Road Shows: Taking It To the Streets

mobile marketing

Soon after Thomas Edison perfected the incandescent light bulb in 1879, the Wizard of Menlo Park promoted his lustrous invention with a mobile tour as innovative as his invention itself. When a newly built steamship, the S. S. Columbia, installed the novel lighting technology in 1880, Edison watched as the ship cruised around South America with an eventual terminus in Portland, OR. During the 10-week voyage, it drew hundreds of spectators curious about the ship's 120 installed lamps' glow, from its gleaming state rooms to its glittering smoking rooms.

The ship's artificial radiance drew numerous hosannas from the media, including a profile in Scientific American magazine, which helped convert a reluctant America to surrender the pleasures of gaslight and candles for the convenience of their new electric descendant.

Nearly 130 years later, GE Lighting, a Cleveland-based division of the company Edison founded, embarked on another long-distance tour for the latest evolution in radiance. The maker of billions of incandescent bulbs in its storied history created a mobile tour to show an audience ranging from distributors and contractors to utility executives and government officials just how bright the future of lighting really is.

Armed with a $500,000 budget, and dubbing it the Lighting Revolution Tour, GE sent a 53-foot-long trailer on a nine-month excursion starting last May. With its initial stop in Orlando, FL, and originally scheduled to conclude this month, the tour traveled a circuit of 46 U.S. and Canadian cities, ranging from San Francisco to Saginaw, MI, and Montreal to Milwaukee.

To maximize the number of attendees, GE's sales force e-mailed save-the-date invitations to customers and prospects six weeks before the tour stopped in one of its targeted cities. Over the next several weeks, those solicitations were followed up with at least one more e-mail, plus postcards to distributors with tour details the recipients could pass out to their own customers.

Included in the e-mails and cards was a link to the tour's microsite at www.GELighting
RevolutionTour.com, which piqued potential guests' interest with a schedule of the tour's stops, a map depicting the product areas inside the trailer, and a detailed list of the products that would be on display there. Customers who RSVP'd at the site received ongoing e-mail updates on the tour, and became eligible for a chance to win one of 20 Flip video cameras.

Guiding Lights

Once the trailer arrived at a site and event staffers finished the 2.5-hour setup, a GE ambassador and approximately 10 representatives from GE's sales force served guests coffee and pastries for breakfast or obliged guests with a lunchtime repast.

After a bite to eat, attendees were escorted through the mobile tour. Outside the trailer, visitors milled over a 600-square-foot, awning-covered area displaying light-emitting diode (LED) products for the outdoors, while inside, they encountered a 30-by-40-foot landscape of white laminate-finished walls and partitions.

Designed by Milwaukee-based exhibit house Derse Inc., the nearly colorless interior space evoked the purity of light and, more pragmatically, prevented attendees' attention from detouring away from the 11 vignettes that populated the space. In addition to its neutral color palette, the trailer sported soffits that helped GE stay light and fast on its feet: Swapping out lighting modules was as easy as changing a light bulb, while the modular perimeter walls made installing new lighting displays and graphic appliqués as simple as flicking a switch.

Illuminated by GE's LEDs and fluorescent lighting, the 11 vignettes were organized into five basic categories: commercial, architectural, environment/legislation, replacement lamps, and retail. In the environment/legislation section, for example, the escorts explained to attendees how GE's legislation-tool program could show them how current and pending federal laws might affect any GE lighting product they use. In the nearby retail-lamp section, the guides touted, among the 15 products there, GE's new Energy Smart LED A19 bulb that lasts 25 times as long as 40-watt incandescents, and saves users up to $85 in energy costs compared to the energy-extravagant incandescent bulb.

After guests completed the tour in the early stages, GE discovered attendees were more intrigued than it expected about its line of LEDs. To sate that curiosity, GE added several more indoor LED product displays to the tour.

Like Edison, who had little idea how the world would receive a ship ablaze with his electric flame, GE had set no official metrics for its multicity event. But by its three-fourths point, more than 6,000 people had visited the Lighting Revolution Tour, and an additional 1,700 had RSVP'd for upcoming stops.
With interest in the tour burning so bright, GE added a 47th stop in Charlotte, NC, and may extend the tour into 2012. When it comes to the future of
illumination, GE continues to light the way.

When Arby's Restaurant Group wanted to raise its brand's profile and status, the Atlanta-based company chose good works over clever advertising. Best known for its slow-roasted roast-beef sandwiches, the second largest quick-service sandwich chain in the United States didn't look for a cause du jour that would be the altruistic analog of its fast food. Instead, starting in 1996, the company, working through its own Arby's Foundation, took on a cause as unglamorous as it is essential: Big Brothers Big Sisters of America (BBBS). The organization pairs children ages six through 18 with adult mentors to help them navigate life's rocky roads and biggie-sized potholes.

