field report

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FIELD REPORT
SPECIAL REPORT: SPRING BREAK 2013
Panama City Beach, FL 46
South Padre Island, Texas 50
EM editors Rachel Kirkpatrick and Kenneth Briodagh kissed
the frigid Northeast goodbye and embedded themselves for a
few days of sun, surf and sponsored activations at two of the
country’s top spring break destinations. Despite being a little
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overdressed and, let’s face it, a lot over age, the duo hit the
scenes like a couple of college kids fresh off midterms. What
follows are their full reports on the best marketing programs
on the beach.
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FIELD REPORT
WET AND PRETTY WILD
Panama City Beach, Florida
MY PARENTS NEVER LIKED the idea of
a place like Panama City Beach, FL, for
spring break when I was in college. Who
would have thought years later I’d be
right smack in the middle of it as a journalist covering the action? Most of what
adults think happens on spring break,
does happen: the endless partying, endless drinking, bikini contests and bumping and grinding. But the thing is, this
popular domestic destination that
attracts more than 100,000 college kids
over a four-week period in March has a
rhythm and a level of controlled chaos to
it that just works.
Spring break in this panhandle Gulf
of Mexico beach city is not a free-for-all.
It is a well-oiled marketing machine
backed by resorts and clubs, powerhouse
promotions and sponsorships (and
triple-backed by law enforcement).
Brands sponsor or activate around many
aspects of spring break, from the room
keys to sampling to contests and concerts, to actual beach activations. The
level of engagement doesn’t go too deep
because there are limitations—the
maturity of these young consumers,
their “goals” on a given day, the sand, the
activation footprints. But the exposure is
unlimited. Most students are on a budget and they are more than willing to reg-
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ister to take part in a photo activation for
free stuff. They also want to document
their trip. We saw a lot of that, and it
worked well.
We set out on a hunt for brand
engagement and what we found didn’t
surprise us too much in terms of brand
presence or strategy. It actually kind of
made us think: Are brands afraid of
spring break? Put this many drunk, young
people into one city for one week and
you’re bound to have an accident of some
kind. There are. They make the news.
They tend to involve balconies. That’s the
unfortunate side of things. But for the
most part, we found that day and night
venues were well-staffed and under control. Guilt by association really doesn’t
apply here.
Early one afternoon on the beach I
suddenly found myself surrounded by
shirtless young people. There seemed no
end in sight. Yet, as I worked my way out
of the crowd, all I heard were polite
“Excuse me’s.” No raucous confrontations. It’s certainly not for everybody, but
from my standpoint, it wasn’t so bad. It
was pretty entertaining.
“What I love most about it is that
they’re just so happy,” says David
Demarest of the Panama City Beach
Convention and Visitors Bureau. “If the
weather is bad, if the water is rough, if the
water is cold they’re still happy. They’re
just pleased to be here, pleased to be off
school and they really hold themselves
responsible for their own happiness.”
So, brands: fear not. There is a
method to this madness and there are seasoned professionals ready to be your
guide. (Hint, hint: It would be cool to see
some surprises next year.) Now, as far as
whether I will allow my child to attend
spring break, if he or she will even bother
to ask my permission… no comment.
–Rachel Kirkpatrick
www.eventmarketer.com
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SPECIAL REPORT: SPRING BREAK 2013
BRAND ACTIVATIONS
THE MAJORITY OF ACTIVATIONS we saw with dedicated footprints took place
between four huge beach clubs and resorts, three of which are located on a quartermile stretch of beach. Brands often visit a spot like PCB for a week, leave to activate
at another spring break locale, like South Padre Island, for a week, and then return.
AXE
The Axe brand, which offers men a
range of hygiene products, had a pretty
creative activation space on the beach
to promote its Axe Face line of
products and corresponding Axe
Facescore “Upgrade Your Face”
promotional campaign. The raised
room on the beach at Spinnaker Beach
Club had four walls and a roof.
Consumers could walk in and wash up
using the products at one of two sinks
with mirrors. Afterward, they were
guided around back to a photo station
where they could pose for four fun
photos that were printed out on the
spot as a collage. The photos were then
scanned and uploaded to the Axe
Facescore Tumblr page, where
consumers can vote for the best faces
and upload their own photos to be
scored. The walls of the space included
built-in shelving lined with the
products as well as the #axefacescore
hashtag and campaign branding.
