As my favourite digital marketing demi-god Mitch Joel said in a recent blog post, ”Product Is The New Marketing“.

“The individual is empowered is code for Social Media,” writes Mitch.  “This isn’t really about word of mouth marketing in as much as it is about the fact that customers don’t just tell one another about brands they love (and hate)… they tell everybody.”

Which is exactly what happened here. 

I was first introduced to 1-800-Headsets through my friends at LeapZone Strategies when they raved/blogged about the service.  Nothing like a glowing endorsement to get me motivated.  Plus I was looking for a replacement office phone and me (and my chiropractor) love headsets. 

Having hung myself copious times with headset cords, I was particularly interested in finding out about cordless options.  Well voila!  I landed on 1800headsets.com and a world of options unfolded.  From selection through product delivery and support, I’ve enjoyed a fantastic, multi-functional office phone/headset solution ever since. 

This week, I needed a replacement battery and was reminded of all the reasons why this service rocks.  I landed back on their easy-to-navigate site where help is encouraged through a “Customer Love” mantra, where LiveChat operators are standing by for assistance, where picking up the phone is welcomed with messages like “Call us!  A real person would be happy to help you”.

In a rush, I decided to go traditional.  Inside two minutes, the delightful customer service dude pulled up my profile, told me what I needed and made it happen.  Yah. 

I was promised delivery by Friday, got it Thursday.  The box came complete with custom, idiot-proof installation tips/instructions and…get this… TOOTSIE ROLLS. 

Yes, Tootsie Rolls. 

Nothing like taking an already great brand experience and making it fun and yummy too. 

MY SOAPBOX:  To be clear, all I needed was to get my phone battery replaced… boring right?  Wrong.  1-800-Headsets took a pedestrian purchase and made it personal, easy and enjoyable.

And the best part is, with the power and influence vested in me as a consumer, I get to share it with you.

When is the last time you were surprised and delighted by a brand?  Tell us about it…

1-800-headsets, 1800headsets, brand experience, brand experiences, brand performance, branding, headset, leapzone strategies, mitch joel, smd marketing, smdmarketing, susan dore

How many blondes does it take to light a barbecue?   That’s what I was asking myself this weekend as a friend and I were trying to spark up a piece-of-crap grill at a girls’ soiree – right before the click-click-click of the dead starter turned to the WOOF of a propane-fuelled cloud of fire.  We both still had our eyebrows but as the unmistakable whiff of singed forearms hung in the evening air… followed by some painfully slow, uneven cooking… all I could think was I LOVE MY WEBER.

A humble Barbecue Bon Vivant, I grew up grilling in backyards, campgrounds, on beaches and boats.  Since then I’ve grilled up great meals, made charcoal of others, enjoyed authentic southern barbecue in Memphis, Tennessee and right here in my home-town at Memphis Blues Barbeque House, a fantastic restaurant chain founded by some talented friends. 

Barbecuing is like a slice of life… know what I mean?  There’s something about the sauce-slathering sound of searing, the smell of the sizzle when heat and meat meet, a gathering of friends and family, a liquid libation in one hand, flipper in the other (sigh…you get the gist).

A burgeoning cooking trend fuelled by Boomers wanting better, faster and healthier, the age-old tradition of grilling has evolved into a full-on sport.  One that’s clearly gender-neutral with more and more women happily wielding the tongs (and no, we don’t really care about the BTU measurements… please pass the wine).  

From cook-offs and cook-outs to grilling cookbooks, cooking shows and restaurants, barbecuing is a trend with serious traction. 

Grills range from knock-off, cheap and cheerful (stand back!) models to Cadillacs complete with wood chip shelves, warming drawers, even on-board computers (whoa)… but the best known brand of outdoor barbecues in the world is Weber.  “Everyman’s barbecue” so to speak, Weber is positioned as a mid to high-end, quality gas and charcoal grills with stylish, functional grilling accessories. 

