We looked to intrigue the young adult urban hipster. So how do you out-hip a hipster? Well you don't, you just make sure the brand fits and the experience echoes a hipster lifestyle! This crowd lives in large urban ethnically diverse neighborhoods, and are often defined by their i-Pod play-list, the books they read, art they make, clothes they wear and the company they keep. They are definitely a bit off from the mainstream and they are the typical Altoids loyalists!
Introduce a bold new Dark Chocolate covered Altoids to the hippest markets in the country. The Village in NYC, Lincoln Park in Chicago and Coconut Grove in Miami. So how did we create a buzz around this "can't miss" tantalizing new Altoids taste? We leveraged the built-in PASSION around a holiday that everyone loves and in some instances hates . . . Valentine's Day.
We boldly took the lovey out of the dovey! We erased every expected perception of Valentine's Day and turned it on its head. We opened an Altoids Curious and Original Chocolate Shoppe to give the hipster a chance to celebrate an anti-Valentine's Day this year. In fact we dipped the entire Shoppe in chocolate, showcased broken hearts, leather and lace and of course at the center of it all stood the star of the show - the Altoids Dark Chocolate Dipped Mints. Events including a burlesque show by Dita VonTees, a Yoko Deveraux fashion show, a Yoko Deveraux t-shirt giveaway, "break up consultations", anti-Valentine's Day cards, subversive cross stitch offerings and special Valentine's Day cupcakes.
In conjunction with the Shoppes we leveraged street teams in each market to drive traffic to the brick and mortar locations and aid in the mass sampling goal of 1MM in 1 week! The goal for the store? Complete brand immersion and provide a great time to the anti-Valentine's Day consumers. Most people stayed well beyond our target of a 5-minute engagement. Many walked in, opened their cell phones and rallied the troops to come check it out. Some even asked for immediate jobs! In the end, we fired on all cylinders to hit the ball out of the park or, in this instance, to hit the bulls-eye with cupid's arrow.