Agencies: Sub Rosa, New York City;
Youth Marketing Connection,
Washington, D.C.; Staffing: Spinnaker
Beach Promotions.
TROJAN BRAND CONDOMS
The Trojan Pure Ecstasy footprint was
busy throughout each day on the beach
outside Club La Vela and offered music
from a dj on a small stage as well as
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several experiences. Surrounded by
fencing, the space had lounge chairs
and futons under the shade of
cabanas. A step and repeat photo
activation required spring breakers to
have a temporary branded tattoo
applied before taking part in the shoot
that would automatically send the
image to their phones and email. After
the shoot they could test their sunkissed brains at a trivia spin wheel
where prizes included branded
premiums like t-shirts and sunglasses.
One prize included a VIP night at the
club. Spring breakers could also enter a
Facebook sweepstakes where each
week a lucky winner received a VIP
package with parasail rides and VIP
passes to Club La Vela, a reserved VIP
cabana and branded swag. In addition,
special activities happened right in
front of the entrance each day, such as
tug of war and a slip and slide. Agency:
The Passion Group, Asbury Park, NJ.
GÖT2BE
Bright and fun with cheerful brand
ambassadors, göt2be’s activation drew
in young female and male consumers
each day on the beach at Spinnaker
Beach Club. The activation space
featured a circus-style tent
emblazoned with the female hair care
product brand’s colors: pink and black.
There was a giant pink boom box and a
step and repeat photo activation.
Consumers could participate in a social
media-incentivized giveaway by posing
for a photo shoot with props, and by
either liking the product page or
uploading the photo to their social
media, they could take home a sling bag
with a full-size canister of the brand’s 2
Sexy hair spray product, as well as
branded Koozies and sunglasses.
Agency: SandBox, Tempe, AZ.
MARLEY’S MELLOW MOOD
This activation had a great footprint
with lounge chairs and a couple of
hammocks to set the “mellow mood”
at the Holiday Inn Resort, as well as a
thatched bar top serving full-size
samples of the product. Spring
breakers could sign into social media
and follow or Like the beverage brand
on Facebook. In doing so they received
branded premiums such as tank tops,
t-shirts, bandanas, sunglasses,
bracelets and temporary tattoos.
Nearby was a giant Twister-style board
game with contests throughout the
day for prize giveaways like Marley’s
branded headphones. The brand also
fed spring breakers, offering up free
jerk chicken sliders for lunch every
Sunday and Wednesday. A
sweepstakes winner won a suite for
the week at the Holiday Inn Resort
complete with a branded door and a
room stocked with product and swag.
Agency: The Passion Group, Asbury
Park, NJ.
SOUR PUNCH CANDY
Sour Punch’s activation offered spring
breakers a sweet ride at Spinnaker
Beach Club. The footprint included a
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FIELD REPORT
SPECIAL REPORT: SPRING BREAK 2013
“Bucking Beast of the Sour Seas”
mechanical shark ride on the beach.
Brand ambassadors handed out free
candy and swag while consumers took
part in a step and repeat photo shoot
with free printouts. Leading up to spring
break the brand had hosted a college
campus dj competition and the winning
dj received a trip to spring break with
three friends and the opportunity to
perform at the beach club’s Mega Beach
Party beach stage and inside the club at
night. Agency: Spinnaker Beach
Promotions, Panama City Beach, FL.
WORLD SERIES OF FIGHTING: MMA
This mixed martial arts tournament
BEVERAGE SAMPLING
BEVERAGE BRANDS of every stripe flocked to PCB to take advantage of the thirsty
masses. We’ve already mentioned Marley’s Mellow Mood, the antithesis of the energy
drink, but other product promos included Life Support, which, appropriately, is supposed to rid consumers of their nasty hangover symptoms. The brand passed out
samples at The Summit resort. As did Bud Light with its new Straw-Ber-Rita beverage. As did the malt beverage brand Joose at Sharky’s Beach Club. As did Monster
Energy and Coca-Cola’s Vitamin Water at Spinnaker Beach Club, the club’s major
sponsor. As did Red Bull at the Holiday Inn Resort. You get the idea. What follows are
the beverage brands that proved to have the most engaging sampling strategies.
brand that activated at Club La Vela
challenged spring breakers to see who
was “tough enough” at spring break.
