Posted by Keith Green on Mon, Feb 01, 2010
OK, we're back on track today with my third Principle of Success for Experiential Marketing. We've noticed our blog viewership going up, so thanks for visiting...and please comment if you have some thoughts on our topics!
For the past two years, a team from Synergy Events has attended the PRSA International Conference to connect with public relations professionals about how our experiential marketing events drive PR for our clients. At one of the workshops in San Diego in November, Daryl McCullough from Paine PR presented his Seven Principles of Success during his terrific "Best in Buzz" workshop. This list was inspired by Daryl's talk.
Here are the first two principles we reviewed last week:
1. Integrate your events. Click here for the full post.
2. Last week, we chatted about the second principle, Knowing Your Audience.
Today's topic, "Making it Stick" refers to making your event unique or "sticky."
One of my goals in my former life as the Director of Public Relations at Richmond International Raceway was to create press events that had a hook and would be fun for the media to cover. This concept is no different when putting on an event: try to create something that's never been done before or if the concept isn't unique, find a compelling angle for your target, whether it is the media or the consumer. Even if your idea isn't worthy for the 6:00 p.m. news or the New York Times, equip your team with its own tools (invest a couple hundred bucks in a Flip Camera or a decent digital camera) to make your event viral. Times have changed so rapidly that your idea can be so cool that it still works (or can work better) if it doesn't make the 6:00 p.m. news.
One of the questions we get asked often at Synergy is "Who comes up with the ideas for your events?" Often the idea originates with the brand, but sometimes it's the agency or our internal team at Synergy that comes up with the concept. Coming up with that winning idea isn't always easy, so here Seven of Synergy's (many) brainstorming rules to help your idea "Stick":
1. Invite as many people as possible. Sure, it's tough to coordinate schedules on short notice or jam more than 20 people in a conference room, but we subscribe to the theory that the more creative brains, the better.
2. Don't forget the smart college kids. From the interns to the C-Suite, invite a wide range of people on your staff, you never know who is going to come up with a brilliant idea.
3. Special Interest. If you have a proposal that is fitness related, go find the yoga instructor or muscle head in your office and get them involved.
4. Secretary of State. Assign a note taker. The person running the brainstorm shouldn't be the same person taking the notes. It's too distracting and can cause the entire brainstorm to be unfocused and unorganized.
5. Location, location, location. If possible, change the location of your brainstorms every once in a while. Move it to the hallway if you must. A different environment keeps the mind from wandering.
6. Don't be a hater. No ideas suck and wacky, out-of-the-box thinking is encouraged. This is probably the number one brainstorm rule, but I see it broken all the time. We even encourage our team to build on ideas they don't like, since it can spur another thought from someone else.
7. Provide and Prepare. Give everybody a brief on the opportunity before the brainstorm and make sure all participants have ample time to review the info so they can come to the brainstorm with at least two ideas.