Mindmeld

What's up, poppers! Really looking forward to our little session today. To start it off, we thought it might be a good idea to define the problem first and then go into different categories of how we can solve that problem.

Here's how we see it.

The problem
popchips is looking to garner mondo publicity to coincide with the roll-out of their brand in NYC during Q1. In a city known for big stunts, what are some creative ways to deliver the popchips brand messaging while gaining local and national media attention? Can this be done by leveraging the pogo poppers concept?

Areas to explore

One-off events
PR stunts
Special events
Create partnerships/tie-ins with retailers
Cause marketing
Groundswell



We're sure we'll dive into some other areas as well, but these are some brain appetizers to get us started. Talk to you soon.

Tomorrow's Forecast: Stormy

We love brainstorming. We hope you do, too. But before we jump right in, it's good to have a few rules. Here are some general ones we like to follow:

Stretch your mental muscles.
Warm up. Take five and think about something completely different.

Sharpen the focus.
Start with a well-honed statement of the problem at hand. Edgy is better than fuzzy. The best topic statements focus outward on a specific customer need or service.

Number ideas.
It’s not counterintuitive. Numbered lists create goals to motivate participants. Try it.

Build and jump.
Nurture the conversation in its early stages, step out of the way as the ideas start to flow, and then jump in again when energy starts to peter out.

Get physical.
Cut it. Punch it. Build it. Bring it.

Make the space remember.
Write everywhere but don’t stop the flow to write.

See me in NYC

New Yorkers have seen it all. We just watched a video of an elf beating up Santa in Manhattan. No one on the streets even gave them a second look. (BTW: The elf won.) That's New York in a nutshell.

Cutting through the clutter in one of the most cluttered cities in the world is tough, but it's not impossible. Here are a few ideas that did.

Banksy's Pet Store and Grill




Ray-ban Flash-mob



Ray-ban has almost proven that mobile marketing can be so much more than stupid little banner ads pushed to your phone. The sunglass company staged a fake flash-mob to stare at their newly commissioned billboard artwork and attracted a lot of attention: [via UTalkMarketing]


NYC Waterfalls

"The New York City Waterfalls" is a public art project of four man-made waterfalls rising from New York Harbor, some as high as the Statue of Liberty. Organized by the nonprofit Public Art Fund and the city of New York, it is being billed as the city's biggest such project since "The Gates," the $20 million effort by the artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude in 2005.

Meppy Chrishanzaa!

Under the Big Pop with the Pogo Poppers

We were thinking the other day (we sometimes do that) about the pogo movement and how cool of an idea it is, and we were trying to come up with some more ways to blow it out besides the pogo parade. Which led us to an interesting idea. What if the pogo poppers were part of a family of performers, like a circus. Mmmm, interesting. But has any brand ever put on its own circus before? No? Even more interesting. A captive sampling experience that has never been done before. That's awesome. There are so many ways to go with it. Maybe there's something there, maybe not. What do you think? We just thought it was a cool idea and wanted to share it. After all, that's what this blog is all about, right? Don't get us wrong. We still love our original idea, and we think you should completely own pogo. We just wanted you to know that we're still thinking about ways to blow up your brand. That's all.

A new look at an old favorite... the circus.


Maybe for sampling...

Some cool interactive examples

Here are some sweet, interactive ooh (saying ooh is so much more fun than saying out of home) examples. This is the technology we would use for our popart concept. Check it out...

Elle




Nesquick




Converse

Unlike anything else...

... that's popchips.

You're the brand innovators. You're the leaders of the snack pack. You're unlike anything else on the market, and your 2009 sampling program should reflect that.

When we spoke last, we heard you wanted two things: 1) bags in mouths and 2) a unique popchips experience to help build a ground swell in 2009.

And that's what we're going to give you.

Sure, we could have played it safe and hooked up a Wii or some cheezy dancing heads game to your current Honda Element fleet and called it a day, but that's not popchips. That's not unique. That’s not us. We're betting you guys don't play it safe, because chances are, if Keith Belling played it safe, we wouldn't be having this conversation.

We don't play it safe either. Our concepts are completely unique, designed specifically for popchips. And just like popchips, no one will ever confuse these concepts with being ordinary.

So here they are. They are not final concepts. They are merely ideas for us to build on together. They represent our thinking, creativity and our passion for your product. We hope you enjoy them... or at least one... or at least one aspect of one.

Now, let's get pop'in!

