Marketing Ideas I Learned At My Local 4th of July Parade

It's no secret. Parades today aren't what they used to be. They've turned into marketing venues. My small town 4th of July parade no longer has marching bands, barely has any floats, no more horses, no clowns and the massive Shriners presence left a few years ago. There are plenty of politicians, local pizza places and other businesses passing out candy, cards, coupons and other trinkets.  Plenty of church groups looking for recruits. It's not to say it isn't still fun. And it is educational. For one thing, I learned a few new marketing tricks this year.

The most interesting, was for Michigan Gubernatorial candidate, Pete Hoekstra. It seems that he has this thing called the Idea Bus and it was in our parade. It  is part billboard and part crowdsourcing vehicle (literally). All over the RV are stickers that people are invited to fill out with an idea they have for helping Michigan get more jobs and get back on it's feet and stick onto the bus. Apparently his plan is to drive it 1000 miles through the state and then take all those ideas to Lansing (Michigan's capital). He also has a blog tied into it called "100 jobs. 1000 Miles" that chronicles his trip and the ideas it generates. Crowdsoursing, engagement and the appearance of being in touch with the people – good things for someone running for office.  I don't have any feelings for him as my next governor one way or the other yet, but it's an iinteresting marketing concept, whether he actually gets any usable ideas or not.

If you want to get a clearer picture of what the Idea Bus looks like, just click on the picture above. A bigger picture will appear in a pop up so you are able to see the idea stickers more clearly.

Also, apparently a lot of the politicians had the same marketing idea this year – handing out free ice cream at the end of the parade route. There were 5 or 6 ice cream trucks at the end of the parade, each had a different candidates name on the side and each was handing out free ice cream treats. Would have been a good idea if you were the only one, but I doubt many remembered which candidate provided them with free ice cream now.

So there you have it, new marketing ideas are everywhere, just watch and see what works and what doesn't. Have you observed any new marketing ideas in your day to day life? Which of them do you think work and which don't?

Mike McClure, Marketing Observer for The Yaffe Group