ARCHIVE - Howard Luck Gossage: Pioneer of Experiential Marketing

January 30, 2009 In By Advent

Pop Up Shops: The New Horizon of Experiential Marketing

A new article in Business Week notes the rise of ‘Pop Up Shops’ around the country. Ever watchful for a new way to connect with audiences, brand marketers have developed the concept of the ‘Pop up Shop,’ (a short running retail space strategically placed to be most accessible to the store’s core demographic). Mixing the central ideas of a tradeshow (showcase new products to the most enthusiastic of consumers) and a retail space, pop up shops are the newest and brightest of experiential marketing efforts.

Pop up shops are about surprising consumers with temporary ′performances.′ In effect, retailers guarantee exclusivity of products because of the limited timespan in which they are available. Retailers from Brazilian cosmetics firm Oceanic to low end chic retailer Target have opened such shops across the world targeting their own specific markets.

Oceanic didn’t have the funds to build a brick and mortar storefront but wanted to have a real world presence for it’s business. As such, they decided to go mobile, equipping most of their franchisees with Fiat Doblo minivans, which are both delivery vehicles AND shops. These mobile stores make it easy to target prime consumer locations such as universities, schools, hospitals, parks, and trade shows. Not to mention customization: the mobile store′s inventory can be customized for different locations (i.e. if a frachisee parks near a beach, he or she′d better stock up on sunscreen and suntan lotions!).

Target, on the other hand, wanted to promote the launch of Isaac Mizrahi’s new womens clothing line with the franchise. To do so they opened up a temporary 1500 sq. feet store in Rockefeller Center to celebrate Mizrahi′s stylish new looks. The glossy store was open from 4 September to 15 October 2003 only. Further, last year, Target actually housed a temporary floating store on the Hudson River for the Christmas season.

January 23, 2009 In News By Advent

Experiential Marketing In 2009

We at Advent like to think of ourselves as experts in experiential marketing, and if there ever was a time to dive into that world, this would be it. Marketing on a whole has taken a more personal, casual turn in the last year or so, encouraging you as a company to engage more with your customer, which is paying off big for those who are embracing the change. Interacting with your customers on a casual level lets them know that you are really listening to what they have to say and truly care about them as an individual, and not just a number.

Experiential marketing plays into this in a number of ways with the three core tenants of the concept: branded spaces, events and custom exhibit design. Each one of these things give you the ability to connect with your customer on a more personal level. With all three you’ve got the ability to bridge the gap between you and your consumer in a unique way that will really showcase what makes your company special. Showing off who you are as a company in the most effective way possible will go a long way to helping your customers understand who you are. Show off that more personal, casual part of your company and take your customers along for the ride. Any of the options in experiential marketing or even a combination of them can help you start connecting with your customers in a whole new way.

January 22, 2009 In News By Advent

D1 Little Rock highlights Advent′s brand spaces work

D1 Sports Fitness asked Advent to design and fabricate branding elements for their Little Rock location. The goal was to clearly define the D1 brand and communicate it through elements that could easily create brand awareness.

Advent designed various treatments and methods to implement the D1 brand into their Little Rock location. Stand-off graphics, vinyl application, and ImageWalls custom wallpaper were used to help D1 truly communicate their brand message.

The video below is a showcase of the D1 Little Rock location.

Enjoy.

January 16, 2009 In By Advent

Our Gallery Of Experiential Marketing

Have you had a chance to check out our experiential marketing gallery yet? In it you’ll find some of our work when it comes to custom exhibit design, events, and brand spaces. If you are in the market for any of these things, take a good look through our gallery and see some of our previous work.

Within the gallery is a wide range of projects that we have worked on in the past, we’ve got the attitude of “if you dream it, we can build it”. We’ve worked with many companies helping them achieve their vision for their spaces or trade show booths from health care companies to faith based organizations to local universities. Every single business is unique, even those in the same industry, so why shouldn’t your space be just as unique as you are? If you’re looking to brand your office space, needing a trade show booth to stand out above the rest, or looking to wow your clients with your next event, we would love to talk to you. Let us help you take your experiential marketing to the next level!

January 12, 2009 In By Advent

Howard Luck Gossage: Pioneer of Experiential Marketing

Somewhere around the age of 36, Howard Gossage fell into the field of advertising. His first job was at San Francisco′s Brisacher, Wheeler and Staff. Of his hiring, he noted, "I got into advertising, actually, because there wasn′t anything else I knew how to do.” While there, he would rise to the position of Vice President before the firm was bought out by Cunningham and Walsh, a competing agency. In 1957, he joined forces with Joe Wiener and at that point began his self employment.

From his hallmark advertising offices in San Francisco’s Original Firehouse #1, he created a number of classic ads through which he single handedly developed the field of Experiential Marketing. In his first advertisements for Eagle Shirtmakers, he asked customers to send in to the company for their complementary Eagle Label, thus insuring that their store label shirt would be forever identified with it’s maker (Eagle, at the time, was a white label producer of store brand shirts). Thousands of readers sent in for the free label and the advertisement was an immediate success, making the steady brand a household name.

In his later work, Gossage would implore readers to write in for ‘Pink Air’ from Fina Gasoline stations (on the idea that since everything else at a Fina station had already been perfected with additives, making the air that goes in tires pink was the only additional improvement they could think of) and to send their paper airplane designs to the Scientific American headquarters.

Every time Howard Gossage ran an ad with a tiny coupon in the lower right corner, thousands of people would cut it out, put it in an envelope with a stamp and mail it in. This idea of involving the consumer in the message was one of Gossage’s primary contributions to our craft, and has been carried on to the present day in the form of experiential marketing.