Brandaroo: 2009-07-05

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.