Advent Blog

I was vis­it­ing my fam­ily in Kentucky last week­end and had the oppor­tu­nity to go to a local mall. What started as a shop­ping excur­sion turned out to be an expe­ri­en­tal mar­ket­ing field trip…

A local uni­ver­sity was pro­mot­ing sea­son ticket sales. They rented a high-traffic spot in the mall and set up a mini-game expe­ri­ence. Then, they installed seats pulled from their foot­ball sta­dium and bas­ket­ball arena and video mon­i­tors show­ing game high­lights. They had also dec­o­rated the area in the university’s col­ors and branding.

It was unlike any “road game” I’ve ever attended. I enjoyed sit­ting in the actual seat I would have on their cam­pus. Why did they go through the trou­ble of recre­at­ing a home game in a shop­ping mall? A kiosk sell­ing sea­son tick­ets was on hand as soon as you stepped out of your seat.

That expe­ri­ence will def­i­nitely leave a last­ing impression.