Whether you’re a grill greenhorn or an iron-chef Weber.com is an eye-opener:

Fun basics – tons of recipes online and emailed weekly, free downloads, shop for cookbooks, accessories/apparel, tools and replacement parts, easy registration and online manuals.

1.800.GRILLOUT – available 7 days a week/364 days a year, barbecue experts are ready to assist with grill troubleshooting, cooking tips, food prep, etc.  (I test-drove it and had a great chat with Jean who told me all about the art of grilling fruit!?)

iPhone app – On the Grill is a “mobile grilling companion” with 250+ recipes, grocery lists, grilling tips and a cooking timer.

Dealer locator – an easy “where to buy” worldwide directory.

More?  You won’t believe Webernation.com – “The site for real people that love their Weber grills” you can join the Weber Nation and get free, exclusive access to online grilling classes, audio/visual podcasts and forums and an interactive recipe box with other grilling fanatics (aka “Weberheads”).  

All this and you haven’t even cooked on your grill yet!

MY SOAPBOX:  A full-scale Web 2.0 brand experience, Weber has created a community of close to 33,000 Facebook followers and umpteen thousand Weber Nation members sharing stories, recipes and photos.

They have made it fun to own a Weber by building a brand strategy around an interactive platform for raving fans to pitch the brand for them using positioning statements like:   “Weber grill owners always say they’re the ones who truly sell our grills, and we totally agree”. 

And with Weber owners posting comments like “Friends don’t let friends buy cheap barbecues”… I’d say it’s working.

baby boomer trends, brand experience, brand strategy, branding, cooking trend, grilling, grilling cookbooks, smd marketing, smdmarketing, susan dore, weber, weber nation

What do you get when you combine 6,000 women, Oprah Winfrey and a 3-day celebration in New York City?  Some surreal, jaw-dropping, crack-up moments along with a whole lot of chaos and estrogen-fuelled drama.  Oh… and a city-wide jump in shoe sales.

A one woman show, media maven and brand, Oprah Winfrey is quite possibly the most influential woman on the planet.  And like so many, seeing her live was on my bucket-list.  So when O Magazine’s Live Your Best Life Weekend in New York came across my radar, I jumped at it and so did some of my friends. 

So there we were in the city that never sleeps and neither did we really, squeezing sight-seeing, shopping and signature cocktails in with a very full event schedule. From a champagne welcome reception and an inspiring line of “Lifeshop” headliners (Dr. Oz, Suze Orman, etc.) to a gala at Radio City Music Hall and a Sunday charity walk, it was non-stop fun.

Highlights

• Oprah live.  Mind-blowingly brilliant.  And after following her for years, it was like watching a girlfriend on stage.
• Eat Pray Love author Elizabeth Gilbert’s opener.  So real, so cool… that woman oozes how to live in the present.
• A great welcome kit, spectacular collateral materials and sponsors like L’Oreal that rocked the gift bags.

Lowlights

• There was one glaring gap in this Oprah brand experience – the logistics at Jacob K. Javits Convention Center were beyond bad.  From mismanaged line-ups and event coordination to banana battles in the food lines and near-riots over a lack of bathrooms forcing urinal usage by some angry sisters (yes you read that right), that facility was ill-prepared for 6,000 women (and 10 men).  My friend’s and I laugh about it now, but it was truly like an all-day episode of Survivor.

The weekend also marked the 10-year anniversary of O Magazine which continues to set the bar on  page-turning layouts and visual platforms along with compelling content, life stories and a just-right balance of tasteful advertising. 

But that’s just one piece of Oprah’s media empire. 

There’s Oprah & Friends satellite radio, Oprah’s Book Club, the multi-layered Oprah.com, a new reality show and with September 2011 marking 25 years and the last for the Oprah Winfrey Show, she’s launching OWN Network.

Whether relaxing in my living room or as a proud, live participant in magical NYC it’s been a wild ride to be part of the Oprah brand experience.  And it’s not over yet.

MY SOAPBOX:   When you’re #1, you’re an easy target. 

