Mixing it Up: Blender Bike Tour
Blending a smoothie in a blender? Psh—that’s so last year. How about blending a healthy and delicious smoothie ON a bicycle? Talk about killing two birds with one stone!
Team Snackbox had the pleasure of working closely with Chobani and Smoothie King for a Blender Bike tour across the nation. This campaign promoted the launch of Smoothie King’s new Chobani-filled smoothie while staying in line with Smoothie King’s mission to promote an active and healthy lifestyle.
I sat down with the team to discuss the method behind the blender bike tour that resulted in massive coverage for Smoothie King.
Q: What was the big idea behind the Blender Bike Challenge?
A: Smoothie King was getting ready to launch their new Greek yogurt smoothie, powered by Chobani. Although this is newsworthy, we realized there was an even better way to get attention for both brands while promoting Smoothie King’s active lifestyle. Chobani provided stationary bikes called “blender” bikes that allowed guests to simply pedal in order to blend a smoothie. It was an awesome visual way to promote the Greek yogurt smoothies while gaining plenty of media attention. Imagine a journalist reporting live from Smoothie King on a blender bike blending a smoothie.
Q: What smoothies were blended and how did it work?
A: Smoothie King chose eight pretty huge markets and selected Smoothie King stores that had been upgraded to Smoothie King’s “new look.” Each store set up blender bikes either inside or outside of the store, and let guests participate in blending their own free smoothie. The smoothies that were blended were the Greek yogurt strawberry and blueberry smoothies.
Q: How far ahead did Snackbox pitch in order to obtain a good amount of coverage?
A: We pitched all of our markets a media alert coupled with a pitch four to six weeks in advance of each challenge that took place. As the event got closer and closer we focused on follow-up emails that asked if the media was interested in attending or covering. We then began building talking points for segments we secured.
Q: How much coverage did this challenge receive?
A: We secured a lot of coverage in every market. Every single market didn’t’ receive T.V. coverage, but where T.V. coverage lacked, we got print or online coverage. We also had a lot of reporters request photos of the event. It was extremely helpful that this event was so visual. It gave people a huge reason to come out.
Q: What was the significance this challenge had on Smoothie King sales?
A: This was the launch of a new smoothie and it was extremely interactive, so it definitely got the word out about the new product. It’s now one of Smoothie King’s
“Top 10” bestselling smoothies.