Rather than dashing off a check and basking in the amber glow of self-congratulation, though, Arby's inaugurated an ongoing series of amateur golf tournaments called Arby's Charity Tour (ACT) around the country that year to raise money for the 104-year-old nonprofit organization. Two years later, in 1998, Arby's took its ACT on the road with a mobile-marketing tour to support the tourneys.

Today, using a 54-foot-long semitrailer named the Arby's Mobile Event Vehicle, the company continually tours about 75 charity events annually. "The tours raise the visibility of Arby's brand in local communities," says Jonathan Dew, the director of marketing and communications at Arby's Foundation. "But more importantly, they deliver a measurable impact on the communities we visit."

Food for Thought

Designed and constructed by Lancaster, MA-based Turtle Transit Inc., the Arby's Mobile Event Vehicle is a giant meal on wheels. The fabricator of customized advertising vehicles and event elements painted the semitrailer's exterior in Arby's signature crimson hue, and branded it with the company's hat-shaped logo.

While the passenger side of the vehicle sports graphics of sandwiches, a drink, and curly fries big enough to satisfy King Kong, the driver side contains equally prominent pictures of children and the slogan "Making a difference, one child at a time." The exterior also includes a rooftop sky deck from which staffers can play music and issue announcements, and a one-of-a-kind telescoping mast that lifts a 4-foot-high, die-cut sign comprising the Arby's logo 30 feet above the trailer's roof.

Inside, Turtle Transit turned the trailer's 400-square-foot-space into a replica of a functioning Arby's restaurant kitchen, compete with aluminum walls, hardwood floors, commercial-grade sinks, milkshake machines, stainless-steel countertops for prepping food, and two, 20,000-watt generators to power it all.

A 6-by-6-foot vending window serves as the portal through which Arby's staff distributes food to famished attendees at the various events. More than just a mobile restaurant, however, the ACT also comes with interactive features, such as a touch-based photo kiosk mounted on the side and two 40-

inch LCD TVs mounted inside the vending window that allow waiting guests to enjoy entertainment from video games to television shows and more.

When the truck pulls into a charity event such as the Denver ACT tournament last September, the onboard staff of two initiates the 60-minute setup process the morning of the tourney. (Arby's Foundation personnel coordinate the event's copious logistics.) Once the 18-hole competition tees off, participants compete against each other in putting accuracy, hole-in-one challenges, and even a competition to see who can land a ball into an oversized inflatable curly fry.

As soon as the linksters hit the halfway point on the course between holes nine and 10, event staff begins serving up roast-beef sandwiches, soft drinks, and coffee-and-chocolate Jamocha shakes. Besides money coming in from sponsors, players, and other contributors, Arby's holds a silent auction of donated items. The day's take would impress even a pre-divorce Tiger Woods, averaging $100,000 per event.

Eat, Pray, Love

Even with the six-figure success of the golf matches, the problems confronting BBBS were bigger than anything a few people smacking around a dimpled ball could conquer. More than 70 percent of kids waiting for a big brother or big sister (aka mentor) are boys, yet just 30 percent of volunteer queries the BBBS receives come from men.

So five times a year, in cities across the U.S., Arby's hosts a series of events to recruit mentors for the nonprofit. Working with local city officials, Arby's and the BBBS cordon off areas of the cities to form a rockin' block party. While Arby's Mobile Event Vehicle staffers dish out classic roast-beef sandwiches and milkshakes to approximately 200 people per hour, children play Nintendo Wii-based video games on the 40-inch LCD screens, belt out karaoke songs, and use the touch-based photo kiosk to send pictures of themselves to Arby's Facebook page where they can later access and share them with their friends and family.

Traditional BBBS recruitment drives net just two or three mentors, but the Arby's events pull in an astonishing 90 new mentors, on average.

The bottom-line benefits of philanthropy can be as amorphous to the benefactors as they are tangible to the beneficiaries. But to Thatcher Young, the senior director of sustainability marketing at Ignition Inc., an Atlanta-headquartered marketing agency that's coordinated philanthropic campaigns for companies such as The Coca-Cola Co., the boon to a company can be as clear as a spike in the price of its stock. "If two brands are roughly equal in price, research indicates 80 percent of Americans are likely to buy the brand that supports a cause," Young says. "The positive connection between sales growth and cause marketing is quite clear."

"So many people say they want to save the world," the social activist Rev. Cecil Williams once said. "Just try your block, will you?" That's what Arby's is doing - going one block at a time, indelibly linking its brand with being its brother's keeper.

Madeleines can evoke remembrances of things past, and colognes can conjure memories of great loves, but only automobiles can generate more emotional electricity than a Taser. So when Hyundai Motor America wanted to add its Sonata model to the traffic jam of autos that make our hearts and minds race from zero to 60, the Fountain Valley, CA-based carmaker hit the road with a mobile tour that encouraged drivers to express, then share, their deepest emotions and - hopefully - glowing reviews about the midsize sedan.

