This week, to celebrate American Independence Day he heads stateside to showcase a trio of transatlantic activations.
Greyhound Mobile Museum takes to the road
To mark its one hundredth anniversary bus carrier Greyhound has taken to the open road for a coast to coast tour featuring a fleet of specially-commissioned buses.
Visitors who catch the experiential tour at malls and family events between now and September will be treated to a combination of vintage travel artefacts and state of the art travel technology. On board the museum-bus consumers can peruse memorabilia, view archive footage or watch interviews with celebrities who have boarded a Greyhound to fulfil their dreams.
The centenary convoy also showcases the brand’s present day buses and allows people to sample WiFi and modern safety features. Brand ambassadors will also be on hand to discuss routes and the latest travel deals.
Greyhound has really pulled out all the stops with this mobile activation. As a brand experience it engages on a number of levels and I particularly like way Greyhound has capitalised on its history and place in popular culture. There’s certainly life in the old dog yet!
US TV series lavishes treats on New Yorkers
US television network, FX took to the streets to publicise its new drama series ‘Tyrant’. A team of brand ambassadors patrolled Manhattan for a novel experiential ambush that saw them lavishing treats on unsuspecting consumers. In an echo of the show’s plot, which involves a pampered expat American family, the FX 'upgraders' spent a week elevating everyday activities into luxury experiences.
Members of the public found themselves swapping a sandwich lunch for a fine-dining experience or a bus ride for a complimentary chauffeured car. Others received free hotel room-service or champagne and all took home branded souvenirs.
This is a feel-good experiential activation that cleverly translates the FX brand’s core values of drama and entertainment into real-life situations. It’s also the kind of television interference that most of us would be happy to have!
Giant Philadelphia Cheesecake Breaks World Record
Keen to raise awareness of childhood hunger, dairy giant Kraft came up with a hefty experiential stunt that used its plentiful reserves of Philadelphia cream cheese to capture the attention of the media as well as sweet-toothed New Yorkers.
This three ton Philadelphia Cream Cheesecake was the brainchild of TV chef and baking aficionado, Duff Goldman who divided it into 10,000 slices to be shared amongst local residents and homeless shelters. At eight feet in diameter and three feet tall this colossal cake also made it into the Guinness Book of World Records which made promoting the brand’s chosen charity 'No Kid Hungry' as easy as pie.
This experiential stunt reminds me of the outsized dairy activation that the BEcause team orchestrated for Danone at the Danone Nations Cup. Attendees were invited to literally walk across the yoghurt which was actually a 'non-Newtonian fluid' called Oobleck. The viscosity of the substance can change rapidly, so the 'yoghurt' reacts like a liquid when touched softly but like a solid when impact is applied - amazing stuff and captivating to watch! Read more about it here.
That’s all for this week. Happy 4th of July!
Joss Davidge is managing partner of brand experience agency BEcause, an award winning brand experience agency which has been helping brands get talked about for over 20 years.
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