Let Your Fun Out!

Sometimes working in the heart of the Financial District is awesome. Sometimes, not so much, but today I will focus on the awesome.

Summertime brings out all sorts of Interesting marketing campaigns in downtown Toronto – get out there and meet new customers while us office dwellers actually spend time out doors during the nicer summer months, right?  While some tactics are more commonplace, like the free sample handouts (8 Belvita Breakfast Cookies and counting!), others are more inventive and eye catching.

I had a bit of a double header last week in the the marketing slash free stuff category.  First off I received an email from Uber  indicating it was their second annual ice cream day.  For those that may not know Uber, its an App that lets you set up an account, order taxis and provides you with information on the driver (like their name and phone number), where the cab is exactly located and automatically charges your credit card when your ride ends. Given that I love to take cabs (read: lazy as hell) and never have cash on me, this App lets me hail a cab with ease avoid the hassle of them not wanting to take credit.  For whatever reason (probably the built in tip the App suggests) Cabs seem to like working with Uber. So, totally Win Win.

What makes Uber even more awesome is that they are totally committed to experiential marketing in the best possible way.  The company frequently offers up promotions that mostly have nothing to do with taking a cab, but offer you a chance to experience their service while doing or receiving something fun.  Today, for example, as of 11am you could open up your Uber App and order an Ice Cream truck, on demand.  Other promotions have included Poutine delivery during NXNE here in Toronto, Rose delivery on Valentines day, and my favourite Kitten play time in a few cities.  They even have Uber Boat taxis up in Muskoka now, and recently started delivering Grand Electric Tacos and Steam Whistle Beer, by boat. These guys are awesome.

Sorry, I seemed to digress a little there.  So at 11 am, I opened up my Uber App, ordered some Ice Cream and grabbed some coworkers.  The truck showed up as promised and passed out 5 freshly swirled cones and typical Uber swag – sunglasses (Hey Uber, time to change this up! I could outfit a small country in your fake wayfarers by now!).  This was already a quick and fun break from the office, but then we saw this:

I had noticed the strange blow up tent thing a few days ago, but was never close enough to check it out.  As we had some time to kill eating our cones, we decided to see what the KD Fun Shop had to offer.  The idea is that you browse around the shop, select an item and then go to the checkout to pay – but this store doesn’t accept money, it accepts FUN. Each item has a sticker on it that outlines what type of fun you must have in order to ‘buy’ your item.  If you wanted a set of Kraft Dinner bed sheets (for serious, that was an item) you had to recite a KD rap.  Maybe you were interested in a KD Tshirt that turns into a Horse Mask if you pull it over your head? That’ll cost you a Robot Dance. I ended up selecting a pair of ‘Funderpants’ and had to crack out my best Chicken impersonation.  Fun? Yes! Professional? Maybe not.  Sadly no one snapped a photo of my excellent performance.

While a bit on the cheesy side, it was a fun way to kill fifteen minutes, get a hilarious novelty item and a free box of Kraft Dinner.  Well done guys.

I even found an excuse to don my brand new KD Funderpants at the Warrior Dash!