While traveling in Europe a few weeks ago I read this piece in the Financial Times by Rhymer Rigby, “From cornfields to Hollywood“. It discussed how many industrial brands, including Chevron, Caterpillar, and especially John Deere, were having great success licensing clothing and other goods for sale to consumers. Citing Rita Clifton, the chairman of Interbrand, Rigby relates that “in a retail market obsessed with ‘authenticity’, these brands have it in spades.”I especially liked the story he related of how one “man was so impressed with the service he received with his Cat boots [from Caterpillar] that he bought a huge piece of earthmoving equipment.” Now that’s leverage! It reminded me of one our favorite examples of a B2B placemaking experience (highlighted in Chapter 8), the Case Tomahawk Experience Center, where Case brings prospective clients and lets them “play” with its construction equipment in order to generate demand for them.
Jim and I often wondered why Case, or Caterpillar, or especially (since it actually makes and sells consumer goods too) John Deere didn’t create a consumer experience long these same lines. So many people — dads and their sons especially — would gladly pay to drive construction equipment around for the day! Think of it as the male equivalent to American Girl Places. Not only could it be a money-making venture by itself, it would serve to generate demand for the company’s core offerings — far better than a pair of boots ever could — while rendering it more authentic.
Well, we did finally find a company that’s doing it (without the corporate backing): in Steamboat Springs, CO. It bills itself as “The 1st Heavy Equipment Play Arena”, and looks to be a blast. In fact, we like it so much that at this year’s thinkAbout event Jim and I included it in our Top Ten list of experiences for the participants to take in (culminating in our 2009 EXPY award winner, the United States Army.
Now if the above industrial companies, and more out there, would only realize that such places would make for great authenticity-rendering, demand-generating, placemaking experiences.
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