Have you ever felt like summer has passed you by?
In a flash those autumnal colours start flourishing, the days get shorter and the nights get longer.
You’re not alone. A survey commissioned by outdoor retailer, L.L. Bean found that four out of five Americans agree summer passes by too quickly and more than half felt they don’t have enough time to enjoy the summer months.
This insight motivated the brand’s summer campaign to encourage Americans to get outside, savour the moment and enjoy the season while it lasts.
In a fun experiential campaign called ‘Get S’more out of Summer,’ the brand set up a Backyard Campsite in green spaces across a number of U.S. cities including New York, Madison and Boston.
With an authentic, rural look and feel, the pop-up featured large fire pits where delighted guests could create their own roasted s’mores. The mouthwatering S’mores were branded with L.L Bean’s logo alongside ‘Smore out of summer’ to emphasis the campaign message.
To encourage more photo opportunities, the outdoor retailer also created a giant s’more photo op complete with a largescale sandwich board and a five-foot-long marshmallow on a stick that consumers pose with.
Upping the entertainment factor, additional outdoor games and challenges were available like the sleeping bag rolling up challenge. There was also a National Parks Foundation’s Parktracks booth where consumers could sit down, wear noise-cancelling headphones, and tune in to the naturally peaceful sounds of the country’s national parks.
To make it super easy and convenient for people to take part, L.L. Bean teamed up with Uber to collect people from their homes and bring them straight to the outdoor sites for free.
Highly engaging and entertaining, the activation was supported with a social media contest to get consumers sharing their best summer moments, using #BeanOutsider and #LLBeanContest19.
For those who didn’t make it to an event, elements of the fun activation toured the country’s summer festivals and events in the eye-catching Bootmobile which offered free s’mores and significant discounts on popular products.
S’mores were a consistent theme throughout the brand’s communication and free s’mores were handed out to shoppers at any L.L. Bean store on National S’mores Day (10 August).
Offering free food is a sure-fire way to drive conversation and brand love among consumers. Deliveroo launched its ‘Great Wall of Chinese’ offering free food and even cash prizes in Liverpool, and Nando’s gave away free meals to those who brought the giant cards from billboards into their nearest branch.