News this week talked about how the Oprah Winfrey Show has had a 7% decline in viewership – which on 9 million is hardly a crisis. 

But rather than focus on how her O-Factor has changed lives, saved lives, got millions reading, and raised over $80 million to fund 200+ charity grants in the US and 30 other countries, let’s focus on a dip/blip in ratings on a show that’s winding down (??).   

And for the record, it’s winding down to make way for a ground-breaking, new network that’s poised to make what the Oprah Winfrey Show did to daytime television look like training-wheels.

Maybe the real story is how we’ve only scratched the surface on Oprah’s enduring influence.

brand experience, Eat Pray Love, Elizabeth Gilbert, Live Your Best Life Weekend, O Magazine, Oprah & Friends, Oprah Winfrey, Oprah.com, OWN Network, smd marketing, smdmarketing, susan dore

Stop the madness.  How did I go from not having time to read a fiction book in years to being sucked down a vampire vortex so deep and suffocatingly sexy, I spend the non-existent free time I have Twilighting my life away?  

Well… it started with a girlfriend of mine telling me how she was “enjoying” reading the Twilight Saga book series.  She suggested I might enjoy it too.  I laughed.  (a) I can’t stand the sight let alone reading about blood; (b) I left my teenage angst behind years ago; and (c) seriously, who has time?  I could be reading Gladwell’s latest or my Google Reader blog back-up I SOOO need to get through… right?

But with a knowing smile, that friend loaned me the first book – I cracked it on Easter weekend. 

(Crack being the operative word.)

Pouring through the first book in record time, I was away on a business trip and found myself in an unfamiliar, neighbourhood book store… large sunglasses… head down… looking for Eclipse (book #3) BECAUSE I’d finished New Moon (book #2) at 2:30 in the morning.  Not seeing Twilight books anywhere, I adjust my sunglasses and quietly ask the shop-keeper for help.  He basically yells, “Twilight…sure!  Kids’ section.”  All heads in the quiet, serene book store turn.  I quickly follow him to the back of the store with the same flood of emotions I recalled from grade 9 when the guy at the drug-store bellowed, “Tampons?  Ya… aisle 4!”

Humbled, I ask myself… um… how did I get here? 

First published in 2005, I was a late adopter on this brand.  Was it the resulting teenage frenzied line-ups at the box office that suddenly intrigued me?  The cult-like, breathless anticipation I’d witnessed around each book release?  Or am I now just a cougar looking for a fantasy escape.  (And I don’t use the ‘c-word’ lightly.)

Turns out the books were just the beginning… the cross-over media since then boggles the mind. 

Movies – not as good as the books but who cares.  They’ve given us a face for Edward and a body for Jacob. 

DVD’s – almost 10 million original Twilight movies have been sold to date; the 2^nd New Moon movie sold 4 million copies in its launch weekend alone.

Soundtracks – hardly toe-tappers, but from vampire lullabies to Clair de Lune, soundtracks for both movies have broken download records.

Merchandise – clothing, jewelery, random gear… don’t get me started.

Make-up – I’m at the drug-store the other day, low on health and beauty essentials (because I’ve been reading!!) and there’s a Twilight make-up display.  I’m there for toothpaste and next thing you know I’m trying on Twilight branded lipstick, suddenly desperate because they’re out of the shade of blood red I HAD to have.  It wasn’t pretty.  And my (inside) voice was screaming, “Take down the [blank’ing] display if you don’t have the [blank’ing] product to back it up!!”  

Realizing how pathetic I was, it started to really sink in… just how powerful is this brand (?)

As a woman, I and every soccer-mom I talk to is in (secret) love with Edward (help).  As a marketer, I’m beyond spellbound by this phenomenon.

I’ll probably finish Breaking Dawn… the last book in the series… tonight.  I understand there are more spin-off books coming and the 3rd movie Eclipse is being released in June. 

(Sigh.)