The activation featured physical
fitness elements such as stations to
do inverted push-ups, sit-ups,
plyometric box jumps and a 24-foot
rope climb. Every other day a
competition took place where female
spring breakers could win the title of
World Series Fighting Ring Girl of
Spring Break. (What an honor.)
Agency: The Passion Group, Asbury
Park, NJ.
passed out campaign cards that
included two branded bracelets—one
for you and one for a friend. It was a
really easy way to duplicate their
efforts instantly. Apparently, it’s a big
trend among spring breakers to collect
campaign and club-related bracelets
and they wear them for weeks on end
after their trip is over. Agencies:
Collegiate Marketing Group, Toronto;
Twenty Four 7, Portland, OR.
built-in coolers from which brand
ambassadors passed out free cans.
Agency: Motive, Denver; Build: EPSDoublet, Denver.
MALIBU RUM
MOUNTAIN DEW KICKSTART
Oh yes, the brand (which is on tour) was
everywhere including on the beach at
The Summit with free cans and at clubs
like Sharky’s Beach Club handing out
small cups of the beverage. But what
caught our attention was the awesome
vehicle the brand ambassadors were
riding around in. It looked like a
retrofitted mid-size moving truck
complete with bumping speakers, a
trio of flat screens positioned
downward toward the street and three
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Malibu Rum took over the cabana bar
at The Summit resort with branded
flags and brand ambassadors who
conducted sampling. The brand,
however, had a really cool giveaway
strategy for the promotion of its new
mixed-drink canned products.
Consumers were invited to take
summer-ish photos and post them to
Instagram with hashtags #malibucans
and #yourstate as well as their state
with a hashtag in front of it. The
consumers who got the most “likes”
were entered to win a variety of highvalue prizes, which included branded
beach chairs, skateboards and
surfboards. The brand ambassadors
FOUR LOKO
Four Loko made appearances in a few
spots in PCB but it specifically did a
great nighttime promotion at
Spinnaker Beach Club, which kind of
stood out for us since most of the
sampling we came across was quite
bland. The brand had a step and repeat
photo activation, where brand
ambassadors took pictures on iPads
and, using a custom app, emailed the
pictures to spring breakers instantly.
The brand also offered premium
giveaways and free product sampling.
Agency: Spinnaker Beach Promotions,
Panama City Beach, FL.
www.eventmarketer.com
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MOVIE PROMOTIONS
WE HEARD WARNER BROS. plugged
“The Hangover Part III” by handing out
branded water bottles to spring breakers
from a “hydration station,” and that Walt
Disney Pictures’ “Monster’s University”
played brand host to beer pong tournaments on Fridays at a spring break
hotspot. What follows are two more
examples of the tinseltown-inspired
action, both handled by Brite Promotions, Cranbury, NJ, and activated at
Spinnaker Beach Club.
WALT DISNEY STUDIOS MOTION
PICTURES’ “IRON MAN 3”
This activation was pretty simple… yet
effective. Spring breakers could take a
break from the sun under a thatchedroof covered space and watch the
trailer of the movie on a flat-screen TV
while waiting for their device to charge
at a nearby charging station. Brand
ambassadors were applying
temporary tattoos, too.
UNIVERSAL PICTURES’ “FAST AND
FURIOUS 6”
Spring breakers could cool off and race
one another on a giant, inflated dual
water slide at Spinnaker Beach Club.
The activation included a tablet-based
photo shoot so these young
consumers could share the wet-andwild fun across their social media
networks.
HIGHLIGHT REEL
LUKE BRYAN
Country music star Luke Bryan has
been drawing crowds at Spinnaker
Beach Club for several years, this
year under presenting sponsor
Vitaminwater. He’s been able to
capitalize on spring break to build
his own brand year after year by
releasing a special album, this year
titled “Here to Party.” On the days of
his performances, fans could walk
up to a small footprint and use a
tablet station to log in for a step
and repeat photo op and support
the singer on social media.
COORS LIGHT FREE RIDES
Besides sampling, Coors Light in
collaboration with Goldring Gulf
Distributing, offered a free ride
program for spring breakers in PCB
where, in addition to drinking
responsibly, they could also get
home responsibly and safe. From 6
p.m. to 2 a.m. nightly through
March 21, the brand offered a free
shuttle service with stops at
popular restaurants, bars and
hotels.
