“The day before I shot this video, I was SUP surfing with a couple friends and 2 sharks circled us for about 15 minutes. the next day, i decided to go back out at around the same time and take my GO PRO HD HERO camera (gopro.com) mounted on a 10 ft pole and do some exploring. Sure enough within 5 minutes a 9 ft shark came out of nowhere and circled twice and slapped his tail on my board before disappearing. then a minute later a 7 ft young juvenile Great White swam circles around me for 12 minutes. It was an unreal experience that I will cherish forever.”

Whether knowingly or unwittingly, Chuck is a living example of how brands can connect with their audience through great content. His desire to live life on his terms and put himself in situations most people would run a mile from, creates stories that would have become pub legend in days gone by. Give him a digital camera, Vimeo account and next thing, he has more viewers than Australia’s Got Talent, Packed To The Rafters, MasterChef - Final Masterclass and State Of Origin 3. I am sure GoPro would have been wrapped to be the product Chuck turned too to capture his experience and I bet they didn’t pay him for 2.1 million eyeballs and a bullet proof recommendation!!

Inspiring individuals, natural brand fit, camera and social media channel – sounds easy doesn’t it?

http://vimeo.com/14054518

adidas Originals Store, Chadstone VIC
adidas Originals Store, Sydney NSW
adidas Originals Store, Adelaide SA
adidas Originals Store, Gold Coast QLD

Hype DC Melbourne and Chatswood
Espionage, Sydney NSW
Sneak N Destroy , Mermaid Beach QLD
Laced, Brisbane QLD
Da Klinic, Adelaide SA
Denim & Cloth, Hyde Park SA
Key Sole, Fremantle WA
Highs & Lows, Mt Lawley WA
Route 66, Launceston TAS

If the shoe fits….you get to keep the shoes for free!

Thanks to the guys at Hell Yeah Magazine for picking this great promotion up. It’s another great example of how an experiential idea can deliver on a brand’s objectives across live and digital channels:
- Positive conversation around the brand -tick
- Driving customers into the retail channel for a positive and deeper experience – tick
- A subsequently stronger bond with the brand and more positive conversation – tick

The campaign has been giving away pairs of brand new adidas Originals sneakers every Wednesday, Thursday and Friday at select stores in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Mt Maunganui. Store locations and promo kick off times will be posted the day before each giveaway through adidas Originals’ Facebook and Twitter pages:

http://www.facebook.com/adidasoriginals

http://twitter.com/adi_originals

Fans can also keep track of locations through the participating stores’ web online media and for on-the day-messages through the mighty bNet.

Once people know where to go, and when, all they have to do is hit the streets and turn up at the participating stores. If their feet match the size of the shoes being given away that day, they keep them. Simple as that. But take note. With limited pairs on offer each day it’s first in, first served!

Runners up prizes will also on offer, including the chance to win tickets to adidas Originals’ massive Street Party in Auckland on June 3, the local culmination of adidas Originals’ global street party campaign, featuring celebrities such as Cobrasnake, Snoop Dogg, Agyness Deyn and Jeremy Scott.

Perhaps this scarcity is why, when we come across it, it is all the more powerful and subsequently ripe for sharing and passing on with our peers. The following Heineken campaign, to activate their sponsorship of the Champions League, demonstrates the power of great humour – 1136 people involved in the joke, millions more who enjoyed it being recounted.

To date though, economists and CFOs however, have not held such ‘soft’ approaches to business in high regard due to their often, intangible nature and inability to be measured as anything other than a cost by traditional accounting metrics. While the obvious success of Virgin, Camper and their experience centric compatriots goes a long way to helping re-write the old rules of staff engagement, the fellows at M.I.T. have also now weighed in. Some of the people at the top of the economist tree, claim that the social experiments they have been conducting have upended almost everything that modern management takes as a given and that science has created new rules where performance is driven primarily by the sense of purpose we experience in our work place.

Dan Pink brings the reams of research to life in a nice piece he did for the RSA in the UK…

At the other end of the scale, where the Experience Gap is at its greatest, you find brands with a disproportionate focus on traditional advertising vs. the customer experience. Traditional advertising is built on its power to build desire and expectation. If this expectation is not met the brand faces significant reduction in customer loyalty, ultimately leaving the business in a costly cycle of customer acquisition dependence and customer service reliance.

The move is expected to be both part brand and sales focussed. Hopefully this will provide inspiration to other FMCG brands in retailer dominated markets that the power can be wrestled back and that the source of the power lies in the experience you offer.