CONCEPT 1: The popchips pogo movement

A new look at an old favorite. No, we’re not talking about popchips, but rather a unique, fun and healthier activity that’s poised for a huge comeback. That’s right, we’re talking pogo, people. But this isn’t your dad’s popstick, this is a whole new game. 6ft airs. Popping over cars. Tandem tricks. Check it...

And if that video doesn’t get you pumped, this will… there are no brands in the pogo game. You have the unique opportunity to completely own an activity that not only appeals to young and hip influencers, but also gatekeeper moms and their shorties. And this is how you can own it…


The Ride

Calling it a ride is an understatement. When it’s not cruising down the road as a mobile billboard, it transforms into a one-of-a-kind sampling, self-contained pogo park that makes them stop, stare and pop.

The Experience
Our crew of Pogo Poppers, an MC, and ambassadors kick start the show. Bass beats in the background blare from the ride. A crowd gathers. Brand ambassadors engage them. Little Timmy asks if he can join in. Of course he can. That’s why we’ve got additional branded pogo sticks available. He can even become an honorary member of the team and learn some tricks while mommy tries a healthier snack that he’s sure to love. And we he’s done, we’ll give him a popchips pogometer to take home so he can see how many times he can pop.

The Online Connection
After little Timmy or hipster Billy falls in love with the pop and the pogo, they can go online to your website to find instructional videos, upload their own videos and pogometer readings, and learn how Popchips has become the official sponsor of the pogo. We’ll even team up with the hottest pogo maker in the game, Flybar, to make branded pogos available through the site.

The Big Pop
But if you guys want to truly become pop stars, go big with a giant PR explosion that will get everyone talking. Start off the tour with a bang and create a flash-mob experience like no other… A thousand person Pogo Parade across the Brooklyn Bridge in NYC. Now that’s how you start a tour.

CONCEPT 2: Snack Around the Clock -- The P.O.S. (Point of Snack) Munchie Mobile

10 o’clock. 3 o’clock. 6 o’clock. 8 o’clock. Midnight. Anytime is snack time. And when you need your fix, The Munchie Mobile is there. It doesn’t matter if it’s a corporate park, city park or a kiddie park; we’re dropping bags in mouths… and looking pretty cool while doing it.

The Ride
Snack shacks never looked like this before. Part chip cart, part snacker haven, this little wonder can tackle the busy streets as well as the tight terrain (beaches, campuses, sporting events, etc). Not only can you load this little sucker up with product, it’s also environmentally friendly.


The Experience

And when we’re not going to them with the MM, we’ll make them come to us with a destination snack experience. Call it home base or the mothership for the MM. It’s a snackers’ oasis. This pop-up snackers’ lounge is the perfect place to get away and get your snack on. We’re thinking retro arcade games, an evolution of snack display, and the snackers’ credo messaging throughout the inside. On the outside, we’ll change the game of bag toss to bag-to-mouth toss games. It’s perfect for schools, outside of stores, little league games on the weekends and late night bar haunts.

The Online Connection
Even the best snackers could use a little reminder now and then. That’s why we’ll develop a desktop Snacktime Widget. Shaped like a mouth, this little alarm clocks goes off every few hours to remind the lucky user it’s snack time!

The Big Pop
To really blow out the POS concept, let’s converge on the crowds where the POS is most relevant. Why not take over movie theatres and replace their popcorn machines with complimentary popchips? Let’s give the crowd at PNC Park (or whatever it’s called this week) a round of popchips with the first popup of the game. Let’s turn NYC commuter trains into popcars. Let’s fish where the fish are and put a lot of bags in a lot of mouths.

CONCEPT 3: Get popped!

Warhol. Lichtenstein. You. With popchips’ popart, everyone can become a famous artist. No art education required. No paint necessary. No skill needed. Just you and the coolest canvas ever made.

The Ride


Maybe at first glance it looks like your average delivery truck, but that’s before you walk next to it. The Popmobile features two large interactive screens that are motion activated.




The Experience

This is the really cool part. The screens are giant electronic canvases. Every move of an arm or jump in the air creates a paint stroke on-screen. To further enhance the pop painting experience, you can select one of five different colors (corresponding with each popchips' flavor) and add different pop effects to create your very own Warhol. Another option would be to use a green screen and have consumers’ own images inserted into pre-existing pop art template images.



