Brandaroo: 2009

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

A picture is worth a shit ton of words...

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Starting Saturday morning, this Champs rep was handing out these 15% off cards, hung on a lanyard (yea, I said lanyard....wanna make something of it?) and looked a lot like access passes to some better party (media, back stage, VIP, etc.)

For the first few hours, they caught people's attention. "What is that? Did you see that guys pass?" Then, the hype wore off and they littered the grounds.

So, my question is - how much do you think Champs paid to be able to hand these out? Please leave a comment if you have an educated opinion on it.

Toyota rules Rothbury

I'm going to take a few minutes to praise Toyota. I think some of their success was good planning and some was a fluke. But either way, congrats to them for a good, useful showing at Rothbury.

They had a hybrid test drive station. As I shared from the field, they reserved the right to administer a Breathalyzer. Smart, but I'm not sure that would catch all the intoxicants some people were using.

They also had bandannas and towels. Here's the part they probably didn't plan. It was dusty and dry in the common areas at Rothbury, so people used the branded cloths to cover their mouths and eyes.

Here's where Toyota nailed it. They had commemorative posters. Started in Austin at sxsw, Billy Bishop and team printed limited run posters on the street and shared them with eager fans as the paint dried.

The jam scene in particular has a long history of hand bill and poster adoration, so this limited edition, uber relevant Rothbury poster- with super subtle, almost unnoticeable branding (we appreciate this Toyota), was a huge hit.

They printed 3,000 posters for for the audience of over 45,000. They were released in quantities of a few hundred every few hours throughout the weekend. A line always persisted, and I saw people making a b line for their cars after they had their prized keepsake.

The posters are being sold on ebay....

Toyota had great useful swag like bandannas and towels and the poster was a relevant and highly sought after token that will be displayed proudly by many of it's owners for years to come.

Friday, July 10, 2009

Merrell

Merrell had a great presence at Rothbury. I'm a nerd for shoes, but coming off the nothingness that Onitsuka was at Bonnaroo, I was excited to see someone get it right.

They had 3 points of contact. Outside the venue, in the lot, they had hula hoop lessons, cornhole, pedal powered cell phone charging bikes, and lots of Merrell's decorating their space.

Inside the general store, they sold Merrells and sister-brand Chaco's. I didn't realize that Merrell was owned by a Michigan parent company- Wolverine Worldwide. I talked to the rep who was in the General Store. He said they had brisk sales by Saturday morning.

Inside the venue, Merrell had another booth set up with cornhole and pedal charging.

Just to point out the sharp contrast between this and Broo, check the line that the Fuse charging center had at the Broo. I didn't see long lines at either one of the Merrell pedal charge stations. Crowd laziness or less reliance on cell phones than Broo? Probably a little bit of each, but overall there was far less emphasis on celling stuff.

Merrell, thanks for the fun and games!

Setting the scene...

It was very interesting to see the contrasting scenes and vibes of Bonnaroo and Rothbury.

Rothbury had about half as many people attending ~45,000 and the weather was a different trip entirely.

Also, there was a stark difference in the use/promotion/communication through Twitter. At Broo, about 8 or 10 brands had contests on Twitter engaging fans in scavenger hunts and swag giveaways. At Rothbury, there were about 25 individuals tweeting....the entire time. That included Merrell, Umphrees, and a few news papers/blogs.

Highs in the mid 70's, lows in the mid 50's and breezy ALL day long, Rothbury was comfortable. I took bird baths for 4 days and wasn't sweating too much.

At Bonnaroo, the essentials to good brand engagement were often weather related- shade, mister fans, a/c, poncho's, head cover from the rain.

At Rothbury, the weather was so nice, schedule so well put together, and areas for relaxation so perfect, that I really needed the brands there to help me out with the other essentials- snacks, bandannas, commemorative posters, games, knowledge, and cell phone charging.

I wanted to set the scene a bit before I really got into reviewing brands from Rothbury. The weather, technological engagement, and vibe were wildly different and some brands had the right idea when catering to the crowd, others missed the mark.

Port-o-johns

Like most activities that require communal sharing, there is a learning curve to using these portable johns.

A few of the things you learn quickly...

1. Bring your own TP

2. Get in the line with the least amount of women

3. Don't take a drink in there

4. Figure out the cleaning schedule from the tank truck drivers- a freshly cleaned port-o-john is no dirtier than the average rest stop bathroom

5. If you think the bathroom you're waiting for may be unoccupied, it probably is

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Rothbury was amazing....

There were a lot of great brand engagment opportunities, and some brands knocked it out of the park.

I'll be uploading posts and photos over the next few days covering Merrel, Coleman, Toyota, Bee Humble, Ben and Jerry's, MLB, Nintendo, Wow Green, Eco-cooler, Clif Bar, Budwesier, Festaxi, Eno, Rothbury, Spitfire, and more.