How Events Can Help to Tell Your Brand Story
As marketers, we love a good story. We seek to tell them through the messages and content we put out there for ourselves and our clients daily. But while we're all great at telling stories, what we don't do nearly enough of is create them.
We recently worked with Jamaican mega-brand CB Foods on the arrival of two of their household brands, CB Chicken and Bad Dawg Sausages, in Cayman. Avid believers in creating memorable experiences for their consumers over traditional advertising methods, we developed a series of experience-led events and initiatives to showcase what it means to “Live Better with CB Foods,” and here’s what we learned along the way:
The best way to turn strangers into customers is to put your brand directly in front of them, instead of fighting for their attention in a sea of marketing messages. Brand new to Cayman, but a household name in Jamaica, CB Foods took a “you’re already there” approach to their first foray into the local market. Identifying where one of their key target audiences would already be hanging out, CB Foods took a major sponsorship at “I Love Jamaica Day 2018” and debuted to the Jamaican community living in Cayman, many of whom were loyalists to the brand back home.
No one will remember the brand that simply had its logo everywhere, however, they will remember the brand that created amazing additional experiences that would never have been if the brand hadn’t been there at all. CB Foods’ series of ‘Food Villages’ turned basic food stands into buzzing community hubs, with living greenery walls, rustic stalls serving exclusively CB Foods’ products, family-style picnic areas, interactive chalkboard walls and a branded pop-up photo booth with instant-print takeaway photos.
Go beyond a basic sponsorship and demonstrably make your brand activation seen as improving whatever it is you are aligning yourselves with. The experience should be memorable, but relevant to the people attending, so brainstorm something innovative and unique that will ensure you leave a mark on your audience’s mind. At “I Love Jamaica Day,” CB Foods hosted a Bad Dawg hot dog eating competition, which drew large crowds to the main stage. Letting your customers see, touch, feel – and in CB Foods’ case, also taste – your product will trigger a sense of connection between your brand and the customer.
Use your brand activation as a co-branding opportunity and partner with like-minded companies and individuals to amplify your experiences, especially if said co-brands are recognisable locally or with your target audience. CB Foods’ found the best local street food vendors, including Smokin’ Bros, Smokies, Quality Jerk, Shirley’s and Top Taste, to advocate for their products across a series of high-traffic events, providing them with set-up and CB Foods’ product, with all sales proceeds benefitting them. It’s important that your partners benefit from your activation, too – you want the experience to be a win-win-win: for you, your partners, and the consumer.
While it’s important to create a brand experience in a tangible, offline way, you’ll still want an online dialogue around it. Following the events, and to support their arrival in local supermarkets, CB Foods’ gifted product and marketing collateral to key local chefs, media, foodie bloggers and influencers to experience a first-hand taste of the brand’s Grade A, hormone-free chicken, and all-meat sausages, and encouraged them to use these to demonstrate to their audiences what it means to them to “Live Better,” be it a weekend barbeque with family or creating new recipes to comply with a healthy eating challenge.
Ph. by CB Foods and our own.
