Question

Topic: Strategy

Experiential Branding Candidates

Posted by Anonymous on 9/22/2008 at 9:26 AM ET 250 Points
I am looking to identify and attract strong brands that might benefit from developing an experiential branding venue in a "resort city" development located in an East Cost (USA) tourist market. The project is a 1000 acre development, the largest mixed use development east of the Mississippi river.

I am looking for brands and experiences like Guinness in Dublin, The Heineken Experience in Amsterdam, Coke in Atlanta, etc. These would be licensed venues requiring very little capital from the brand company.

Does anyone have any ideas on how to aggregate a good prospect list? Right now, we are targeting television networks like Cartoon Network, SI-FI, The Travel Channel etc. Want to expand our scope.

Thanks.
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RESPONSES

  • Posted by Levon on 9/22/2008 at 11:51 AM Member
    Wow, that seems like a gigantic project which would require billions of dollars in capital to orchestrate. From experience if you have that kind of money or access to it -- you can usually broker these kinds of deals through your financial backers. Although most of the financial backers in the US on the verge of collapse -- they still have connections and a network to make these kinds of deals happen.
  • Posted by tADman on 9/24/2008 at 11:11 AM Accepted
    I agree with thinkmor that understanding your audience will be the best place to start. Once you know who is visiting the "resort city" you can determine if there would be an interest by the consumer for a selected brand, and have the research and back-up of the potential consumers to approach companies and convince them you have the place to "talk" to and "sell" to their primary consumer.

    An example of this would be Vegas and the Coke World and M&M world and Hermitage within a casino hotel that are directly linked to the traffic of the city and type of consumers for the venues they chose to open shop. Or take Bass Pro Shop in Branson Missouri - that started there and it is their target audience as well for hunting and fishing. But people come from all over for the experience of Branson and the shop. Now they are building out that same experience across the country in target locations. It is about the audience.

    I would also look for a very specialized "Local" opportunity as visitors are looking for an experience that fits the locale like the Hershey museum in Hershey Pennsylvania - place and theme match. obviously the company is based there, so there is that expectation. But, does this location have any nuances, corporate headquarters within the region something that plays off the regional heritage. That would be my starting place beyond the consumer target.

    As my wife and I travel we look for what we can't get or buy at home. An experience that is unique to the area we are travelling. This is not just about the consumer (while important) but about the location and what is unique. Brands will pay for owning their own territory (i.e., Coke in Atlanta) before spending on brand presence somewhere else on the earth unless it offers lots of consumer opportunity.

    Hope this helps define the starting place for building your list of potential brands to reach out to. Provide some more information on location/city/state etc and the consumer and I'd be glad to help brainstorm approachable brands for the project.
  • Posted on 9/30/2008 at 9:41 AM Author
    Thanks to all for your input.

    tADman and thinkmore:

    I'm new to this form and don't know how to respond to you individually. As soon as I figure that out, I want to shoot some thoughts to you.

    Also, sorry for the delay in responding to your answers. I had a death in the family last Friday. Just now in a position to get to things.


    Doug Hogan
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