The Online Connection
Once they're done poppin’, consumers will be given a code that they can enter on Popchips.com to download their masterpiece. We’ll even have an online art gallery and let people vote on their favorite pieces. And don’t worry if you didn’t make it to Popmobile, you can still create a pop print with an online version of the application. This handy app will even allow you to Pop your Facebook friends’ profile pics… “You got popped!”

The Big Pop
Let’s make a splash with a real exhibit. Think MOMA meets pop-up art gallery. We can rent a space and invite some celebs and critics to our “pop” exhibit’s opening. We could even have a traveling exhibit and hold grassroots art contests in select markets.

CONCEPT 4: Wiz, Bang, Pop!

Some mobile units are designed for utilitarian purposes. Some are designed with pure sampling in mind. Then there are those rare vehicles that become something more. They become icons.


Let’s make one. Let’s make a vehicle so unique it will stop people in the streets and have them staring in disbelief. Let’s make a vehicle that speaks to a chip so special, it could only be made by magic. Let’s give young and old alike a sight, sound and taste explosion unlike anything else. Let’s give them the Wiz, Bang and Pop!

The Ride
Think Weinermobile meets Willy Wonka meets Ghostbusters’ car meets the Music Machine. Conveyor belts. Tubing. A popping bubble. Whistles. You would hardly even know a delivery truck lies beneath. Pure Fun. Pure Pop.


The Experience
When the whistle blows, the magic starts. Don’t be scared, Jimmy. Come up and push this button. Gears rotate. Air blows. He’s making popchips now. He follows the process carefully, watching every mechanism move. Then he gets ready for the big moment. Steam shoots and then it happens. POP! Bags of popchips are ejected into the air for him to catch. Jimmy smiles in disbelief. It’s hard to believe Jimmy is actually Jim, a Wall Street stockbroker. Because at this moment, he’s been completely transformed by the magic of the Wiz, Bang, Popmobile. And he’s not going home empty handed or with an empty stomach. He’ll get his choice of branded instruments, like a slide-whistle or popmaker.

The Online Connection
Wiz, Bang, Pop! the video game will allow anyone with a keyboard to captain the vessel. Users will navigate the cruiser through busy streets with the goal of shooting bags of chips into giant moving, mouth targets.

The Big Pop
Big ideas require big executions, and we’re not going to lie to you, this one is big. Let’s put your brand on the biggest stage in the world, the Great White Way. Let’s rent a Broadway theatre space for a week and put on a show. Pop! A sight, sound, and taste explosion.


It’s the blue man group meets Stomp. It’s the Wiz, Bang, Popmobile onstage, live. Tickets are given gratis at TKTS outlets and each night 2,500 individuals are blown away by the latest Broadway hit… all while sampling your chips.

The 411

The Schedule
Based on whatever bang-up creative path you choose, we’ll route a sampling experience around your 3 designated markets to places like:

• key retailers
• chain accounts
• skate parks
• schools / schoolyards
• parks and recreational areas
• business districts
• munchie magnet mavens
• nightlife areas
• AVP tour events
• and anything else you want to try… anything is fair game

It all depends on what creative path we travel and the flexibility of the vehicle size and/or experience. Either way, we see Switch as heading up the development of the sampling schedule for the entire 27-week experience. We can work hand-in-hand with a popchips local market manager to leverage existing events and/or retailer visits – or we can tackle the development of the sampling schedule entirely on our own. And either way, we’ll make it work.

We’ll work hard to get as many bags into peoples’ mouths as we can. And we’ll keep track of our success.

The Measurement
So you say you want a groundswell in ’09? Not a problem... but we also want to insure you get the biggest bang for your buck. If the goal is 1mm bags to mouth, we can make it happen -- both effectively and efficiently.

So how do we track that success:
1. by % redemption of coupons on sampling bags (specially coded on .4 oz bags just for program)
2. sales lift post-event at local area retailers
3. number of displays generated at retailers
4. # bags ultimately distributed
5. use of switchmobileprojects.com (an on-line event reporting tool we use to recap events, post data and show photos)
6. anything else popchips’ heart desires

Let’s build in a component for measurement up front, at the start of sampling, so we have a snapshot of what doing a bang-up job looks like…hey, that makes sense to us too.

The Costs
We know you asked for a cost estimate that covers strategic planning, staff time and program operating expenses. In thinking ahead, this should probably cover the cost of the actual vehicle(s) too.

