One of the many unfortunate downsides of a down-turned economy is a resistance to innovative brand promotion. I am currently seeking sponsors for a unique summer-long event that directly reaches over 21,000 kids. The opportunity is brilliant — a sponsorship dream — but this year, marketers are not seeing it that way. (They’re not even calling me back!) The event is called Rock Star Camp, and its short history reveals a lot about the state of the advertising industry today.
Rock Star Camp is an interactive music workshop that travels from summer camp to summer camp throughout the East coast. Julius C, a young band based in New York, goes to a new camp every day. In the mornings and afternoons, they meet with each bunk/cabin/wigwam/what-have-you to rehearse a pre-selected song (anything from the Beach Boys to the Backstreet Boys).
In the evening, the entire camp performs a concert in which the kids release their inner American Idol and Julius C plays a few upbeat tunes of their own. Band members immerse themselves in each camp’s culture, eating meals with the kids, learning the camp cheers, and teaching the camps some cheers of their own. It’s a positive experience to say the least.
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To campers, Julius C represents undeniable coolness and inspires the kind of enthusiasm and adoration you might think only the Jonas Brothers could ignite. To any youth oriented brand, Julius C represents a way to reach their demographic during those unusual summer-camp months, when kids are cut off from all television and digital media, all marketing and promotion. Rock Star Camp is a Trojan Horse.
In 2007, Puma Kids first glimpsed the sponsorship potential. The footwear company paid a pretty penny to hang a banner at every show and print their logo on all the CDs, T-shirts and posters given to campers. (Puma never contacted the band after they wrote the check — how 2007!) In 2008, Polaroid and Rock Star Camp devised a more interactive approach that merged brand promotion and entertainment. At each new venue, Julius C set up a side table filled with funky wigs and prop guitars. A band member would snap digital photos of costumed campers, which they printed (via bluetooth! right then and there!) on Polaroid printers (ooo! how awesome!). Every single kid at every single camp spent time at the booth and got a tangible takeaway. The camp directors got a takeaway too: the band presented giant photo collages which would hang in dining halls for posterity.
Ladies and gentlemen, this is great advertising. Polaroid took their product and put it in the hands of admired ambassadors (who aren’t even famous!). The product was viewed, handled, and experienced by its demographic during a fun, memorable day in the middle of a fun, memorable summer. And when the summer ended and the campers went home, they took with them a photo that signified a connection to a brand — a connection infinitely stronger than one that traditional print or TV ads could create. Ladies and gentlemen, this is great advertising.
But that was 2008, and now it’s 2009, and I can’t get a sponsor. I know it’s the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, and I know putting precious dollars in the hands of the un-famous Rock Star Camp is unconventional and untested. But to be so risk-adverse that you blind yourself to opportunity is the riskiest attitude of all. Recession or no recession, brands must keep up with their consumers and reach them in a real, authentic way.
In the future that I envision (and I’m not the only one), brands will go beyond attaching themselves to entertainment and actually create it. In the future that I envision (and I’m not the only one), consumers will embrace the convergence of advertising and entertainment and enjoy the result. But when will that future materialize? When will more marketers jump at advertainment opportunities that forge real relationships with their consumers? I firmly believe that we will look back at this time in advertising and see it as the Dark Ages, but it may be a while yet until we see some light.
Stephen Haskell is Director of Cavern Wallpaper (www.CavernHome.com) and Freelance Branded Entertainment Consultant. To learn more about Rock Star Camp, contact Stephen Haskell — stephen dot haskell at gmail.com.