Jul 25, 2017
Here’s an unexpected marketing strategy—go rent a house and paint it pink.
That’s exactly how Atlanta rapper 2 Chainz transformed his album release into a powerful brand storytelling opportunity.
To prepare for the release of Pretty Girls Like Trap Music, he rented a house at 1530 Howell Mill Road in Atlanta and painted it pink to match the cover of his new album. The inside of the house was decorated with hip-hop inspired art featuring work by local artists and paintings of Atlanta landmarks. Dubbed the Trap House, the Berkeley Park home first offered a pop-up nail salon where people could get their nails done for free. When this gained little traction, 2 Chainz shifted the focus of the house to offering community services like free HIV testing, painting classes, and church services. The physical Pink Trap House went viral on social media and became a must-see attraction for Atlanta locals and visitors. During the campaign, #TrapHouse was tagged over 300K times on Instagram.
So, did his successful event marketing efforts turn into sales?
“Pretty Girls Like Trap Music” debuted at No. 2 behind Lorde’s Melodrama, and online streams of the album hit No. 1 on Billboard’s rap album charts.
.@2chainz turned his Pink Trap House installation in Atlanta into a free HIV testing center. https://t.co/laMiobN03k pic.twitter.com/rD7Dh8iPbx
— Complex (@Complex) July 4, 2017
The Benefits of Event Marketing
2 Chainz capitalized on event marketing by creating a fully-immersive customer experience that made people want to engage with the brand, want to learn more, and want to advocate on behalf of the pink Trap House.
Events play an important role in Transformational Marketing programs. Event marketing is the process of developing a themed display, exhibit, or presentation. It allows brands the opportunity to give customers a unique experience and create a lasting impression. It is an opportunity to educate, engage, make new connections, and show your brand’s personality.
So, how can you tap into the power of event marketing to create engaging and profitable customer experiences?
Your Brand Story Must Be at the Core of Event Marketing
A successful event marketing campaign delivers a strong message and gets participants excited about becoming a part of your brand story. 2 Chainz illustrated that event marketing works best when it delivers an aligned brand experience. The College Park native successfully fused his brand story and core values through a physical representation of his album and delivered on his brand’s dedication to serving the community.
Event Marketing Must Activate Audience Engagement
The right event marketing strategy doesn’t focus immediately on driving sales—it focuses on creating remarkable experiences that make the audience want to listen, want to care, want to engage, and want to advocate on behalf of the brand. You can attract the attention of your target customers by demonstrating some unique (maybe even trivial) knowledge. Or, you can share details on a cause that you care deeply about and invite your audience to participate. It turns out that self-promotion can be great marketing fodder for any kind of business – go ahead and setup your own digital marketing franchise to live into your passion and be the boss! By providing philanthropic services to the community, 2 Chainz invited participants to physically become part of his brand story. The rapper also published videos on his Snapchat and Instagram accounts of a live music video shoot that included him singing and the crowds of visitors dancing along.
Finding Your Perfect Marketing Channel Requires Experimentation
When launching an event marketing campaign, it is important to be creative and innovative in all aspects. Many transformational marketers experiment with both digital marketing and traditional advertising campaigns. In the book Traction, Gabriel Weinberg and Justin Mares share 19 different experimental marketing channels to reach new customers and drive growth. The book suggests investing in a few of these channels at a time and, when one starts performing exceptionally well, double down on it.
“Traction and product development are of equal importance and should each get about half of your attention. This is what we call the 50 percent rule: spend 50 percent of your time on product and 50 percent on traction.” – Traction, Gabriel Weinberg and Justin Mares
For 2 Chainz, the use of traditional media like radio, billboards, and television lead to only ordinary results. However, the Trap House gained serious attention on digital channels, so he doubled down on the most effective digital channels.
Learn more about How Successful Event Marketing Can Boost Your Businesses Bottom Line in NCC’s infographic below.
If you’re committed to transforming your business through marketing, you must get all 3S’s right: the right Story, the right Strategy, and the right Systems, all measured through the lens of Simplicity, Clarity, and Alignment. Learn more about how TopRight’s 3S Approach (Story, Strategy, and Systems) can help you transform your marketing to drive measurable results in our eBook: Transformational Marketing – Moving to the TopRight.
Follow @TopRightPartner on Twitter, connect with Dave on LinkedIn, and subscribe to our blog.