You asked, we shall deliver. Let’s just pick a conceptual direction first, then we’ll get after it. There’s a lot of ways to skin a cat, and we'll scale a concept to fit your budget range. We just thought we’d use our first three days together as partners to knock your socks off creatively. Previously, we spoke of collaboration... here's where it most applies. Guide us a little, give us some feedback and we'll circle back to provide you exactly what you need in order to move forward. We've already started the process. Once we hone in on specific concept(s) and element(s) that resonate with your team, we can clearly define:

• program oversight
• # of event days per week
• # of samples/through-put required at each event
• crew size required to implement sampling
• crew roles and responsibilities
• vehicle size required to effectively execute concept
• storage space and proximity to city
• vehicle/product storage
• brand messaging
• crew hiring and training
• DOT/liability/insurance


Oh, let’s not forget about our brew buddies
Beer and chips go great together! We know that. We also know a few people who might be interested in talking it over a cold Budweiser. We can set that up… if, of course, you’re interested. Let’s get drinkability to meet snackability.

Cool stuff

Inspiration can come from the strangest of places. Sometimes it comes from within our industry, but more often than not, it comes from the outside. Here a few things we dig.

Nike AST Mobile (Click for story)




Takraw



Amazing. Simply Amazing.


Futuristic Ice Cream Truck (link)


Screw Wham!



Don't get too excited. We didn't go the 80s pop route. We just love this. It's spot-on. Keytars rule.

Missing the Target

We know we're in the Midwest, but come on Target Stores, get with the program! No BBQ popchips? They've got Archer Farms dominating the shelf space. You know what we call that? Chip nepotism. There can only be one reason for this grave oversight... they're scared of the pop. How ironic is it that a store called Target is so clearly missing the bulls-eye. I guess we'll just have to wait 'til June for their aim to get better.

Ideas should be like chips. Never baked. Never fried.

Have you ever gotten a deck from an agency and wondered, "What were they thinking?" If you haven't yet, trust us, you will. That's because most proposals are static .ppt that don't allow for any real discussion or insight into the final product. That's lame. Really lame. A client-agency partnership is just that... a partnership. We believe the best ideas come from true collaboration. And that means working with our clients as early in the process as possible. If we're expected to work together for 27 weeks, we need know if we can work together for 27 hours first. So that's what this blog is all about. Let's get to know each other a little. Not only will we be presenting our final ideas here, we'll also be posting our inspirations along the way. Maybe some amusing anecdotes, too. But the best part is that we can make it two-way. You guys can add your comments to the bottom of any post. Make suggestions. Tell us we suck. Tell us we rock. We don't care. We just want to collaborate and create a unique experience that's going to blow up your brand next year. Let's do something new. Unique. Special.

Hi there. We're the ones you spoke with.

If we're going to be partners in this thing, we both better know who and what we're dealing with, right? So let's throw it out there... the good, the bad and the ugly (We'll let you figure out which is which). Let's get naked, metaphorically speaking, of course. Unless you guys are into that kind of thing, and then we'll have to find some new pics. So without further adieu... Adieu? Who says that? Anyway, this is us. We hope you like us. We really, really do... adieu.


Julie Decker, Vice President, Account Development
Behind every good experiential event lies a good woman. That's why companies like A-B, Glaceau and Dickies call our fearless leader first. For 15 years, Julie has delivered some pretty impressive stuff. Need a 92-vehicle sampling program in 47 markets? Call Julie, it's done. Want a knock-your-socks-off Kelly Clarkson karaoke tour? Donezo. What's that you say? The largest brewery in the world wants a summer program? She'll make it Rock... Paper, Scissors. Oh, she's also a bad-ass mechanical-bull rider.


Andrew Mullins, Account Exec to the Stars/VP All Things on Wheels (He made that up)Some say he was raised by circus performers. Others think he was spawned from a caffeine experiment gone wrong. Either way, he’s one hell of a hyper-active juggler. Not only does he know how to run mobile tours (Bud Light Lounge, Budweiser BBQ Sauce Mobile Grill), spin records on the weekends for tastemaker events and keep his clients smilin’; he does whatever it takes to get the feel (or flavor) of a brand. He hasn't stopped eating your chips since Sunday. Seriously. It's getting a little weird.


Creative Director Brent Coder (masked) and Copywriter Mark Philip (wigged) They don't always dress like this... just on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. Fridays are formal. Don't let their boyish good looks fool ya. Between the two of them they have over 20 years of experience coming up with big bang ideas for major CPG clients like A-B, Dickies, Glaceau, Hanes, Hardee's (That's Carl's Jr. for you Left Coasters), Scottrade and countless others.