AN APP MOMENT
Spring break apps are plentiful. One
in particular was kind of cute and it
promoted itself heavily at The
Summit and at beach club
Hammerhead Fred’s. WHAM (We
Had a Moment) is a new app for the
iPhone that allows spring breakers
to safely connect with one another
if perhaps they “had a moment”
but never actually exchanged
numbers. Users’ identities are
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protected and they get to decide
how and when they share more
information with their special
stranger someone. You search for
moments by date and location (that
is, anywhere on the planet) and
when someone recognizes that
“moment” they can communicate
with you through a third-party
email until you’re ready to take the
next step to share information. Oh,
you have to include a detail that
only you and that other person
would remember. (If you can
remember.) Agency: SUMM,
Waltham, MA.
STAGE CONTESTS
It wouldn’t be spring break without
stage contests and there were
plenty to go around. Most of the
spring break-centered resorts and
beach clubs build stages for the
month where brand-sponsored
contests take place. Our favorite
contest was the “Frozen T-Shirt”
contest, sponsored by Australian
Gold at the Holiday Inn Resort.
Contestants were given a balled up
frozen t-shirt with the goal of being
the first one to slip the t-shirt on.
According to staff on hand, the
cleverest of spring breakers ran off
the stage and down to the water to
ring it out in warm gulf water first.
But that didn’t happen too often, so
you can imagine the hilarity that
ensued on stage. Agency: The
Passion Group, Asbury, NJ.
For complete photo galleries and video
footage, visit www.eventmarketer.com
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FIELD REPORT
READY FOR ACTION
South Padre Island, Texas
IT’S ALMOST INFAMOUS for its
debauchery. Almost no single event can
evoke such clear images of young folks
having a great time, showing off, (sometimes) drinking too much and (always)
making their parents nervous. Yup, we’re
talking spring break. For many, it’s the
first time they’ve gone away without
mom or dad to chaperone. For all, it’s a
once- or twice-in-a-lifetime chance to
live like a superstar: hanging on the
beach, pounding some beers and rocking the clubs with their best friends.
There are a lot of places to go, but South
Padre Island, just minutes from Mexico
on the Texas Caribbean coast, is one of
the best. It’s the home of Texas Week,
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EVENT MARKETER APRIL 2013
when the students of the state’s universities come out to literally fly the flag for
their one-day alma maters. And it’s also
the home of Coca-Cola Beach, or “Coke
Beach” for short.
Located adjacent to the Isla Grand
Beach Resort, the brand takes over a few
thousand square feet of sand and invites
anyone who’s old enough to party, (but
young enough not to know better), to
visit for three weeks in March. CocaCola is happy to share the sandbox with
other brands like the National Guard,
BIC, Australian Gold sunscreen, Ford
and Trojan condoms, but the big red can
is the master of ceremonies and everyone knows it. Don’t believe me? Find
another brand on the beach. No, really.
Go ahead... I’ll wait. They’re not there.
SPI is several miles long, all lined on
both sides with perfect white sand, and
not one brand grabbed a piece. I wonder
why? Intimidated, maybe? Afraid Coke’s
long-standing reputation for awesomeness will over shadow you? Not convinced the college-kid demographic is
the right one to go after? Worried about
spring break itself? I say the real question
is: why would any brand miss out on
this? It’s sad, really. These young folks are
dying to get in line for a solid activation.
They want to be entertained and to get
free swag. They are even willing to drop
some cash for the right experience, and
almost no brand is there to help.
Well, congratulations to you that did
show up. You got your money’s worth
along with that killer tan. Here’s a rundown of this year’s spring break winners.
www.eventmarketer.com
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SPECIAL REPORT: SPRING BREAK 2013
BRAND ACTIVATIONS
COCA-COLA
It’s called Coca-Cola Beach, for crying out
loud. The hundreds of spring breakers
that stayed at ground zero at the Isla got
loaded with swag when they checked in:
Koozies, t-shirts, visors and, natch, all
the Coke and Dasani (and Dasani Drops)
they could want. The rooms were
palatial, beautiful and with a gorgeous
view, but the action was outside. This
year, Coke was there for three weeks,
and every day was a new party out on
Coke Beach. The stage went live at 11
a.m. for the early risers, and didn’t stop
rockin’ tunes (thanks to some killer djing and emceeing, and the occasional
celebrity drop-in performance) until 5
p.m. Every day was different, though
each week was largely programmed the
same way. The tempo would start slow
in the morning, building to full-on party
by about one o’clock. The brand would
periodically pull a group of men or
women on stage for a dance-off or just
to shake what their mammas gave ‘em.
