Event Marketer

State Farm connected with women through a mall marketing program targeting shoppers on Black Friday the busiest shopping day of the year. The insurance company provided pick-me-ups for tired shoppers to create a one-on-one connection with the brand.

Event marketing done right always creates buzz but brands looking to extend that word of mouth are introducing programs to the public earlier and in unique ways. Pre-event stunts get companies more time with the press and the public. In some cases they create buzz on the streets two or three days before a press conference or event taking advantage of traditional press time as well as the online conversations spurred by citizen journalism and word-of-mouth marketing.

HBO’s New York City store HBO Shop recently leveraged holiday buzz with a program designed to promote the store’s campaign around the 50th anniversary of the peace sign.

Talbots recently leveraged customer relationships to create a program that had event hostesses (top Talbots’ customers) preaching the highlights of the brand’s latest collection to friends.

Vitamin water mix Emergen-C has added new interactive elements in year two of its sponsorship of the Burton Super Demo Tour which hits snow and ski resorts around the country and the Burton U.S. Open. Evolving from mostly sampling last year the vitamin drink has created its own footprint in a Get Shred Ready Igloo on site and put badass brand ambassadors on the mountain snowboarding with the pros.