BMW's Ultimate Driving Experience Returns for Another Tour

BMW's Ultimate Driving Experience Returns for Another Tour

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The need for speed is something every driver understands, and so is the desire to drive a luxury car. Imagine having both urges fulfilled at the same time, and you have the appeal of the BMW Ultimate Driving Experience.

After a year-long break, the Ultimate Driving Experience is back and making the rounds. It features activities for everyone from experienced racers to beginning drivers, instruction from BMW's staff of professional drivers, and of course, the chance to drive plenty of fast BMW cars.

Unlike many experiential marketing events, these activities aren't all available for free or even a token price. It costs $750 to attend the M Car Control Clinic, which provides students with a full eight hours of driving M-Series cars, instruction and practice at performing high-speed skids, and the chance to maneuver through slalom courses. Other activities include a two-hour closed-course driving program featuring the BMW 5 Series. These programs both come with automatic entry into a driving competition.

Twelve winners will be selected for the finals of the driving competition. They will win a trip to BMW Performance Center West in Thermal, CA to complete the driving competition.

Teen drivers aren't left out of the loop. They'll get to take a driver's education program that features basics like adapting driving methods for different weather conditions, avoiding accidents, and braking. This traveling program is based on the driver training program offered at the Thermal CA location, but what makes this program truly different is that participants will be learning to drive in BMW 2 Series and 3 Series cars. That certainly beats the basic workhorses most driver's ed programs use!

The goal of these programs is to prove to attendees that BMW's tagline, "the Ultimate Driving Machine," is not just marketing hyperbole. After experiencing the speed and maneuverability of BMWs under the no-limits conditions of a closed course, drivers should be quite convinced that this brand isn't about driving around slowly in land yachts. Instead, it is just as much about having fun as it is about attention to the finer details.

Six cities will be visited during this year's tour of the Ultimate Driving Experience. It began its trek at Met Life Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ and will finish back home in Thermal, CA. With such a range of activities to choose from, attendees will always be sure to have a fun and unforgettable experience.

One of the keys to success with a touring experiential marketing program is to choose the right cities and venues for your stops. If your tour will be coming to Florida, consider Miami's Soho Studios. Our venue has up to 70,000 square feet of indoor space and two outdoor pavilions. These can be configured to meet your needs whether you need all of the space or just part of it. We can also handle the design, set-up, and peripheral needs of your event. To learn more or book space for your Miami stop, just contact us.

Why SPAM® Jumped on the Tour Train

Why SPAM® Jumped on the Tour Train

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Tiny houses and marketing tours have both been making waves recently, and the SPAM brand has jumped onto the trend with its Tiny House of Sizzle tour. This tour features a towed tiny house, painted in SPAM's iconic blue and yellow colors, that is traveling across the country serving SPAM recipes to those who enter. These recipes are cooked right inside the house in the Tiny SPAM Kitchen that makes up its heart. This will show those who have managed to miss out on the smells and sounds of sizzling SPAM how great it is just waiting for it to come out of the pan. Of course, the finisher for the experience will be the meal that gets served at the end, so no one will have to leave hungry.

The recipes used in the Tiny House of Sizzle will be chosen to highlight the product's versatility. Many have been developed by local chefs and influencers to tie in on food trends across the nation. Even so, those who want their SPAM in a traditional form won't be out of luck: SPAM sliders and other such favorites are on the menu.

SPAM has chosen this form of marketing not only to be trendy, but to engage all of the patrons' five main senses. There will be smells, sounds, sights, the feel of the food, and of course, the taste of the dishes all waiting to be enjoyed. The company is sure that after all of this, no one will forget the experience or the brand that provided it.

This tour won't just help the SPAM brand. The brand has partnered with Convoy of Hope, a hunger-fighting charity, to help raise funds for food. Each person who texts SIZZLE to 50555 will cause SPAM to donate $5 to Convoy of Hope. The brand will also match people's own donations dollar-for-dollar up to a total of $25,000.

A total of 12 cities, some of which have already been visited, are on the schedule for the Tiny House of Sizzle Tour. Many of the appearances are connected to food and other festivals, so they will be part of a larger fun experience. This will allow the company to catch people while they're already excited and having a good time, which will further cement the association between SPAM and positive feelings.  

While tours are fun to do, they aren't in the plans of every company. Experiential marketing also works when it takes place at a stationary venue in one or more popular cities. This allows more people to attend your event and it lets you avoid the expense of driving all over the country with a specially-designed vehicle.

For a great venue in Miami, try Soho Studios. We can provide up to 70,000 square feet of configurable, customizable space for your extravaganza. If you'd rather have your event outdoors, one or both of our two outdoor pavilion areas will provide just what you need. We also have a variety of service packages to take care of any details you don't want to have to handle on your own. For more information, just give us a call.

How to Map Out the Perfect Pop-up Tour

How to Map Out the Perfect Pop-up Tour

Digital communication rules the world, so how do companies make that personal connection with their target audience? They "pop-up" in some very special places, so their marketing plan is not just about promotion, but about appealing to the different emotions that drive consumers. Pop-up shops are all the rage right now because they grab their attention with hands-on interactions to dazzle them up close and personal. How can you map out your next pop-up tour to get the best ROI?

Establish Measurable Goals that Cater to the Audience

The moniker "know your audience" fits almost any marketing scenario including creating a successful pop-up tour. When Disney wanted to promote their Doc McStuffin show in the UK, they didn't set up Doc clinics in office buildings or on the street; they picked venues like Toys R Us and Smyths because they appeal not just to kids, but to parents, grandparents and aunts, too.

They took a multifaceted approach when planning their pop-up strategy. Their goals didn't focus just on increasing ratings for their show, but on retailing merchandise and creating a buzz for the characters, as well. The acted on goals they could track on social media, too, instead of just tallying up the revenue from event to event.

Find Spaces That Mesh With the Brand

Be a visual thinker when picking out venues. Visual space says something about a brand. Consider Supreme clothing stores. Each one has visual clues that related directly to the brand image such as the parquet floors and steel rails. They wouldn't think of opening a pop-up at a country fair or in a dirty warehouse because that is not the look they want.

Promotion, Promotion, Promotion

Marketing your pop-up before, during and after each event is the key to success. Adidas combined both a celebrity appearance and a fan challenge to get people buzzing about their D Rose Jump Store before it opened. Use every form of content marketing at your disposal from your website to the company Facebook page to get the word out. If sponsoring multiple pop-up locations, consider an app or map that fans can use to track each event.

Use some social media tactics to promote live as it happens, too. Trolli and 7-Eleven went with free giveaways at the beach to market both a new candy brand and the Slurpee inspired by it.

#slothsome

What's your hashtag going to be? Add some real-time graphics to make people wish they were there, too. Snapchat, Facebook Live, Vine, Instagram – set up one or more and appoint a brand ambassador to manage the show.

Before moving on to the next place on the tour, make sure people understand what they missed at the last one. Provide statistics if possible, lots of pictures and some videos of all the fun along with information for the next few stops.

Take Notes and Learn

When the final guest leaves and you pack up to go to the next venue, reflect on what you learned at this one. What worked and what didn't? Ask for feedback during the event and online afterward, too. Grow with each stop on your tour to make the next one that much more meaningful.