The Brief: SmashCams and Gold Squads -

FIVE THINGS TO KNOW THIS WEEK

This week’s hot takes on hot topics in experiential marketing cover Save Summer SmashCams, laundromat sampling and Gold Squads.

HERTZ UNLEASHES ITS GOLD SQUAD TO COMFORT STRESSED OUT TRAVELERS

Does traveling during Labor Day Weekend give you reoccurring nightmares? Could you use a warm, fuzzy hug when you arrive at the airport? Then it’s time to unleash the Gold Squad.

Oh yes, after a YouGov study indicated that 70 percent of Americans find booking a vacation stressful, Hertz pawed its way into terminals at select U.S. airports over the holiday weekend with its team of “highly trained” Golden Retrievers—aka the Gold Squad—to comfort anxious consumers and “make travel feel golden.” The pack even included social dogfluencer @cooper.thegoldenboy.

Beginning at Dallas Fort-Worth International Airport, the car rental brand and its squad surprised consumers during peak travel times, allowing them to pet and cuddle with the pups while showcasing the value, or “golden perks,” of its Hertz Gold Plus Rewards loyalty program. We’re betting that the furballs even got TSA agents to crack a smile. Golden, indeed.

Photos: Courtesy of Hertz

CHOMP ON THIS ‘PROTEIN PIT STOP’ ACTIVATION

Brands continue to rev up experiential pit stops, and the latest example comes from meat snacks company Chomps, which on Aug. 22 and Aug. 24 activated the Chomps Protein Pit Stop in Austin. Meat lovers who booked a spot ahead of time could stop by the drive-thru clean up experience for a quick interior refresh and backseat tidy-up of their vehicle.

Those waiting for their car to be cleaned, as well as consumers who wanted to participate in the activation but didn’t have a vehicle, could also head to the Snack Zone for plenty of meat sticks, swag, photos with a vintage car and “snack-tivities” designed to keep the back-to-school crowd running on a full tank. (Agency: CNC Agency)

Photo credit: CNC Agency

CONSUMERS ‘EAT, RINSE, REPEAT’ AT A LAUNDROMAT IN BROOKLYN

Speaking of experiential trends, companies have been cleverly leaning into laundromats as venues, and last month, Impossible Foods joined their ranks with an Eat, Rinse, Repeat pop-up in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn, NY.

On Aug. 23, hundreds of people lined up down the block from Brooklyn’s Rinsed Out Laundromat for a chance to participate in the pop-up, which featured a dj set by Alex Delany, exclusive swag and Impossible Sliders and Chicken Nuggets to munch on. The activation was designed to highlight how plant-based products are clean for the planet, particularly in comparison to real meat. Messaging around the pop-up, like “cleaner for the planet, still a mess for your clothes,” helped drive the concept home. Nice.

Photos: Courtesy of Impossible Foods

SUMMER LOVERS DEMOLISH PUMPKINS TO PROTEST ‘FALL CREEP’

Every August, people take sides as the battle of summer vs. fall takes hold. While some embrace the autumn décor and pumpkin spiced lattes that companies begin offering around mid-August, others, including SUNBOY, want such corporations to hold their fall horses and “stop stealing summer.” On Aug. 22, the spiked coconut water brand proved as much by inviting New Yorkers to join its crusade and launching the Save Summer SmashCam.

SUNBOY rolled into Manhattan and Brooklyn with a branded plexiglass-walled truck that doubled as an arsenal of weapons, parking outside of corporate coffee chains (which were already serving fall drinks) and inviting consumers to literally smash real pumpkins with baseball bats and sledgehammers to vent their frustrations.

All of the action was caught on an ultra-slow-motion Glambot-style camera and could be used as fuel for social media “protest” posts about the progressively earlier arrival of “fall creep” each year. As proud members of Team Summer, we give this strategy two sunburned thumbs up.

Photo: Courtesy of SUNBOY

CORONA MARKS 100 YEARS WITH ITS 100TH BEACH CLEANUP EVENT

Centennials are significant occasions in and of themselves, but last month, Corona upped the ante by marking two major brand milestones: its 100^th anniversary and the completion of its 100^th, and final, Protect Our Beaches cleanup event and afterparty, strategically hosted in Chicago, the home base of the sustainability initiative.

Corona launched Protect Our Beaches in partnership with Oceanic Global in 2020, with a goal of cleaning up and removing 1 million pounds of plastic from beaches and from the Corona USA business by the company’s 100th birthday, all in an effort to preserve beaches for the following century. Not only did the organizations meet their goal, they exceeded it, removing more than 1.2 million pounds with the help of 50-plus local organizations and over 3,500 volunteers across the country. As the brand put it: “Salud to the next 100 years!”