With Jack Morton Worldwide Inc. riding shotgun, the 44-year-old carmaker and the New York-based experiential-marketing firm devised a strategy that was as straightforward as a one-way street: Target current Hyundai owners, as well as drivers of the company's top-selling rivals, who were between the ages of 30 and 50 (the Sonata's prime demographic). Next, dangle a chance to get behind the wheel of the 2011 Sonata. Finally, ask the audience to record and share their responses to the experiential excursion with other prospects.

Calling the mobile tour "Sonata Uncensored," Hyundai chose 10 sites across the country whose markets reflected the highest Sonata sales, including Cleveland, Houston, and Philadelphia. To rev up interest for the event, Hyundai promoted it through a Facebook page that also supplied tour information and schedules, as well as a sweepstakes into which followers on the page could enter to win a 2011 Hyundai Sonata.

Commencing in October 2010, the tour set up at ballparks and convention centers that offered open spaces large enough to accommodate the expected crowds, as well as a racetrack or paved road that could be transformed into an impromptu driving track on which attendees could go fast and furious.

Once the tour's four trailers pulled into the site, its traveling staff of 15 initiated a 10-hour-long setup process. Besides setting up a reception area and the test-drive track, the crew also unloaded eight 2011 Sonatas, along with a competing Toyota Camry and a Honda Accord.

The Fast and the Curious

When the event officially opened the next day, guests started cruising in through a deck-like structure called the "Porch." Measuring 8-by-20-feet, and covered by a white open-sided fabric canopy, the structure was the inspired result of Hyundai's partnering with Green design publication Dwell magazine and architect Christopher Deam.

Actually a discarded steel shipping container, the Porch offered a vibe that was more save-the-planet Volvo buyer than save-the-money Hyundai purchaser: It was outfitted with Adirondack chairs, milk stools, cocktail tables, benches, and lamps made from recycled vinyl or plastics. "Design elements like these gave Hyundai a certain cachet that's never been attached to the brand before," says Ann Bash, a senior account manager for Jack Morton.

Inside the Porch, visitors idled on the reclaimed furniture and listened to demographic-appropriate songs, while they sipped Izze sparkling juices, Starbucks bottled frappuccinos, or Hyundai-branded bottled water. If they wanted, they could check out a staffed kiosk with detailed information on Hyundai's lineup and chat with any of six product specialists and up to half a dozen brand ambassadors about the cars.

Recruited from the ranks of staffers Hyundai sends to industry exhibitions, the product specialists extolled a lengthy roster of Sonata's virtues, including everything from its gasoline direct injection (GDI) engine to its standard XM Satellite radio.

When guests were ready to hit the road, they stepped into one of six available Sonatas (two others were for display only, including a Sonata hybrid). With a Hyundai product specialist along for the ride, attendees barreled around the track for three- to five-minute jaunts. The short spin let these easy riders put the car through its paces long enough to test its Bluetooth hands-free phone system and heated front and rear seats, and maybe blast some tunes on the upgraded audio system with HD radio. Hyundai added a rail and traffic cones to the driving surfaces already in place, allowing daring attendees to drive like a Batmobile out of hell. Zigzagging through the obstacle course, guests accelerated over a skid pad, a 40-foot-long tarp doused with soapy water that simulated icy conditions. Then, in a show of confidence in its brand, Hyundai invited guests to take a spin around the same track in a Camry or Accord if they wished.

Road Worthy

After the guests cruised through their test drives, Hyundai event staffers steered them to complete a brief survey tabulating their opinions of the experience and how Sonata stacked up against its two chief rivals.

In addition to conducting the on-site survey, Hyundai had scattered eight iPads throughout the venue, each with pre-loaded Facebook, Twitter, and Foursquare apps allowing guests to alert others to their location and wax wild about the Sonata on the popular tablet computers.

For those attendees willing to go the extra mile, Hyundai invited them into one of the two Sonatas on display, which each had a special camera mounted to the dashboard. Here, in what Hyundai called the Uncensored Video Driver's Seat, attendees took 60 seconds or less to share their no-BS opinion of their driving experience, and how they felt the Hyundai Sonata stacked up against the competition.

The results were prettier than Prince's little red Corvette. One measure of Sonata Uncensored's accomplishments was that 60 percent of the guests reported spending more than 30 minutes at the event, compared to 36 percent who stayed a similar length at a ride-and-drive event for Hyundai's Genesis Coupe the same year.

An even closer look under the hood illustrates how truly effective the tour was: Before the event rolled out, 35 percent of respondents said they were very or extremely likely to consider purchasing the Sonata, a healthy figure by most standards. But after a test drive on the track, 61 percent stated they were very or extremely likely to consider purchasing the car. With high notes like these, the Hyundai Sonata is beginning to sound more like a Haydn symphony for the company and consumers.