If you read last week’s blog, Events Are Back, we talked about the type of events that work best now that we’ve all realized just how many meetings could have been emails. This week, we’re taking the opportunity to highlight an event type that can serve many purposes and reach many people, without being confined to a single day or even a single location: marketing tours.
Below are three examples of tours that we’ve developed and are executing in 2021 for our clients to help solve both B2B and B2C marketing challenges:
B2C Tour: Brand Awareness and Consumer Engagement
On the road right now is a 14-city marketing tour designed to increase brand awareness and boost consumer engagement. In the wake of a business merger, our client needed a way to display two merged brands cohesively on the tour vehicles and displays. Jackson worked to develop all tour assets to accomplish this. Now that the show is on the road, we are also managing all logistics, including turnkey solutions for trailer maintenance, DOT support and logistics, and even an associate on-site at each stop to manage point of sale and merchandising on the road. Ultimately, the tour will allow our client to engage with consumers at various industry events around the country and increase the awareness of the brand merger, the wide breadth of products available and the other benefits the merger brings to their customers.
B2B Tour: Sales Training
Another way tours can help brands market is through training. Training salespeople or dealers on new products can help increase brand recommendations and grow sales. And while an annual sales meeting can reach owners and dealer principals, training tours reach retail salespeople who interact with customers daily. Local tour stops also allow the brand to address any specific questions or concerns that individual markets might have, ultimately building confidence and advocacy among the salesforce. Jackson is uniquely able to support these types of events from start to finish, including logistics, asset design and even the training program design and staffing. Currently, we are preparing for a seven-city tour for an automotive client. The tour will spend two days in each market, hosting up to 50 people each day in waves of 15 to 25. In addition to classroom learning, there will be ride-and-drive elements so that the salespeople can get invaluable hands-on experience with the products. For this portion, Jackson will source and transport all necessary vehicles, instructors, drivers and a course lead. This tour also has the potential to turn into a content-capture opportunity for social media.
Combination B2B/B2C Tour
Why not kill two birds with one shot–er–stone and combine a B2B and consumer-facing tour? That is exactly what our client in the outdoor/hunting market is doing. When the 12-city tour pulls into various retail locations across the country, the first day will be spent with local dealers and retailers to train on product features and benefits to help drive sales through the local channels. The next day will be a consumer-facing engagement event. Consumers do not often have the chance to interact with these high-end, aspirational products. So the tour will bring tons of products directly to the consumers, giving them the opportunity to get their hands on these highly sought-after products. Jackson supported tour development through collaboration with various service groups, including creative, events, interactive and social media. Our production team did a lot of heavy lifting, producing over 55 display assets for the tour, many being custom items. And our creative team may have had the most fun of all, designing custom product durability demonstrations involving items like microwaves, freezers, aquariums and more.
Of course, these are just a few examples of how marketing tours can benefit a brand. Tours can be useful for product launches, promotions, media or influencer activation, sponsorships and more. If you want to feel like a rockstar on tour with Jackson, reach out to us and see how we can creatively support you!
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