MY SOAPBOX:  While J.K. Rowling’s enchanting Harry Potter series spoke to tweens/teens and took the literary world and Hollywood by storm, its ride was pre-social marketing.  Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight Saga – also targeting tweens/teens - has truly captured the hearts, minds and texting thumbs of this most influential demographic voice of our web 2.0 times.  

Beyond that, this gothic vampire love tale has transcended age and bridged every demographic, shattering records and hearts… surprising even its author.  But who could have predicted this epic literary/2.0 combination that’s fuelled an entirely new category of (hungry) consumers?

brand experiences, brand strategy, branding, smd marketing, smdmarketing, stephanie meyer, susan dore, Twilight, Twilight saga, Twilight series

How to describe the buzz around Julia Child… a resurgence?  A resurrection?  Not trying to be clever with the “r words” but those are the questions I asked myself when contemplating an attempt to capture the marketing story around the Julia phenomenon. 

I landed on renaissance because long before The Food network and media-moguls like Martha Stewart, there was Julia Child. 

A cooking legend for over 40 years, Julia personified the enjoyment of cooking and eating, forever changing the way we think about food. 

Fast-forward and the brand called Julia Child has “renaissanced” (not really a word but it is now)… from pioneering trail-blazer to mainstream fuelled the 2009 hit Julie & Julia.  Depicting true events in the life of Chef Julia Child in the early years in her culinary career, the movie contrasts her life with Julie Powell, the New York blogger who cooked her way through all 524 recipes from Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking in one year.

Sending box office, book and spin-off media sales through the roof, Julia Child is a fun case study in the drivers that make any brand “cool”: 

1. originality
2. uniqueness
3. timelessness
4. innovation

Originality/Uniqueness

• Delightfully candid with self descriptors like “enthusiastic carnivore”, she was as refreshing as she was adorable.  (Definitely an original.)
• And as the proud new owner of a box set of DVD’s capturing 36 episodes of Julia’s cooking show The French Chef, I can add that I had forgotten what a culinary comedian she was!  You can’t help but crack up watching her truss a goose and cry out “You just whack it off!” as she raises then slams a large knife down on a wing joint.  Then you think you’re watching an old Saturday Night Live episode when she lines up a long row of chickens on the counter to explain the difference between a roaster, fryer and every bird in between… they look like they’re going to break into a head-less song and dance. 
• And don’t even get me started on the whimsical, nasal lilt in her voice when she passionately and breathlessly exclaims things like, “And NOW it’s time to add the RED wyyyyyyyn”.  (You just gotta love her.)

Timelessness/Innovation

First published almost 50 years ago, Mastering the Art of French Cooking demystified the daunting, classic cuisine with easy-to-follow tips and techniques in plain English.  From bouillabaisse to her famous Boeuf Bourguignon, this French cooking bible/cookbook continues to show beginners and seasoned chefs the way.

You don’t have to be a foodie to be drawn into the joie de vivre around the Julia Child story.  It’s fantastically fun and charming… add that she lived 92, animated years savouring French food, butter and more butter?  Bon appétit! 

MY SOAPBOX:  While Hollywood certainly paid homage to the culinary icon and breathed new life into the enduring Julia Child legacy, the fact that she never allowed her name to promote a commercial product makes it even more of a marketing masterpiece in personal branding. 

Developing a personal brand is an imperative component of today’s on and offline world.  What’s your story?

brand experiences, brand strategy, branding, julia child, julie & julia, julie powell, mastering the art of french cooking, personal brand, Personal Branding, smd marketing, smdmarketing, susan dore, the french chef

When my old vacuum recently started to blow vs. suck, it was a little problematic.  Decided it was time to invest in a dirt-sucking solution that was built to last.  I’ve been fascinated by Dyson… how can you not be?  Hip commercials with casual, cool James Dyson talking about how he was frustrated by vacuum cleaners that clogged and lost suction – so he invented Dyson cyclone technology:  The first vacuum that doesn’t lose suction.

Like me, you’ve probably seen those Dyson ads and thought… this IKEA kind of dude built a business around vacuum suction?  I can assure you that you can’t fully appreciate the problem/solution here until you see dust bunnies forming a funnel-cloud in your living room because your vacuum blows.  Literally.

