Photo credit: James Beickert

Peter McCutcheon

If you found yourself in SoHo this holiday season, chances are you saw the giant Johnnie Walker Striding Man in front of 133 Greene Street. “A Johnnie Walker store? This is too good to be true!” was frequently heard on the street or seen on the scrolling Twitter feed in praise of Johnnie. But there was actually one thing that was even better — this was a store in which everything was free.

Johnnie Walker moved into one of NYC’s hottest neighborhoods for all of November and December to deliver an unforgettable series of events. If you were one of the 5,000 lucky fans to make it inside the House of Walker, you stepped inside a modern man’s paradise. The lovely Johnnie Walker ladies were on hand to greet guests with Johnnie Walker cocktails, and a rustic open kitchen churned out hearty bites. A series of shelves featured an impressive collection of books, a saber-tooth tiger skull, vintage sports memorabilia and my personal favorite, an antique diver’s helmet. Guests could watch any combination of games on any of seven flat-screen TVs (eight if you count the one in the bathroom). A man cave featured a Johnnie Walker pool table, vintage arcade games and an Xbox Kinect system, and rare bottles of Johnnie Walker (with price tags of up to $27,000) lined the walls — but you’d have to break through a glass case to sample those gems.

Most nights, Johnnie Walker’s National Brand Ambassador walked guests through a sampling of the full brand portfolio, showing people how to enjoy each of Johnnie’s blends in a unique way. The Weekend Retreat events allowed small groups to reserve their own private tables and drink Johnnie Walker cocktails as they prepared for a night on the town. We also opened our doors to a long list of partners who wanted to invite their colleagues into the world of Johnnie Walker: Delta, NFL, the New York Times, the Boomer & Carton show, Hulu and Tiffany, to name a few. Regardless of event, everyone left with a new appreciation for Johnnie Walker and the art of whisky blending.

The House of Walker finally closed its doors after an incredibly successful run of 98 events. Don’t worry, though: anyone who didn’t experience the House of Walker will get another chance when our national tour returns to New York in the spring. Cheers to that!

Fun fact: Before Charlie Horsey was our boss, his boss was Bob Barker. Well, indirectly, anyway. To learn more about that and other little-known gems from Charlie’s wild and wooly 20-plus-year career, check out the MKTG INC CEO’s interview in sales and marketing mag FINS.com. Come on down!

As the 10th anniversary of the September 11th attacks approaches, there is a strong urge to put those fateful events in context. MKTG EVP Bryan Duffy shares his thoughts about the day and what unfolded afterwards in a guest post for Chief Marketer’s The Big Fat Marketing Blog. Read the full text here.

From Bad Boy to mad man

Ad-industry rag The NY Egotist got a real earful this week when they came by the MKTG Creative Studio for a chat with our own Louis Marino. After 20 years in the music and fashion industries, including 2 as creative director at Bad Boy Entertainment, our man Marino knows a thing or two about keeping beat with the big boys. In the Egotist profile posted here, he talks about how music informs his craft, how celebrities can best avoid Twitter troubles but still engage their audience, and what MKTG’s own future business objectives are (clue: rhymes with Pick Grass).

Image credit: The NY Egotist

MKTG CEO Charlie Horsey

Lazy summer days are no time for smart marketers to be lazy, says MKTG’s own Charlie Horsey in an Ad Age article this week. The opportunities for building strong, long-term connections with the elusive Gen Y consumer, he says, are much more numerous in the season of outdoor festivals, sporting events and good old-fashioned fun in the sun. In other words, to reach Gen Y ya gotta strike while the summer is hot.

A new TED talk is up. Nobel Prize-winning economist Daniel Kahneman discusses the staggering differences between our experiencing self and our remembering self.

While his focus is on the impact on happiness, economics and public policy, I am struck by the potential implications for those of us in the experience business. Certainly we are interested in impacting the experiencing self, but the real value in our work is driving sales and buzz/WOM/social diffusion, which is driven by the remembering self.

It begs two questions: Does this call for a new approach to consumer insights and experience planning and design? Also, can you really open happiness with Coke?

The title of this post comes from “The Wire.”  It’s a reference to one of the show’s central players - Omar Little.  Omar is arguably one of the best characterizations TV has ever seen. In the show, he was a bad guy, but he had a code and never deviated from that code.  He lived it and we loved him for it.  Most notably,  he never robbed or harassed people who were uninvolved in the drug trade.

Neither do we.  Here’s our code.

We Believe

in creativity and accountability

that working smarter beats working harder

in proving people wrong, exceeding expectations and taking chances

there’s no such thing as out-of-the-box, because there is no box

that change is good—and sometimes, just for the sake of it

a great idea can come from anyone at anytime and anywhere

in process, as long as it leads to results

that blending art and science can make magic

not everybody believes in this list

in being first, being best and being the last to leave the party

So say we all

The mktg world as we know it is changing and we don’t know what to make of it, right? I believe we need to better understand the expectations of those we are attempting to market to. The easiest way to do that, I believe is by asking them. So from time to time, when convenient and not (depending on the wishes and deadlines of the editing staff of this blog), I will adventure out in to the frightening world of consumerism and attempt to gather insight and direction ….straight from the horse(y)s mouth. Here’s my first video: