aviation and motorsports marketing. When it's time to put the marketing on the road you enter a whole 'nother world; one that nobody has ever sung about better than Dale Watson. Well, maybe Red Sovine, but's that's a bit of an acquired taste.
Dale's first truckin' album, cut in 1998, was appropriately titled "The Truckin' Sessions", and it's been a truck stop favorite ever since. Here's a video of the opening song from the album:
The next Dale Watson truckin' album released this year was amazingly titled "The Truckin' Sessions Volume 2", and you can see Dale spent lots more time and energy on the music than on the design of the cover.
Dale has recorded 18 albums and is a regular at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville. And while his albums are great, to really experience Dale you have to see him live. It is an experience you will not soon forget. He spends lots of time in Texas, mostly Austin, but you'll find him touring all over the USA. You can find his current schedule on his website. And unlike the long haul trucker, Dale regularly makes the trek to the UK and the Netherlands where he has attained superstar status.
So to get a flavor of a true truckin' experience, see Dale Watson soon or buy his albums now. You'll soon be wishin folks "good luck and good truckin' tonight".
Swell Dale Watson photo by larrytee
Posted by Todd Buckton on Fri, Sep 25, 2009
8ezm73xkcr
Mobile Tours, Mobile Event Marketing, Mobile Exhibits
Posted by Todd Buckton on Fri, Sep 18, 2009
Today's report is from Dave, Promotional Management Group driver and onsite wizard. Dave was recently on the road in Lebanon, NH. He was at the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center finishing up a live demo of cardiac catheters and diabetes pumps for valued client Medtronic. Those who stopped by included doctors, interns, administrators and patients. As Dartmouth-Hitchcock is a renowned teaching school, one doctor even held a class inside the exhibit to discuss the cardiac catheter demo the students were about to participate in. Held in the same mobile environment as the doctor’s lecture, the mobile environment helped to solidify the students‘ understanding of the procedure with the added experiential element of the live demo. "It was a great stop" says Dave, "lots of traffic, interested people and good buzz. People who were newly exposed to the Medtronic brand had no idea of the different types of services they offer. This is the best part of the job for me. I get a chance to talk to the clients, and stops like this definitely show how excited people get when a 53' shiny billboard shows up next to the hospital.” Now it's off to Newport Beach, CA for another cardiac catheter live demo with a stop along the way at his favorite truck stop on I-80 in Walcott, Iowa. "Killer biscuits." says Dave.