Posted by Todd Buckton on Fri, Sep 03, 2010
As part of a continuing media relations campaign, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) needed to develop an outreach program targeted to people of all ages. This program would be designed to enhance a visitor’s perception of the many positive outcomes that space exploration has provided the American people - and the rest of the world - over the past half century. Part of this outreach was designated to include a mobile tour component intended to be a major attractor and key to the overall positive attitudes that NASA wanted to achieve.
Working closely with NASA on content delivery, vehicle design, fabrication and tour planning, Promotional Management Group brought the NASA “Benefits of Space” to life in an highly entertaining and interactive experiential environment. As part of the unique experience, visitors learned how space exploration has provided many advantages to the population while furthering the search of the skies. From cordless tools and Velcro to GPS systems and water purification systems, the convenience that space exploration has provided humanity is limitless. The customized 53’ trailer told this story in a way that appealed greatly to all ages. Aided by state-of-the-art audio-visual technology and highly detailed graphics, this environment compelled visitors to enter and understand more about the science behind the splendor of space travel.
While putting over 150,000 miles on the odometer, the display has played - and continues to play - host to over 35,000 students, workers and families, enjoying favorable responses all along the way. The complexities of the space-themed mobile display were myriad, but the talented Promotional Management staff was able to solve each while continuing to exhibit to overflow audiences. “I don’t know what I would have done without (PMG).” said one satisfied NASA Director.
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 Mon, Aug 23, 2010
Today's View from the Cab highlights what some of the PMG mobile tour drivers have been doing on their summer vacations. After helping our clients Drive Their Brand Experience in the best ways possible, these guys need to get the batteries recharged.
First we hear from Driver Tom who's checking in from the Kentucky State Fair. The State Fair is a wonderful tradition in the USA, featuring the best each state has to offer in agriculture, commerce, livestock, entertainment and...fried food. Here at RoadBlog we've been to many State Fairs and we've eaten everything from deep fried cauliflower to deep fried Twinkies. But the Kentucky State Fair has something we've never, ever seen: Donut Burgers.
That's right. A fresh - never frozen - juicy burger, fresh off the grill with all the trimmings, and instead of a bun? Oh yeah, slap that puppy between two donuts. In any other venue a donut burger would be looked upon with shock, wonder, perhaps even disgust. At a State Fair? It's downright brilliant. Thanks to Driver Tom for sharing this bit of Americana, even though we never heard if he actually tried a donut burger.
Our next stop on the PMG Drivers summer vacation tour takes us to Tennessee, where driver Dave has just landed a lunker catfish and sent us a photo. He wouldn't tell us where the fishing hole is, just that it's in Tennessee. He also wouldn't tell us what he caught it on, so the catfish in Tennessee are probably safe from many of us...but not from Dave.
What did you do this summer to get away from it all?
Posted by Todd Buckton on Fri, Aug 20, 2010
Photo by Jeremy van Bedijk
We read with interest Steve Mills’ recent article in the Chicago Tribune about the increased interest in mobile butchering operations. Usually built on a flatbed truck, these operations travel to individual farms and butcher on site, allowing producers to keep closer control of their end product and supply it to a consumer who can be assured of the quality and safety they are getting. Not only confined to pigs and cattle, these operations are also being utilized for poultry, shrimp and fish.
Large-scale operations process animals at incredible speeds, and sometimes the end result is less than optimal, as noted by the increasing numbers of meat recalls that have occurred in the last 18 months.
Everybody appears to win with mobile processing: the producer makes more money with a custom-cut product to sell, and eliminates travel to and from the large scale processor. The consumer stays much closer to the producer and knows what he or she is putting on the table. Chefs could go to their favorite meat purveyor and have a specific animal processed to their liking. Inspection is identical to that of larger processors so a quality product is assured.
So what does this have to do with custom tours? Everything in our opinion. Custom experiential tours take your product or service directly to prospects who are interested in buying, instead of going to a trade show with a dilution of interest from attendees; this also makes them a much more efficient way to promote your brand. Custom tours promote brand advocacy with experiences that can’t be had in larger venues. It's a win-win.
Are you getting your brand closer to the people who can benefit from it the most? Are you letting them touch and feel it in an experiential way that benefits them and you? Are you creating brand advocates with the ways you promote your product right now?
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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 22, 2010
This entry into the RoadBlog Mobile Event Hall of Fame looks good, smells good and serves up great-tasting brats. That in itself is cause for admission into this Hall of Fame (see previous Hall of Fame entry), but the Johnsonville Big Taste Grill is an experiential delight.
With tongue placed firmly in brat-filled cheek, Johnsonville has stirred that primordial part of every male's brain that craves meat grilled over an open fire. A tanker truck converted into a giant grill that Johnsonville provides gratis for events (you buy the brats...). It's a grill disguised as a giant brand experience.
People take their pictures in front of it. It gets lots of press and it gets smiles wherever it goes. And wherever it goes there's a brat waiting.
What's not to like?
Happy guy with Blue Shirt photos by Ed Kohler on Flickr
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 Wed, Nov 04, 2009
Here's a great new resource I stumbled across recently for experiential marketers. It's great for folks on this side of the pond as it gives a different perspective on what's going on in the rest of the world.
For example, who knew famous automaker Ferrari was building an amusement park in Abu Dhabi that's set to open next year? A track is also being built at the park to run the inaugural F1 Grand Prix race. Not everything is happening in Peoria...
I found some good prospecting ideas as well by looking beyond the sea to see what our neighbors are doing.
Cool Ferrari F1 pit photo by chrissatchwell