Jake McKee’s report from Brickfest 2006, a weekend gathering of adult LEGO lovers, reminded me of another recent gathering of adults who adore another childhood toy—HOT WHEELS.
In a recent article, The Wall Street Journal highlighted Mattel’s Hot Wheels NEED FOR SPEED event in Speed, Kansas. Yes. Speed, KS. Now before you go jumping to Creationist WOM conclusions that Speed, KS is just another attention-grabbing buzz-hungry tactic mimicking Half.com, Oregon and Dish, TX. It’s not.
Seems as though a GolinHarris PR guy was doing a Google search for ‘a town that loves cars’ and up popped Speed, KS. So instead of holding the NEED FOR SPEED event in Southern California, where many Hot Wheels conventions are held, Mattel decided to create a blow-out event in Speed, KS (population 37).
Over 10,000 Hot Wheels enthusiasts stormed Speed, KS on August 6, 2006 to revel in all things Hot Wheels. You can read more about the event in this Wall Street Journal article and in this press release.
The take-a-away for us marketers is the Hot Wheel’s NEED FOR SPEED event is yet another marketing case study in creating community with customers. As Ben McConnell and Jackie Huba note in CREATING CUSTOMER EVANGELISTS …
”Enabling customers to connect with each other and with you provides benefits for all the involved parties. It helps customers … connect with like-minded people for social reasons. For companies, customer communities build loyalty, provide valuable feedback, and contribute to increased sales.
“Creating community is key to creating customer evangelists Community encourages customers to bond with one another underneath the umbrella of your organization’s goodwill."
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