| Sampling's new playground: Vacation rentals Natural and organic brands are turning to vacation rentals to place products directly into the lives—and hands—of consumers. | ||
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| Launching a new adaptogen-packed cookie brand? In addition to recipe development, manufacturing, packaging, distribution and hiring sales teams to knock on doors, you'll want to spark buzz. Advertising. Public relations. Events. And of keen importance, sampling. You need to get those maca-infused snickerdoodles in the hands and mouths of as many potential customers as possible. Just one bite, you believe, and they'll buy a bag—and keep returning for more. In-store sampling served as the most common strategy for decades, and it still reigns. But other opportunities, such as erecting booths at events with target customers—slinging sips of the new energy drink at a big mountain biking competition, for example—also help brands get in front of consumers. Now comes another sampling stage: vacation rentals. Brands increasingly are working with agencies that collaborate with vacation rental owners and managers to place products in those ski chalets, beach cottages and urban lofts. "This is a new way to sample—you know where your product is, there's no competition and guests are actually using it," says Rachel Vigil, chief executive and founder of UpClose Marketing, a California firm that specializes in vacation rental sampling. "It's not just a product drop. It's woven into a three-day lived experience. Guests relate the product to their vacation, their happy place, and that's powerful." Vigil's network now spans more than 15,000 properties across the United States—Airbnbs, VRBOs, boutique hotels and other rentals where people live, temporarily, in spaces that feel like home. Her company, too, is beginning to venture into campgrounds, glamping sites and RV rentals. Continued below… |