Research – I start with Dyson.com and was not only drawn in by what I can only describe as sexy looking machines, I was seduced by the story behind this brand.  Turns out James Dyson built 5,127 prototypes (what??) before he was satisfied with his powerful, bag-free technology.  Described as “a man that likes to make things work better”, all I can say is this guy was focussed!  Since then, the Dyson brand has broken through bag brainwashing and patent nightmares.  Now in over 15 million households, you could say Dyson has sucked up some serious market share.

Purchase – Next step, Home Depot where Dyson had decent display real estate and easy-to-follow point of sale material.  This is where the price-point comes in.  At $500+ a Dyson is an investment, however, strategic yet approachable brand positioning makes you feel like you’re buying the Jaguar of vacuums (psst!  Dysons don’t just come with operating instructions, they come with Owner’s Manuals).

Thought I’d need to recruit some muscle or at least a dolly to get the box to my vehicle…but it was so lightweight complete with a handle, it was no sweat.

Test-drive – Back at the ranch, assembly was effortless with 3 easy-snap pieces in a well-packed box with negative cardboard cuts.  I was vacuuming on all floor surfaces in no time flat, easily getting into nooks/crannies with a festival of built-in attachments… all while enjoying music that I didn’t need to blare to hear.  And light?  This unit is so ergonomic and easy to manoeuvre it feels like a dance partner.  (I can’t believe I’m romanticizing household cleaning but dragging around a heavy, awkward vacuum?  Well it sucks.)

The comprehensive collateral kit directed me to register online for my 5 year warranty – took under 2 minutes and the follow-up emails since then have been all about “me and my experience” vs. up-sell or intrusive side-offers.

And at the risk of sounding ridiculous, when I “parked” my shiny new Dyson in the closet… I smiled feeling a sense of pride in a worthwhile, well-executed purchase. 

And isn’t that what a great brand experience is all about?

MY SOAPBOX:  From easy-to-empty to easy-to-push, the Dyson brand has harnessed innovation in its quest to engineer “a new way to clean”.  And from worldwide industrial design awards to exhibits at modern art museums, Dyson has invented a euro-hip brand that’s reinvented the “category” of vacuums.  But that’s just the beginning.  In recent months I’ve seen/test-driven Dyson hand-dryers popping up in major North American airport washrooms.  Same technology – reverse application.  Guess what?  They blow vs. suck!  And just as brilliantly.

brand efficiency, brand experience, brand innovation, brand leadership, brand performance, brand promise, brand strategy, branding, branding continuity, dyson, dyson.com, innovation, smd marketing, smdmarketing, susan dore, vacuum technology, vacuums

Snooth.com has created the ultimate online wine experience.  A community with so many layers of functionality and ways to connect, it’s like the Facebook of wine.   An online brand designed to not only purchase wine and wine related products, but to actually participate in wine culture… digital viticulture if I could make an on-the-fly attempt at capturing the “X factor”?

There are an abundance of wine club type websites out there, but once landing on Snooth.com, it doesn’t take long to realize this online brand has harnessed the distinct technological advantage of innovation.

Beyond pedestrian wine and wine destination travel articles, Snooth.com offers:

Search– go hunting for wines by varietal, region or winery with multi-level search functionality (I’m talking easy, uber-search)

Customize – once you find the wines you’re looking for, build a wish-list and/or virtual wine cellar… which you can easily download/manage via an Excel spreadsheet

Buy– rare finds and bargains can be found and filtered by country/zipcode making shopping in your hood feel like winning the wine lottery

Participate – have fun rating and writing tasting notes on wines and suddenly… personal recommendations start showing up with wine suggestions that “you might like based on your taste preferences” (like book recommendations on Amazon only geared for your palate)

Eat – nirvana for foodies, wines you search and/or find come with food pairings and recipe recommendations (like a liquid Food Network)

Mingle – meet people with similar wine tastes, follow RSS feeds on wine reviewers you like, check-out forums on hot wine topics… it goes on and on

In fact, with so much going on, Snooth.com surprises wine aficionados and at the same time, is non-intimidating for neophyte, new sippers.  And it’s that appeal to a wide audience combined with mobile applications, seamless social marketing integration and more that makes Snooth.com a show-stopper.

