Another great example of why LEGO is an experience brand.

Check out more photos here.

I got this great brand story from my colleague Eric Sauter, Senior Technologist in Jack Morton's Technical Services group:

"My son is a projectionist at a local Cineplex. Not a career AV gig, but decent part-time work while he and his new bride are in school. Sunday morning when I saw him, he had a branding story with camera-phone images as documentation.

When a 3D film comes in to the theater, it is accompanied by a sheet detailing various specifications that must be set on the projection gear for the images to work properly. This normally takes the form of an 8½x11 piece of paper, sometimes with a studio or movie logo at the top. This weekend however, Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland opened. Disney does things differently. Being one of the more brand conscious companies on the planet, Disney sent the projector settings as part of a kit, printed full bleed in process color on heavy paper stock that mimics parchment, with every insignificant detail carefully adhering to all graphic standards and branding guidelines put forth for this movie release. This document would never see the light of day, only the projection rooms of theaters where the 3D version of the film is being shown. For this very tiny audience of 3D projectionists, Disney put the time and money into making sure that the same face shown to the public at large is seen in every document. I’m impressed.

Disney sweats the details, sometimes better than others, but always with an eye toward the brand. They know that marketing goes beyond the TV spot, printed piece, or consumer experience; it is something that lingers in the subconscious, influencing us even when we may not realize it. A friend of mine refers to this as being “between the frames”, as explained here. It is a short yet worthwhile read that I’d recommend.

On any given day we represent a multitude of brands. Our clients. Jack Morton Worldwide. Sometimes sister agencies. You are always representing yourself and your own personal brand. Every so often, it may be worthwhile to take an inventory of what details we sweat vs. slide. Remember the 3D projectionists, and what happens in between frames."

Brandweek reports that the adult incontinence category -- worth $1.3 billion and growing given aging Boomers in the US -- is an increasing focus of marketing spend, with big campaigns running for Kimberly-Clark's Poise and Depend as well as rival Tena.

My two cents: this is a category crying out for brand experiences, for at least 3 reasons:

1. Given all the embarassment and bad jokes surrounding the adult incontinence category, you can practically see those expensive ads being skipped, fast forwarded and otherwise tuned out.
2. Brands need to offer consumers a combination of education to overcome misunderstanding and anxiety, plus samples.
3. Research shows that Boomers are receptive to live brand experiences as a way to learn about new brands.

There’s been a lot of debate recently about ‘experience brands’ and ‘brand experiences’.
To some people, it seems nothing more than semantics.
But there’s actually an important distinction between the two.
Pick a bank, any bank.
It doesn’t matter because it’s imaginary.
Now let’s walk through the branch.
You can only go in there at lunchtime
Just like everyone else.
So the first thing you notice is the huge queue snaking out of the door.
When you’re finally inside you notice that two of the tellers aren’t working.
Guess what, they’re on their lunch break too.
While you’re queuing you decide to fill in a paying-in slip.
But none of the pens work
You’ll have to do it at the counter.
Finally, a teller becomes free and you get tutted at for not having filled in the paying-in slip beforehand.
You ask to withdraw some money but get told that you need two forms of ID for that transaction.
Storming out of your branch, vowing to change banks at the soonest opportunity.
You’ve just had a brand experience.
A terrible one.
But a brand experience nonetheless.
An experience brand, on the other hand, is a brand that knows how it feels to be in a frustrating queue.
And does something about it.
An experience brand focuses on the behaviours it exhibits at every single touchpoint with anybody and everybody.
An experience brand makes every interaction a differentiator that people will remember for all the right reasons.
Now, can anyone lend me a tenner – I just can’t face going to the bank.

Since we published our article about experience brands last week, several people have asked for more examples of B2B experience brands.

Here's an obvious one: Intel.

Going all the way back to the 1990s, Intel famously transcended the traditional just-the-facts, plain Jane, features and benefits approach of B2B branding with its "Intel Inside" campaign--which forever made Intel a household name among consumers. The brand redefined the experiences available to tell its story to its communities--for example, creating one of the world's most recognizable sonic brands with its five-note jingle. It keeps telling fantastic stories to be relevant to consumers, whether that's its online storytelling or its fantastic "Rock Stars" campaign (gets me every time).

But as a B2B brand, Intel also invests in engaging its core developer and engineer communities in ways that stand out among technology brands. It has continually enhanced and extended its brand experiences, live and online--the Intel Developer Forum being a terrific example.

Today we launched the first in a series of articles around the idea that 2010 is the Year of the Experience Brand

We also talked to 13 of our own employees and asked them "what does experience brand mean to you?" Check out what they had to say.

What do you think makes a brand an experience brand? What are some of your favorite experience brands? Why? We'd love to hear!

Event Marketer assembled more than 30 of the top event agency experts for a look at what’s up and what’s hot. Two of the experts were Larry Deutsch, Managing Director
of Jack Morton’s Chicago office and Jeb Blatt of Jack Morton’s Boston office.

Take a look at what they had to say: www.eventmarketer.com/article/partner-perspective