Had a meeting at our offices a few weeks back and folks came in talking about this cool promotion they saw up the block. There was a life guard stand right at the corner of Prince & Broadway and the life guard was telling people that sharks were in the water and to be careful. So, after the meeting I walked up the block to see what all the hoopla was about and encountered two lifeguards and the lifeguard stand. Both lifeguards were good, but the guy in the chair was a hoot. Funny and really playing his role well, he made sure that people had a good time while delivering the message about Shark Week for Discovery Channel. It was done by Interference and I ran into Sam Ewen, the head of Interference, while I was there and congratulated him on what was clearly a successful experience.
This morning on my way to work, on the same street corner, I encountered another street team person handing out samples of their product. I don't want to get this person into trouble by mentioning the brand, but, suffice it to say, this person wasn't very good. Could barely understand what she was saying and she actually seemed pretty shy for being part of a street team.
I'll tell you, as much as I like being on stage or presenting at conferences, I wouldn't be a good member of a street team. But, if you're going to hire street teams, they should be as outgoing as the liveguard that Sam hired. As I said in Experience Manifesto: Shouldn't Every Employee be a Brand Ambassador?, every employee needs to be a brand ambassador, but your brand ambassadors really need to be good at what they do.
David
You make an excellent point here. It amazes me how many brands spend a considerable amount on their street promotion and then assume or trust that those executing are working in the brand favor and not undoing all the work and planning around it. They are called brand ambassadors for a reason. And if they are not correctly representing your brand, they are doing something wrong. Would you spend $250,000 on a tv spot placement and then hire a high school film student to direct? Well why are they doing so with their promotion?
Posted by: Sam | August 17, 2008 at 10:48 PM