The only marketing questionable that comes up for me is their tagline… “Find better wines”.  Hmmm… underwhelming or so strategically simplistic it sets the stage for so much more?

MY SOAPBOX:  It’s like the people behind Snooth.com crawled inside the aspiring minds of every wannabe sommelier… creating a multi-dimensional experience around a great bottle of wine.  Hell, you could have been weaned on boxed wine and your uncle’s porch-climber… yet, you land on this site and aspire to more.  You want to learn more.

Lots of online brands simply follow and ride the wave. 

Bravo to Snooth.com for being an epicurean example of leadership in their category on every plausible level… for now.

brand efficiency, brand experiences, brand leadership, brand performance, brand promise, brand strategy, branding, branding continuity, smd marketing, smdmarketing, snooth.com, Strategically Speaking, susan dore, wine

2010 vancouver olympics, 2010 winter games, brand buy-in, brand efficiency, brand experiences, brand performance, brand promise, branding, canada, canadian, hotel georgia, molson, molson canadian hockey house, rick antonson, shane koyczan, smd marketing, smdmarketing, susan dore, tourism vancouver, vancouver olympics, “we are more” poem

Living in the downtown hub of the 2010 Vancouver Olympic machine, I can officially report… it’s beyond overwhelming.  There are no words for the excitement, fun and international melting-pot of the mind-numbingly emotional highs and lows that come with celebrating these elite athletes.  But what’s taking it to epic levels is the digital experience.  And it’s being led by the Canadian television network, CTV.  

It’s Web 2.0 on steroids… squared.  Seriously.

Live TV is always great, but consider CTVOlympics.ca a value-added appendage to your journey in becoming the ultimate Olympic voyeur… fuelled by Microsoft Silverlight technology.  

Where-ever you are in the world, simply go to CTVOlympics.ca and enjoy:

• Live streaming audio of all events, which you can customize, jump around and view with ease… even if you’re a technical neophyte
• A live CTVchat-blog, MSN and Facebook feed to “friends” that are online
• Cool polls, athlete profiles and must-see event footage
• The latest scores, medal standings, photo-galleries, and an e-store for coveted Olympic garb

Other CTV touch-points:

• @CTVOlympics on Twitter for sound-bites of up-to-the-minute happenings
• CTV’s Olympic Facebook Fan Page for expanded news and chit-chat
• CTV branded videos/music on iTunes 
• FreeiTunes app  with mini-web platform (which I downloaded on my iTouch and prefer over their Blackberry web-link)
• CTV personalities host the Olympic Medal Ceremonies
• CTV has aligned with Bell on walk-in Olympic kiosks in all the right places to educate and convert cell-phone users to Bell where you can enjoy live streaming Olympic footage in the palm of your hand (I’m not on the Bell network but you gotta love the exclusive sponsorship advantage/lock-down!)

I’m sure there’s more I haven’t uncovered yet… as a marketer it’s as exhilarating as it is exhausting.  In fact, my real-time experience yesterday included catching Canadian Maelle Ricker win Gold in Snowboard Cross … I watched it on TV and had her qualifying video, winning video, Olympic history and more on my CTV laptop feed inside 60 seconds. 

We’re dialled in people… and the Olympic ride is just beginning, so strap in.  I’ll bet my red mittens we haven’t seen anything yet.

MY SOAPBOX:  The Vancouver 2010 Olympics have been hyped as the first true digital Games.  The CTV brand and network is the driving force behind that.  From a marketing “check-list” perspective, they’re off-the-charts on content with amped-up traditional online marketing channels combined with connectivity we’ve never seen before.  You bet I’m a proud Canadian, but fact is CTV has eclipsed every world-wide TV network to the extent that I’ve talked to visiting Americans who prefer CTV’s up-to-the-minute, impartial coverage (yes, they said impartial). 