Winners got t-shirts and product. So did
the other competitors, so everyone left
happy. There were sampling stands all
over the beach, water mostly. Gotta keep
those kids hydrated.
And speaking of water, every
Wednesday was Dasani day, when the
Twitter hashtag was #flavorfy, the
branding and costumes were changed,
and the awesome was kicked up a notch
thanks to the Dasani Drops skydiving
team. At about 1 p.m., the emcee
started calling everyone up to the stage
to get one of four colored wristbands. He
told them each color corresponded to a
team, but didn’t mention what the game
was. After most of them had a band on
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(there were about 300 of each color), he
had them gather around the 20-footwide Dasani-branded target that had
appeared in the sand. Then he told them
that in a few minutes a plane would
appear and four men would leap out.
Each of those men were representing
one of the flavors of Dasani Drops
(Coke’s new product that adds flavor
drops to water), and each corresponded
with one of the colored wristbands. They
had to root for their man, because
whichever team’s skydiver dropped
closest to the bulls-eye would win them
all special Dasani Drops t-shirts. They
went nuts. Hell, I went nuts. It was cool.
And this went on all day, all week,
for three weeks. I know you’ve been
doing this for like 20 years, Coke, but
well done anyway. Agency: CPC
Intersect, Eagan, MN.
BIC
BIC knows the rules. Provide some sweet
games, a novelty that tracks back to the
brand and enough swag to choke a shark
and the kids will love you. So that’s what
they did with the BIC Shave Experience.
Taking over one side of Coke Beach with
a fenced-in brand experience, BIC had its
best brand ambassadors on hand to call
folks over to play a game much like
Hungry Hungry Hippos, but with
oversized razorless razors. Or maybe
they’d like to get in on a little sexy
Twister (playing is better than watching,
but watching’s pretty good, too). All that
was fun, but the real draw was on the
stage. Up there, BIC had three licensed
cosmetologists offering shaves (using
BIC razors, of course) to any and all
comers. The guy did legs for the girls and
the two ladies did faces, heads, chests
and in at least two cases I saw, legs, for
the men. They were even willing to put a
design into some chest hair, if the dude
was willing and had the follicles to make
it work. The line was long, but no one
cared thanks to the high-energy emcee
and, of course the sexy twister. Did I
mention the sexy twister? Agency:
Brand Connections, New York City.
NATIONAL GUARD
This crowd is the sweet spot for the
Guard. They get a ton of new recruits out
of college, and there are few better ways
to show how much fun the Guard can be
then to bust out a three-on-three
basketball tourney at spring break. So
they did. The grid filled fast with teams,
and they played all day for chances at
Guard-branded swag, including t-shirts,
Koozies, basketballs and more. It’s
sometimes the simple ones that make
the biggest splash, and judging by the
crowds, this is case study number one for
how that works. Agency: Red Peg
Marketing, Alexandria, VA .
AUSTRALIAN GOLD, TROJAN AND FORD
The sunscreen brand was back on South
Padre for the second year, and doing
some sampling, handing out shirts and
pushing folks to “like” the brand’s
Facebook page. That’s it.
Trojan Brand Condoms was the only
brand I found outside of Coke Beach.
They rolled up to Clayton’s Beach Bar
with a trivia wheel game to give
students a chance to win some
premiums. They also gave away about a
billion samples of the new “Pure
Ecstasy” condoms.
With a big fat goose egg for
interactivity, fun or creativity, we have
Ford. It was a tent, with three or four
bored-looking people doing a raw data
collect. On paper. Sure, there was some
kind of sweepstakes involved, and there
might have been t-shirts, but I was so
bored by the whole thing, I didn’t notice.
And neither did the spring breakers. They
didn’t even have a car out there, for
crying out loud. At least they showed up.
Lame, Ford. Just not as lame as the
brands who didn’t come at all.
–Kenneth Briodagh
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