Jennifer B. Davis
There is a new service from Barcadi (the rum people) in the UK called Barcardi Bespoke that allows you to order up a bar, complete with glasses, ice, equipment, expert mixologists, and a DJ, to your home or office. The cost of these events are subsidized by Barcardi as a marketing vehicle.

So, that (and a recent invitation for a custom fitting of Carlisle clothes in a woman's home) got me thinking what product demos I would invite into my home, or even pay to host. This is how the Experience Economy (see previous post) could be implemented through Tryvertising. Here is my list. What others would you add?

  • Foot Spa Escape: invite a bunch of girl friends over for a foot spa with Body Shop or other products (I have, in fact, hosted this party). Could also work for "makeover" parties, manicure parties, "shaping your eyebrows" parties, or any type of beauty party.
  • Garden Party: invite friends over to learn how to create a hanging basket with a representative from Michigan Bulb, Monrovia, or Jackson & Perkins.
  • Music Burning Jam Session: listen to tunes and burn your own CD of songs from new artists.
  • Digital Photography Workshop: Play with cool cameras (from Sony, Nikon, or Kodak) and take pictures of children or friends in a photo studio set-up with different backgrounds and props on-hand. Afterwards the pictures could be posted to Flickr or Evite, if they got in on the party.
  • Scarf Party: Use RIT dye to create one-of-a-kind clothing art.
  • Garden Globe Workshop: create a garden globe or other yard art using Black & Decker tools, 3M adhesive products, or other supplies.
  • Easter Egg To-Dye-For: bring your own eggs to a dyeing event showing all the latest techniques.

I can think of a lot of "consumer" products that could create an experience around them. Even in the B2B space, I could think of a number of things that would be popular and help vendors sell more products. Here are a few ideas:

  • Cool Office Supply Demo Day: the latest and greatest products from Mead, Bic, 3M, and other brands come together to let people try them out. Free samples lead to addiction and purchases.
  • On-site Eye Exams: A lot of employers offer reimbursement for eye-glasses or contacts, but a lot of people don't take advantage of the benefit. Why not invite an eyeglass company and optomitrist into the office to give free exams and take orders for glasses?
  • Chair Massage: A free chair massage could advertise a local massage salon, spa products, candles, or soothing music (or all of the above).

What company/product do you wish you could get a demo party for in your home or office?

3 Responses
  1. Kristi Says:

    Allan and I did a little photo demo "party" kind of like you describe with women from our church. We showed various techniques of photography and then gave them a disposable camera to try to capture some of the techniques of which we demonstrated. Would be cool with digital camers...

    And please don't ever host a massage or foot spa party without me again. That's just not right!


  2. Make you a deal...if you invite me to Allan's next class, I'll host another spa party! Seriously, I'd love to be in a master class with Mr. White. I am sure the folks who attended loved it! Now, if only Allan had a book on photography that he could sell to people or he had a sponsorship from Fuji Film to host these events. That'd be fun!


  3. Maybe partnering with a catering company to "demo" their appetizers on your boat demo. Or contact a bottler of a beverage and you could pass out product samples!