STAGE-LEFT:  Next up, adventures at Olympic venues including the Molson Canadian Hockey House.  Have to say, the ticket-purchase process through Molson proved to be a highly publicized rough start.  It almost caused a media-frenzied Labatts Blue revolt (which is serious beer warfare in Canada in case you missed that).  Molson’s corporate band-aid was mediocre and mishandled… let’s see how a visit to their Hockey House for the Bronze Medal men’s hockey game plays out for me and my friends.  Could get ugly.

2010 vancouver olympics, 2010 winter games, brand buy-in, brand efficiency, brand experiences, brand performance, brand promise, branding, CTV, ctvolympics.ca, molson, molson canadian hockey house, smd marketing, smdmarketing, susan dore, vancouver olympics

Urban Barn – a hip, well-positioned home furnishing brand with soon-to-be 40 locations Canada-wide.

I had my first Urban Barn experience this past fall when I needed a dresser.  Great location, good selection, good service.  Dresser delivered… done.  Since then, Urban Barn has stayed in touch through occasional emails, but from a “brand experience” perspective, I thought we truly were done.  It was an efficient purchase and I’d certainly recommend them, but (as my favourite brand guru Seth Godin would say)… there was nothing “remarkable” about it.

Nothing remarkable, until now.  And if you haven’t heard about “Robbie”, HomeOnHowe and what’s going on with the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver BC… you will. 

Here’s the promote:  “Imagine Big Brother but with only 1 houseguest – Robbie.  For 17 days, during the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Robbie will live (yes, live) at the Howe Street Urban Barn location.”

Translation:  He can’t leave the store for 17 days.

As of this post, they’re 24 hours away from launch… kicking-off with Robbie doing his own Urban Barn Scented Candle Torch Relay on Granville Street at 9am tomorrow, Feb 12^th.  (Hysterical!)  On location, they’ve minimized the extra furnishing inventory, added plenty of flat-screens and invited anyone and everyone to drop-by and hang with Robbie during his 2+ week cave-man stunt.  There’s voyeur-videoing 24/7 so, if you happen to be bored watching luge finals, you’re welcome to check-in on Robbie at homeonhowe.com (could be scary, but hoping Robbie has bathrobe-decorum.)

For anyone in the hood looking to participate, there’s a Special Events Schedule.  So, besides the obvious Olympic line-up, you can also sign-up for Wii Challenges, Comedy Night, Open Mic Night, and more.  (Thankfully, they’ve also installed a shower…because that was the caveat for whether or not I’d drop by and visit Robbie.)

Anyway… how much fun is that??

MY SOAPBOX:  I have never even seen Big Brother, but from a brand experience perspective, Urban Barn has suddenly re-engaged me with this crazy dude.  And from a consumer perspective, they’ve taken an average brand experience and taken it to new heights by drawing me into a fun, compelling story.  An immutable law of marketing.

Urban Barn’s corporate party line to the media is that “they hope they’ll be top-of-mind in March” when the dust settles after the Olympics.  You know what?  Between the buzz Robbie’s creating and the drama in the coming days ahead, I don’t doubt it. 

But don’t just take my word for it… check out the following video to really set the scene.  (Note:  The bleeping of the word “Olympics” is compliance with the International Olympic Committee’s strict rules around word usage… again, funny… engaging…and compliant!)

STAGE-LEFT:  The Olympic machine has been unleashed in my fair city and it’s beyond exciting.  I’ll let the networks cover the sports… stay tuned for in-the-trenches updates on how the “corporate sponsor” brand experiences unfold.

Back to Robbie… check this out and bookmark homeonhowe.com (just for fun!)

2010 winter games, brand buy-in, brand efficiency, brand experiences, brand performance, brand promise, branding, homeonhowe, robbie, seth godin, smd marketing, smdmarketing, susan dore, urban barn, vancouver olympics